Give us our quarterly company update. How is business?
The first quarter of 2026 has been solid. Maybe not as hectic or crazy as the last couple of years, but inbound orders are fine right where they are at. We’re still taking on good orders, and it seems like the next one pops up right when your waiting for it. Rolls have seen a nice uptick as well, along with parts. So other core parts of the business seem to be doing just fine. You know, it’s the same word as last time: uncertainty. As soon as we get out of Covid and what came next, it’s war in Iran. So, we’re in wait-and-see mode like the rest of the world to see what happens next.
The housing market, new home builds in particular, is a key prognosticator for us. Safe to say it’s slowed or been uneven. Not sounding any alarms, but with that fact how do we continually combat a slump in sales and keep busy?
Housing is definitely stagnant. As we talk about everything getting more expensive, the seven-percent mortgage rates are making it hard for someone to sell their house right now because they are locked in to 3-4 percent. So, to sell your house at whatever premium and then buy another house at premium only to get stuck with that mortgage rate is really tough on consumers. But, we try to be as diversified as we can and look for other markets to pick up. Insulation is huge right now. Fire proofing is a big deal all across the world, along with climate-controlled buildings to keep costs down. We stay as busy as we can in (a variety of markets) and hunt for the next project. Home improvements, commercial improvements, are some markets naturally picking up as new home builds slow.
The new employee AI policy has been finalized and distributed at Blacks. What will AI will change here and what are the concerns?
AI does an incredible job of market research, can help out with spreadsheets, formatting — really anything. I don’t think anyone has a full grasp of how much it’s collectively changing or helping us every day. There’s a lot that this incredible technology can help us with. Organizing and streamlining daily tasks is where you can start and get some huge time and cost savings. But you have to be careful, too. I think everyone who has used AI has had an experience of stuff coming back incorrectly or sources not being accurate. For all the times it helps it seems like there’s another big story of how wrong it was in a key situation when somebody relied on it too much. So we have to be cognitive and careful of that and take it slowly so we don’t get ahead of ourselves and become reliant on something that is not fully tested.
Let’s keep going on that for a second. In the office, sure, I can see a lot of advantages with AI. How about out in the factory?
Yeah. I think there are a lot of processes we may adopt as we feel it out, for sure. What can get streamlined? Bulk materials, inventory optimization — things that we already do a pretty good job at, but what’s the next step to get even better? Then, you know, the machining software and things like that, (AI is) definitely going to improve it all. But, like I said, we’ve got to wait and see what it all looks like as we continue to build and improve on the software we already have.
Last AI question, I promise. In your eyes, is Blacks ahead of the game or on pace with where we need to be with it?
Yeah, I think we are in a very good spot. I don’t think you want to go crazy and run wild with it or not have it tested. We need more knowledge on it, just as well. But I think taking the cautious, slow route to see where it can help the most is a good way to adopt it.
Data security is a big thing. If you use Copilot or Chat GPT, it knows how to talk to the user. It uses emojis, it’ll give you thumbs up and tell you “Good question.” It’s trying to get you to cozy up to it. So, I think if you get too comfortable and share too much of anything — user information, company information — that’s really what you want to avoid. You want to use it as the tool that it is to help with productivity and organization rather than your buddy that you trust everything to. So, it’s a walk before you run situation.
Perfect. … Another 45-year vet retired recently. That’s a bygone era. What’s the trick to hiring for longevity in today’s Gen Z world?
The social scientist will tell you everyone is different, and I think that is true. Your Baby Boomers or the Silent Generation is of course going to be different than this new one that grew up in today’s world with all the advanced technology and a completely different economy, etcetera. But, I think Black Bros. just has to stay true to its core principles that have kept us here forever. It’s letting people be individuals first, putting their families first in building that trust, comradery and teamwork here at work that allows us to come together and build some awesome machinery. More the same, we need to just keep treating people the way people should be treated. I think that virtue never goes out of style no matter what generation it is.
Along the same lines, what new things are we doing to help service the customer and keep up with modern demands?
We are (in the process of) adding a QR Code to our machine panels that leads to a maintenance page (on our website). That’s a big one. Our manuals also have come a long way in terms of adding up-to-date drawings and being able to pass accurate, specific information along that much quicker. We’ve done a lot of work with conveyors and material handling recently, too. I think we’ve done a really good job of integrating those onto our machinery, because it differentiates from our usual frame that those machines have been built on for 60-70 years. So, improving that handling and giving operators some more automation to lay a part down or laminate at this thickness or this height has come a long way. Although it’s not necessarily standard, the customization of it has gotten that much more comfortable as we’ve been doing it over and over on these more custom builds.
