Elevator Traveling Cables: Innovation, Codes, and Reaching New Heights | Dillard Green

Today’s guest is Dillard Green, a manufacturing and engineering expert with over four decades of experience supporting the elevator industry. Throughout his career, Dillard has worked at the intersection of manufacturing, engineering, code compliance, and innovation, helping develop solutions for everyday buildings and iconic projects like the Burj Khalifa and Disney’s Tower of Terror. In this episode, we explore the role of elevator traveling cables and the lessons he’s he’s learned throughout his career.

Chapters:

• 00:00 Intro
• 01:31 Dillard’s Career Journey
• 03:59 The Importance of Elevator Traveling Cables
• 07:13 Navigating Industry Standards and Regulations
• 09:27 Innovation vs. Code Regulation in Elevator Technology
• 20:46 Audio Visual Code Change
• 21:58 Unique Projects: Burj Khalifa and Disney’s Tower of Terror
• 28:46 Advice for New Professionals in the Industry
• 29:45 Outro

Transcript:

Matt Allred (00:00)
for people outside the industry, they would never know much about elevator traveling cable right? But that’s really what sends all the signals, right? It’s critical to the operation of your elevator, right?

Dillard Green (00:10)
Yeah, we consider the elevator traveling cable is more or less the umbilical cord for the moving elevator. So any signal or data transmission, electricity, anything going to the car is going through that cable.

I was able to work on the first Tower of Terror for Disney. the challenge there was to design a cable for an elevator that’s designed to crash.

Matt Allred (00:26)
Right on, I love it.

Dillard Green (00:32)
it had to withstand the erratic behavior of an elevator that normally if I had a call from somebody with erratic behavior like that I would tell them, maintenance for your elevator is your problem it’s not a cable, but that’s designed that way.

Matt Allred (00:45)
Hello and welcome to the Elevator Careers Podcast, sponsored by the Allred Group. I am your host, Matt Allred.

Matt Allred (00:53)
Does your workforce need a lift? At the Allred Group, we are committed to connecting your company with top talent that matches your need. Give us a call at 404-890-0445.

Matt Allred (01:07)
Today’s guest is Dillard Green, a manufacturing and engineering expert with over four decades of experience supporting the elevator industry. Throughout his career, Dillard has worked at the intersection of manufacturing, engineering, code compliance, and innovation, helping develop solutions for everyday buildings and iconic projects like the Burj Khalifa and Disney’s Tower of Terror. In this episode, we explore the role of elevator traveling cables and the lessons he’s learned throughout his career.

Matt Allred (01:31)
Dillard, welcome to the show.

Dillard Green (01:33)
Hey Matt, thanks for having me. Looking forward to it.

Matt Allred (01:35)
Thank you. I appreciate it. Yeah. I’ve enjoyed our previous conversations and looking forward to this one. And, you it’s interesting that you’ve spent four decades with one company and that’s a long time, especially by today’s standards. What has kept you motivated, curious, and engaged all those years?

Dillard Green (01:50)
I think just to be able to see the visibility of what I’m doing and how it affects service to the end user as well as I’m working in manufacturing so I’m very interested in seeing how products are made and kind of to grave opportunities for seeing product solutions being implemented and helping people get solutions implemented.

Matt Allred (02:19)
For sure.

Yeah. Do you ever feel a little bit of pride when you drive past a building and you go, hey, you know, our product is running up and down.

Dillard Green (02:25)
Yeah,

hopefully that’s a common thing in the industry, whenever you work on a particular project, there’s some satisfaction for sure and some realization that you put a little bit of your efforts gone into a much bigger project. That’s very fulfilling of course.

Matt Allred (02:41)
For sure, for sure. mean,

yeah. When you first entered the elevator industry, did you imagine this would become a lifelong career or was that more of a surprise as you kind of moved along?

Dillard Green (02:54)
No, not really. I started out education background as engineering with a focus on manufacturing. And

Matt Allred (03:00)
Mm-hmm.

Dillard Green (03:00)
I’ve always been intrigued how things are made. Younger days take things apart to see how they work. So I got into where I work here, we’re wiring cable manufacturer. So I started out manufacturing here. Our sole customer base is the elevator contractor market. So it.

One point in my career, I moved into a field engineering applications engineering position where I was interacting with the end user on job sites and helping with installation issues and product understanding and solutions. And that kind of put my other foot into the elevator industry. So in both in manufacturing and in the elevator space as a current supplier to the elevator contractor market. So it’s been a good dichotomy, I guess, of… ⁓

best of both worlds, no, I never

elevator industry. In fact, the building where I work is one story and ⁓ our city has very few elevators, but we do supply globally from here to the elevator market.

Matt Allred (03:56)
For sure, no, that’s,

yeah, it’s fascinating, fascinating. And obviously for people outside the industry, they would never know much about elevator traveling cable, right? But that’s really what sends all the signals, right? It’s critical to the operation of your elevator, right?

Dillard Green (04:13)
Yeah, we consider the elevator traveling cable is more or less the umbilical cord for the moving elevator. So any signal or data transmission, electricity, anything going to the car is going through that cable. So it’s a lifeline. It’s one of many components in the elevator, but ⁓ just like many others, it’s critical to the operation of the car and that successful travel.

Matt Allred (04:34)
Yeah, you called the umbilical cord. In my mind, I saw an image of, almost like the spinal cord, right? It’s like if it you know, breaks anywhere along the way, you’re gonna have a paralyzed car or totally non-operational. So it ⁓ really is the central hub of all the communication.

Dillard Green (04:41)
Yeah.

is kind of a critical link in the entire system, certainly.

Matt Allred (04:58)
Yeah, yeah.

So why can’t a building just use an ordinary, like off the shelf cable instead of, you know, inside of their elevator? Like what makes an elevator cable as specialized as it is that maybe a lot of people wouldn’t understand?

Dillard Green (05:14)
Good question. I remember when I first came to this factory and toured as a job interview just realizing, know, how hard can it be, right? Make a cable, put some wires together. We all have experience with extension cords and back in the day telephone cords believe it or not, not so much now. But yeah, the cable, I’m involved in the design process as

Matt Allred (05:24)
It’s just an extension cord, right? Just plug it in and…

for sure.

Dillard Green (05:41)
a lot of the design attributes beyond the electrical characteristics. large important part is the mechanical attributes of the cable. It has to flex constantly as the elevator is moving and for many years, which makes it unique to a lot of cables in marketplace. So there are design aspects to keep it where it will flex continuously without.

any problems and also it has to track in a very small space, in vertical space of an elevator or hoistway. It’s very important that it stays where it’s supposed

So those are some of the differences to standard run of the mill cable.

Matt Allred (06:18)
Yeah, I mean, like you say, it’s got to flex, it’s got to move. Is there a kind of a standard lifetime that, you got to, I’ve never heard people talk about that, but I’m just curious if like, you know, it’s going to wear out after however many uses or trips or what is that?

Dillard Green (06:33)
Yeah, that’s a

very good question. We designed the cables to, we say, run the lifetime of the elevator and knowing that most elevators are, at some point, are modernized and the elevator may still be operational, but the workings of the controller and various electrical components may be replaced as technology changes. But that’s typically 25 years, 30 years. And we also, our traveling cable has a lifetime warranty.

which is indicative of some of that design and manufacturing experience. So yeah, lasts a long time, but a lot of things are replaced in the meantime. Sometimes upgrades are necessary for technology change.

Matt Allred (07:10)
Yeah.

For sure. And I hear people say that, I’ve asked the question, right? I’m ignorant enough that I can ask the dumb questions like, at what point does it become a mod, right? I I hear people say mods and I’ve heard it said, well, that when you replace the controller, then it’s a mod versus a big repair. Does the traveling cable get replaced every time you do a mod essentially or does it really depend?

Dillard Green (07:34)
I think in most cases it probably does. not an expert on that, but typically if you’re replacing a controller that the controller dictates primarily what’s in the traveling cable as well as the peripheral components on the car cameras and card readers and things of that sort. So if you’re replacing the controller, I would assume the traveling cable would be I would assume all the time, but I’m not 100 % sure. We do service the modernization market service market as well as the OEM.

and new install.

Matt Allred (08:03)
For sure. Yeah, yeah. So I mean, obviously you mentioned you worked design, manufacturing, field engineering, customer support. How has seeing every side of that business shaped how you solve problems today?

Dillard Green (08:16)
Yeah, solving problems is something that we like to look at, not just making cables, but we also sell a variety of other products, but manufacturing the cables is a core product for us.

we like to look at it providing solutions to the end customer, whether it’s the product itself or how we deliver it how we package it with other components. But seeing from being in different positions or different points of view, think the common thing I would think about is the people.

I like to think of our customers as we have internal customers and external. The internal would be within your organization, whoever you hand your work off to is your customer. And then the external would be the end user, the one that’s paying for your service. And we all in life, we’re all customers, all consumers. And we know what it’s like to wait in a long line or have something that’s not delivered when it’s promised. And so we have to understand that. And I try to take those different viewpoints in dealing

helping customers solve problems, know that they’re maybe not the happiest day of their life and you want to try to give them some reassurance, but you also have to be upfront and open with what the options are and just treat others as you want to be treated.

Matt Allred (09:27)
Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, you told me story once about ⁓ where technology existed, but the code hadn’t caught up yet. And I’m curious, how common is it for innovation to move faster than regulations? And a little bit more about that ⁓ process where, you know, hey, we know this is going to be coming into the code, but it’s not here yet. And how do you kind of marry up those two pieces of ⁓ building a product and, you know, getting it where it’s

It needs to be as the code is updated.

Dillard Green (09:57)
Yeah, that’s a big lesson learned in the industry is obviously everything we do is directed by various regulatory codes, but there’s different layers of codes. And

those of us in elevator industry, of course, are very familiar with the ASME A17 codes for safety. There’s also the National Electrical Code that is more of an umbrella over many, many products and services that are electrical.

Matt Allred (10:11)
Mm.

Dillard Green (10:23)
So the example that you’re referring to is the electrical code stipulates general requirements for different types of products. And there is a section on elevator traveling cables and specifically under a flexible cable section. And that dictates, as an example, a minimum conductor size. What happened with us is that as technology changed and

Ethernet cables, category cables became the standard in building infrastructures. Naturally, were requests to have those within the traveling cable to continue the circuitry to the elevator. So you have internet access on the car. That category cable is based on a smaller conductor size than what the code allowed. So that was a challenge. The electrical code specifically is updated every three years.

And there’s a process to appeal or just petition for changes. And if that’s not approved, then you can do it again in three years. We’ve done that before to get the conductor size reduced. And initially, we’re unsuccessful in that. And so we ⁓ still had demand for the category cable. So we went another route within the code requirements and designed and manufactured an equivalent category 5E pair.

using a larger conductor. That solution works quite well, but it requires an adapter to be able to get the larger conductor down to the smaller conductor connectors that are standard with Ethernet cable. So that’s an example where we’re held back by code to make something that was listed and certified. The final iteration with that, going back to the electrical code, was ⁓

Matt Allred (11:50)
Right.

Dillard Green (12:06)
it was helped with we petition again as well as some other elevator industry professionals also petitioned and we were able to get the the change in the 2023 code and so that was that was good and fine but then the questions were okay it’s in the code where is my cable and what it’s not as clean as that obviously there’s other other codes around and the for the manufacturer where we have to have a

In our industry, the UL has a specific requirement for flexible cables, specifically elevator traveling cables. And that’s the code that tells the manufacturer the performance criteria, insulation thickness, material types, all those types of things. So once the electrical code has changed, then the regulatory agency has to come in, in this case UL, and update their requirements. And we interviewed

Matt Allred (12:38)
Gotcha.

Dillard Green (13:00)
with them and they interviewed other manufacturers as well to develop the change in the code to comply with the

So long story short, we were able to get a UL listing for a category six cable and a traveling cable after over a year and a half from the time the code changed to electrical code.

Matt Allred (13:08)
Gotcha.

I was going to ask, yeah, how long does that take? know, I mean, it feels,

it feels a little cumbersome, you know, just as an outside alert, outsider looking in like, in other words, I don’t suppose elevators are being held up, but how, how do you navigate, you know, Hey, here’s the code, the, the product it sounds like can’t be made and sold until it gets the stamp. what, happens for that year and a half? How does that work?

Dillard Green (13:43)
Well, you have the, from my standpoint, providing technical support and ⁓ answering customers questions in that regard. The answer initially is it’s not commercially available. We do have other alternatives. We have use of optical fibers in the traveling cable, which can send huge amounts of data, although it requires a different termination and maybe some converging equipment. So there is a solution there.

Matt Allred (13:49)
Mm-hmm.

Dillard Green (14:09)
a little bit of resistance to that. If you’re going from copper in the building, you’d have to purchase transmission equipment, which is added expense. And as I mentioned, we also developed a kind of interim solution with the larger component category 5e pairs. But it’s kind of an evolution. And with codes, regulatory is there’s bureaucracy and red tape, but it’s also a tough job. The code committees have to go through

who knows how many petitions every time they get around and they have to prioritize those and choose what they feel is necessary. Of course, those of us on the manufacturing side and the industry side need to lobby harder, I guess, but it’s the natural part of the process, I think. And the goal is everything’s safe.

Matt Allred (14:52)
Sure, mean, obviously there’s a,

exactly, right? There’s a reason there’s codes, there’s reason there’s that much oversight and it makes a lot of sense. And it does really kind of highlight your team and you, they need to be creative,

And they need to say, okay, this particular thing isn’t maybe commercially available, but we can still send the data, it sounds like, right? We can still make something work and we know how to create adapters or.

whatever, know, some kind of termination hardware you talked about, right, that can make sure that the message is getting through the cable until such a time as we can do what we really wanted to in the first place, which in that case may have been just a standard category five cable.

Matt Allred (15:39)
Hey there listeners, it’s Matt and I would love to know what you want to hear more of on the podcast. If you have a topic in mind or a guest you’d like to hear from, head over to ElevatorCareers.net and drop a suggestion in the box or you can email podcast at ElevatorCareers.net. The link will also be in the description below. Thank you so much for being part of this conversation. Now back to the show.

Dillard Green (16:02)
And then the interim, I try to educate the customer as best as possible to understand the, because it’s frustrating. And it’s not just us, it’s any provider is held by those codes. So we try to develop products to anticipate code changes and obviously everything has to align with the code in the end.

Matt Allred (16:22)
Yeah, absolutely. Well, and there’s different codes in different cities and different parts of the country, right? you’re probably, again, back to creativity, you know, probably thinking a whole lot about, well, you know, over here we use this because they’re using that code and over here we’re something else because they’re using a different code. And then, you know, there may be a way to, you know, use some those different solutions at different times, depending on who’s changing the code and then make it work ultimately for the riding public. So…

Dillard Green (16:47)
Mm-hmm.

And we do some collaboration internationally. Our company is global, different codes in different countries.

This particular product, the European code was allowing smaller conductor sizes before we were here. So we do have experience in Europe with similar product that we’ve offered for a number of years. And sometimes I’d get a screenshot from a website

asking how come you can’t… ⁓ I can, but it doesn’t meet the US, you know…

Matt Allred (17:14)
Why can’t you sell me this?

Dillard Green (17:19)
requirements. So if everything was harmonized and you know everybody’s lives would be a lot easier I guess but that’s true in so many areas with units of measurement.

Matt Allred (17:26)
Yeah, I get

it. Yeah. It’s fascinating, you know, not being involved in those to just kind of learn a little bit about, know, it is a little bit like a legal process in a way, right? That it, you know, has to be reviewed and voted on. And like you say, there’s an appeal process and all kinds of things to get some changes. And ultimately it works out. It just takes a little while to get there. Yeah. Very cool.

And yeah, I mean, we were obviously talking about how it can take months or years sometimes before a new product actually reaches the market. there times, I mean, in a way you’re kind of, this is just my guess here, right? But you’re kind of subject to what is approved, right? I mean, in other words, can you create and like develop new technology? I mean, at some point they would have to approve it, right? And does that happen often that you’re like, hey, this would work better?

We’re just going to keep asking until that is allowed to come out.

Dillard Green (18:24)
Yes, something is ⁓

Anything we come up with is different. In our case, our products are listed by UL, Underwriters Laboratories, used in the US and North America. Anything we do that’s outside of the realm of that specification, we can open a project with UL and basically we would manufacture a product using, say, different materials or different components that are outside of the scope of the spec.

Matt Allred (18:46)
Okay.

Dillard Green (18:49)
then we would submit them. Of course, we do our own testing, make sure everything works. But UL would typically look at it and say, if it can meet the performance criteria of our specification, then they would give us a grant us the use of that additional material or whatever that’s outside of the spec. So that’s done within UL because the National Code, Electrical Code is much more general. They’re not telling us what type of material to use. They just

In the case I just described, it’s just a conductor size limitation.

by the way, I learned the conductor size was introduced in the code I think in 1956 as a reason because they were worried about the wires breaking if they any smaller than 20 gauge. We’ve had a lot of innovation since and stranding techniques and things and now there’s much smaller wires used on robotic applications and things like that so it really fits easily in the traveling cable space.

Matt Allred (19:28)
wow.

Dillard Green (19:45)
took till 2023 to change that from back then. anyway, most of the changes we do are not outside of the electrical code, but rather outside the scope of the UL manufacturer specification.

Matt Allred (19:56)
Sure. MVUL, interesting.

That is fascinating that they have a way to open up a kind preemptively, proactively, whatever the right word is, you know, create, hey, we want to create this. And then they can kind of almost, you know, supervise or whatever, to pre-test it in a way, right? So that it’s going to meet the standard once it comes out and then they can put their stamp on it and you’re good to go as long as it’s, I guess, part of the bigger code.

Dillard Green (20:14)
Yeah.

Yeah, and again, the regulatory agency is responsible to be sure it meets basic performance criteria, mainly safety from fire and shorts and things like that. if we can make a product that still meets those performance criteria, then not always, but many times we will get an approval to expand our listing to add different components.

Matt Allred (20:36)
So there’s

Yeah, yeah. There’s been a lot of talk the last few years about the A17, I think it’s .1 code and the need for audio visual. How much has that affected the work you do? I mean, it’s just a matter of throwing in an extra cable or has that been a significant change?

Dillard Green (21:02)
I think the audio visual requirement for emergency use,

certainly changes the components within the traveling cable. have many, different variations and some are just different combinations of pairs and power conductors and the like. We’ve seen an increase in the communication requirement with video and I believe that the CAT 6A Ethernet cable would be a component that would be

Matt Allred (21:16)
Mm-hmm.

Dillard Green (21:30)
interesting for that application for sure. More so than you’re replacing coax

and shielded pairs and things to give you higher performance and better quality picture.

Matt Allred (21:38)
For sure.

Right, right. So yeah, I mean, it does sound like there’s been a lot of innovation. know a lot of different suppliers and inventors that have created products that kind of work on that and obviously have to communicate through the umbilical cord of the traveling cable. So very cool. So tell me a little bit, I was pretty intrigued when you told me you’d worked on the, may say it wrong, the Burj Khalifa, is that how that’s pronounced?

Dillard Green (21:48)
you

Yeah.

Matt Allred (22:06)
and One World Trade, and what are some things that would need to be considered when designing cables for buildings like that?

Dillard Green (22:16)
Well, before you mentioned the Burj Khalifa of course, is the tallest building in the world. ⁓ I had the privilege to work on that project early on, which was a real highlight because many times with a traveling cable, you’re…

Matt Allred (22:20)
Mm-hmm.

Dillard Green (22:29)
They reach out to you when it’s time to get the traveling cable. After the building’s already in construction and they need the elevators to run in a couple of

In this case, I was actually able to be involved in process before they started building the building. was probably four years earlier than when it was built. But anyway, in our first drawings we had access to, and of course I worked with the elevator company installing everything.

as a supplier, the first drawing I had reference to did not have the building height on

because it’s going to be the tallest building. What I’ve learned is it seems that any building that’s being built to be the tallest, they kind of keep that a secret a little bit.

Matt Allred (23:11)
They don’t want to tell their competitors.

Dillard Green (23:13)
It’s either a

secret or they hadn’t decided yet. I don’t know, but we were, you know, as needed basis, I guess. Obviously that was disclosed later because it’s hard to design a traveling cable when you don’t know at that link what the link’s going to be.

Matt Allred (23:16)
Sure.

Dillard Green (23:28)
So most elevators, know, we design cables that have suspended lengths that are plenty long for just about all the elevators. But when you get into a building of that height,

you have to reconsider just the physical strength of the cable. Can it hold up? You don’t want it to break or anything. So that was one aspect. But the biggest thing with that job was that there were a lot of weight requirements. Because you imagine just the restriction of that height, some of the things that had to be resolved just to be able to do that type of elevator. Things like hoist ropes, comp ropes, very heavy when they’re that long. You can go into an observation car to the top of

Matt Allred (24:07)
yeah.

Dillard Green (24:09)
of building like that. So there were some different technologies used on those things. And we had, as a travel cable supplier, we had a maximum weight load requirement for the cables. Generally, we design a cable and don’t pay a lot of attention to the weight. It’s just an output of the design. In this case, we had to really scrutinize the design and make everything compacted together as best as possible.

Matt Allred (24:27)
for sure.

Dillard Green (24:35)
And we also made use of a lot of optical fibers, which are much lighter than copper, obviously.

Matt Allred (24:39)
Sure.

Dillard Green (24:40)
So that helped get our weight down. But they also wanted an incredible number of components within the cables on the observation cars. And I think with those types of buildings, you always have a tourist element of some type of observation car that has lots of video screens and a very entertaining…

ride to the top so that requires a lot of components that most elevator wouldn’t have as well.

Matt Allred (25:02)
Yeah, that’s fascinating. I mean, you mentioned a couple of things that caught my attention. One is just that the rope itself won’t break, right? You stretch it up, what is it? 1200 feet or something? I forget how tall that building is.

Dillard Green (25:13)
it’s

over 150 floors. I should have researched that a little bit.

Matt Allred (25:16)
Really tall.

So the question of, can we make one long enough that it’s not so heavy that it won’t just snap like spaghetti when we stretch it out? I mean, that’s significant. And then the other one, you know, just that it had to have all these weight considerations. I mean, you even told me that the cab itself was made from like ultralight aluminum. You know, so obviously it feels like to me, they’re maybe approaching the

the maximum capacity of elevator technology or maximum height.

Dillard Green (25:50)
Yeah, I think my understanding on that project was really breaking some barriers of maximum heights, then, you know, I guess resetting the bar what maximum is. But there are other projects in the works that are even taller that at least in theory can be done, but not with a traditional elevator components. Everything has to be reviewed and considered because ultimately if there’s too much weight on the car, there’s no capacity for passengers. So you have to make room for passengers.

Matt Allred (26:16)
One at a time, please.

Dillard Green (26:20)
So that was a unique challenge, but it was rewarding to be part of that and see the success.

Matt Allred (26:26)
Absolutely. Now that sounds like a lot of fun

and yeah, just the engineering alone has got to be like say rewarding and memorable and yeah, no, it’s fascinating.

couple of questions for you before we end. And one is, know, looking back in your career, what project or accomplishment makes you the most proud and why?

Dillard Green (26:45)
Well, the first one comes to mind is the Burj Khalifa, just because it is the tallest building in the world. But I’ve been involved in some other unique projects. One that comes to mind is kind of obscure for most people don’t think about it, but I was able to work on the first Tower of Terror for Disney. the challenge there was to design a cable for an elevator that’s designed to crash.

Matt Allred (27:05)
Right on, I love it.

Dillard Green (27:12)
The elevator is designed to fail as a free fall element. ⁓

Matt Allred (27:14)
You know, yeah, and

I didn’t. mean, I rode that 30 years ago with some friends, in college or whatever. But think we went through it 15 times. It wasn’t busy that day and just over and over and over. reflecting on that, mean, obviously, probably not your area of expertise, but it’s designed to fall and to go back up and fall. Right. So I really didn’t think about it at the time other than it was just a fun ride. But.

Dillard Green (27:41)
Yeah, and I tried to get a trip there to help observe installation or assist or whatever,

Disney has all their own, as you can imagine, their own Imagineering department. They do all their own install and maintenance and basically deliver product to their gate and they take it from there. it had to withstand the robust erratic behavior of an elevator that normally if I had a call from somebody

Matt Allred (27:50)
Sure.

Dillard Green (28:06)
behavior like that I would tell them well you have to you maintenance for your elevator is your problem it’s not a cable but that’s designed that way so so that was a unique one it was kind of fun and that’s as you said that was a long time ago evidently if you were there 30 years ago and it’s probably right it’s you know I’ve been doing this for a little while but and we’ve you know we’ve had that was the first one was in Orlando and then of course there’s others and I think in Disney or in places like that.

Matt Allred (28:22)
I’m, yeah, it right at.

Yeah, so they wouldn’t give you a backstage pass to see it. They said, no, just come buy a ticket and you can ride it all you want, but. Very cool. Yeah, yeah. So last question I have for you, what advice would you give to somebody who’s just starting out, right? Maybe it was Young Dillard just coming out of college. What would you say to them?

Dillard Green (28:37)
No, they told me I…

Exactly. Yeah. Thank you everybody else.

One, take advantage of every opportunity that’s afforded you. If you’re working for a company, they offer training, take that.

And really do well with people. think coming from a technology background, there’s not always a people element there, but I think whatever role you have working with people makes things a lot better. Dealing with the customer, obviously, but even working within your organization, understanding that

We all have similar needs, but maybe approach them a different way and try to collaborate with others so that different can often, the synergy can

a larger sum than what individually we provide.

Matt Allred (29:34)
So true. Yeah, well said.

Dillard, thank you for being with me today. I’ve enjoyed it and I appreciate you being on the show.

Dillard Green (29:41)
Okay, man, I appreciate the opportunity.

Matt Allred (29:43)
Yes, sir. Take care.

Matt Allred (29:46)
Thank you for listening to the Elevator Careers Podcast sponsored by the Allred Group, a leader in elevator industry recruiting. Please visit our YouTube channel @ElevatorCareers or check us out online at elevatorcareers.net. Please like and subscribe and until next time, stay safe.