Joseph Studer - Training That Travels - PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with Joseph Studer, technical training manager of Tremco Construction Products Group (CPG). You can read the interview below or listen to the podcast.

Intro: Welcome to Roofing Road Trips, the podcast that takes you on a thrilling journey across the world of roofing. From fascinating interviews with roofing experts to on the road adventures, we'll uncover the stories, innovations and challenges that shape the rooftops over our heads. So fasten your seat belts, and  join us as we embark on this exciting Roofing Road Trip. 

Karen Edwards: Hello, and  welcome to another episode of Roofing Road Trips from RoofersCoffeeShop. My name is Karen Edwards, and  today's episode is going to be focused all about training, learning, and  education. And I am thrilled to welcome Joseph Studer from Tremco Construction Products Group to the episode today. Joseph, welcome. 

Joseph Studer: Thank you, thank you for having me. 

Karen Edwards: Yeah, so could you just introduce yourself, tell our listeners a little bit about you and what your role is there at Tremco? 

Joseph Studer: Sure. My name is Joseph Studer. I am the Tremco CPG Technical Training Manager, and  I'm in my 25th year at Tremco. So my role is both going to contractor, distributor, architect locations, and  providing onsite training for our entire CPG line of products. And then I also manage our three Tremco training locations, one in Dallas, one in Providence, Rhode Island, and  one in Toronto. 

Karen Edwards: Wow. 25 years. Congratulations, that's a long time. You don't see that much anymore. 

Joseph Studer: That is true. Yeah, I'm in my 25th year, and  prior to that I worked for a commercial waterproofing applicator in San Diego for two years. 

Karen Edwards: Okay. Have you always been in training there at Tremco? 

Joseph Studer: No, I worked my way up through tech services. I started out as a field technician for Tremco Barrier Solutions in January of 2001, and  worked my way up through tech services, tech services management, and  then this opportunity came about for training. We had a big initiative on training both contractors, distributors, architects, specifiers. So it's kind of a new division under our learning department, under our learning and training director, Sarah Fay. 

Karen Edwards: Okay. So, I talk a little bit about the types of training. I know you mentioned a lot of different things, and  there you have training locations, but you also do onsite? 

Joseph Studer: Yes. We have two mobile truck and trailers that are fully equipped. Basically, if a contractor or distributor or architect, specifier, any type of end user of any of our Tremco CPG products requests a training, we usually line that up with the Tremco salesperson and we schedule a Teams call or conference call, go over what products they want to train on, what their audience is going to be, how many people in their audience, and  then we scheduled the truck and trailer go to that location, and  we set up wall panels or concrete Durock or Hardie Backer Boards if we're doing urethane deck coatings or our PUMA system, or  one of our roofing products, and  we do it on site in front of their audience. 

Karen Edwards: Wow. Is there a cost for the training? 

Joseph Studer: The mobile training on the road, there is no cost to that. It's usually a very good sales opportunity or just an opportunity to showcase our products or demonstrate our products in front of potentially a new contractor or architect, or  maybe it's tied to a big sale or sale opportunity. So there's no cost associated with lining up the truck and trailer on the road. 

Karen Edwards: Wow, that's fantastic. So you probably travel a lot, huh? 

Joseph Studer: Yes, yes, I do. I've been a lot of places all over North America, the US and Canada, yeah. 

Karen Edwards: Wow. Yeah, so you get to see a lot and you get to meet the different contractors and the folks that are working with the products. It sounds like you really like it. 

Joseph Studer: I do. It is an amazing company, amazing opportunity to get out and train in front of people, show either existing or new products. And Tremco, we keep making acquisitions and bringing new products to the table, and  all of those are exciting, and  I'm always excited, as well as my training team, to go out and show those. Yes. 

Karen Edwards: Right, so you have to stay on top of your game, right? With new products, new acquisitions, new things happening, how much time do you spend in learning these new systems? 

Joseph Studer: I spend a lot of time learning our new systems. We have one very exciting new acquisition, HercuWall, where we just at our Tremco University, Dallas, we just did an internal training day for employees, and  then the next day we did our first applicator training for potential contractors or existing contractors that use the HercuWall system. And so I'm still learning that system, but it is fantastic and it is a very, very awesome modular wall building system. 

Karen Edwards: Okay, excellent. So you mentioned you did this in Dallas. What were the other two locations that you have training facilities? 

Joseph Studer: Providence, Rhode Island. It's actually in North Kingston, Rhode Island at our Dryvit facility there. And then in Vaughan, which is a suburb of Toronto at one of our distribution centers. So, those are our three Tremco universities. 

Karen Edwards: Okay, and  how often do you do trainings at the university on site, on location? 

Joseph Studer: We have one or two training sessions at each location a month, and  I'm usually at them or someone from our training staff is there. And then when we do those trainings, there's also usually one or two salespeople there from the regional area or the area of the contractors we are targeting. There's usually one or two people from product management, sometimes tech services. It's a group effort at Tremco, so we kind of bring the team together depending on how many people are going to be there and the size of the opportunity, and  everyone's expertise in that particular product line. 

For instance, if it's a very, very hardcore PUMA vehicular system, I may call one of the tech reps from somewhere in the United States that is the absolute expert at PUMA vehicular and bring him with the truck and trailer or to Dallas. But our training staff is qualified to do all the trainings with all the products. 

Karen Edwards: Wow, yeah. How big is your training team? 

Joseph Studer: Our training team, I have six direct reports under me. We have some Nudura specialty trainers, and  then our CPG line of specialty trainers. 

Karen Edwards: Nice. I just talked with someone last week about the Nudura line, and  it was a builder that was using them, and  it sounded like a really cool product, so. 

Joseph Studer: It is. Our Nudura insulated concrete forms are just spectacular. Very cutting edge, the fact that we can fold our form so we can carry more on a truck. The Nudura system is just fantastic. 

Karen Edwards: Back to On The Road program, which is the trailer and the travel program, what's the feedback been when you're done at the end of the day? 

Joseph Studer: The feedback for the mobile truck and trailer trainings has been spectacular. The salesperson who, whatever area we are in, sends lunch or breakfast depending on what time we're training. So those contractors or distributors are usually provided a meal. We do two to four hours of hands-on and demonstration training, and  the feedback has been spectacular. 

Karen Edwards: Yeah. Yeah. I was just going to ask what a typical day looks like. So you can pretty much, if it's two to four hours, you could do it in the morning, you could do it in the afternoon. Is it typically Monday through Friday? Will you do weekends? 

Joseph Studer: We have not done any weekends. Depending on the opportunity, we could. And yeah, typically two to four hours, usually say 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM, so we schedule lunch in there that Tremco provides, and  it's usually a fantastic time. Lots of hands-on opportunities for whoever's there to take the gun and spray some ExoAir 230 or take the Rake or the Spike roller and put down some Vulkem or PUMA. So, good opportunities with our mobile training. 

Karen Edwards: Are you finding that contractors are looking to diversify their offerings more? Maybe contractors that are working with Tremco roofing systems, maybe they want to get into that, the vehicular systems, or  are you doing a lot of training, I guess, to the different solutions that they can offer? 

Joseph Studer: Yes, all the time. There are a lot of very good roofing contractors that get into deck coatings and vehicular systems, and  vice versa, contractors that are very good at the PUMA, our urethane methacrylate system, or  our Vulkem urethane systems, that are getting into roofing because the product application, a little bit different, but very, very similar. 

Karen Edwards: Yeah, it sounds like it. And if they're already doing it in one regard, why not try it in another area? And it makes them more versatile, I'm sure. 

Joseph Studer: Absolutely. 

Karen Edwards: Why is it important for contractors to have access to this type of training? Because this is a big commitment on Tremco's behalf, to have this many people focused on it. Why should contractors be paying attention and be coming to these training? 

Joseph Studer: Well, one of the main reasons is for Tremco's best in the business warranties that we offer with our systems. So we want our contractors and end users to be well-trained. We don't want to send a contractor out on a 100,000 square foot PUMA job if it's the first time they've ever seen or use PUMA if they bid it and get the job. So we have a big incentive to have well-trained contractors and distributors in the field, and  we provide those services through our local tech service reps and then also our training department to provide those trainings. So it's a big incentive for us to have well-trained, well-staffed application contractors in the field. 

Karen Edwards: So do you offer the trainings in multiple languages? A lot of our installers are Latin American or Hispanic. Do you have trainers that speak Spanish and other languages? 

Joseph Studer: We do. One of our training staff members who is headquartered in Dallas at our main Tremco University, Dallas, he is a Spanish speaker, and  he is our head bilingual trainer. And then we also have trainers in Canada that can speak French. 

Karen Edwards: Nice. Yeah, I forgot about that, but yeah, that's important. 

Joseph Studer: But yeah, we have a big incentive to for Hispanic contractors, applicators, distributors, and  we have all of our programs translated to Spanish and our PowerPoint presentations. And then Danny does all the hands-on for our Spanish speakers. 

Karen Edwards: Are you finding that when you're doing a mobile on the road training, that you're able to reach more of the contractor's team because you're going to them? It's kind of cost prohibitive to send a number of people out of town to a training, but by bringing it to them, are you seeing more? 

Joseph Studer: Yes, yes. We have had great success taking the training to them, both at the contractor level and especially at the distributor level. That distributor in, say, St. Louis, Missouri, they deal with 200 contractors that may be related to waterproofing or buy waterproofing products. Our distributor trainings have been a big hit in that not only do our sales reps, but also the distributor sales reps gather that audience in. So we've had a lot of success with those on road, yeah. 

Karen Edwards: Yeah, I imagine, because it does get expensive to send people out of town and stay overnight and go to a training facility, as good as that is. Do you take the mobile on the road to a job site? Maybe somebody's getting ready, this is their first job. You mentioned the first time somebody's installing PUMA, you don't want them to be the first time they've seen the product. Do you have that, the resources where you can be on the job with them and helping? 

Joseph Studer: Yes. We have taken the mobile truck and trailer to a few multifamily and commercial job sites. We've helped with a couple mock-ups, where that contractor needed a spray pump and didn't have one sourced yet. So we can take it to job sites for projects, but it'd be best to do it in their shop or at a distributor location first. Yes. 

Karen Edwards: Right, yeah. I was going to say, what's required if you want to bring in a training? How much space? Indoors versus outdoors? Tell me a little bit about what's required. 

Joseph Studer: The requirements, depending on where you're located and what season it is, indoors, we don't have to worry about weather or rain. If a contractor has any medium sized shop, we can bring in our wall panels built with OSB plywood or concrete board, and  we can set those up vertically and horizontally, depending if we're doing 250 GC urethane waterproofing system horizontally between slab or whether we're doing ExoAir 230 on a wall system. So we would bring the proper substrates we can spray or roll or trowel right on the spot. Inside is always going to be better. With our PUMA or any of our urethane methacrylate systems, outside is a little better for the smell, but we can do any of our systems inside or outside at that contractor's location. 

Karen Edwards: Okay. Are you seeing more interest in specific solutions or systems like, gosh, we're doing a lot of training on this system lately? 

Joseph Studer: Yes. We've been doing a lot of our ExoAir 230 and 130 air barrier systems. And each, both of our mobile truck and trailer packages have a spray pump, so we can show them how to spray ExoAir 230, and  then we can show them how to roll ExoAir 230, or  130 or any of our ExoAir fluid applied air barrier line. So, very versatile, and  then we can show different ways to apply each of those systems. 

Karen Edwards: Okay. Where does one find out about the training? Where are you going to be? What's the schedule look like? And how can I sign up? 

Joseph Studer: Yeah. We work with our marketing and communications team, and  they help us make flyers to get to that distributor, or  the distributor does that themselves. Our calendar for our mobile truck and trailer is currently internal. I would have to get you an answer on where to see as an external client or distributor where it goes. And then we also have our Tremco CPG and Tremco Sealant's Instagram and Facebook pages. 

Karen Edwards: Okay. Yeah, so if you're listening to this and you're wondering about a training, ask your distributor, right? 

Joseph Studer: Yeah. Ask your distributor or contact your Tremco sales rep if you wanted to set something up in the future, yes. 

Karen Edwards: Yeah. You said how often you're on the road? I know you said about twice a month at the physical locations, but are you somewhere every week? 

Joseph Studer: Typically, yes. Yeah, typically one or two trainings a week between the trucks and trailers and our Tremco U locations. Yes. 

Karen Edwards: Okay, and  how many trucks and trailers do you have? You might have told me this, but. 

Joseph Studer: We have two. 

Karen Edwards: Two, okay. Yeah. 

Joseph Studer: They're currently both in Ohio, but in the very near future, one will be in Ohio and one will be out west, possibly somewhere around Denver. So that way we can reach a little further and it's less of a drive. If we have a training in Wyoming or Montana, it's much easier to get there from Denver than Ohio. 

Karen Edwards: Right, yeah. You got enough windshield time as it is, right? Let's at least start out a little bit closer. 

Joseph Studer: Yep. 

Karen Edwards: Excellent. Well, Joe, this was really interesting. I love the commitment that Tremco is making to making sure, I mean, we know they're quality products, but making sure that they're installed, and  that the installation is a quality installation as well. And that's just a testament to Tremco. 

Joseph Studer: Yes. First and foremost, we want those products put on properly by trained applicators, absolutely. And that's one of our big incentives in our training department. 

Karen Edwards: Excellent. And Tremco is a partner with RoofersCoffeeShop, they have a full directory on our site. We often will put some of the training events up on our events section as well, so you could find information there. But visit their directory, it has links to their website, and  you can learn more about maybe attending one of these trainings. 

Joe, thank you again. It was great to have you here. 

Joseph Studer: Thank you. 

Karen Edwards: And thank you everybody out there for listening. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform, because we hope to see you on a future episode of Roofing Road Trips. Bye-bye. 

Outro: If you've enjoyed the ride, don't forget to hit that subscribe button and join us on every roofing adventure. Make sure to visit Rooferscoffeeshop.com to learn more. Thanks for tuning in, and  we'll catch you on the next Roofing Road Trip.