Murray: You mentioned innovative products. One of the things you’ve done is use crowdfunding sites to test innovative products. Tell us about that.
Nolan: Yeah, so we have a couple of different ways we test. We test on marketplaces. We test on crowdfunding sites. We test through our own website. So we really try to use what’s out there today to see what’s resonating with the consumer. And we actually have a pretty cool group. We call it our micro-enterprises. It’s a group of individuals that we give a little bit of seed money to, and we say, ‘Hey, go see what you can innovate.’ And they’ve come up with some really interesting ideas that we’ve actually put into market, which is pretty cool.
Murray: And then on the data security side, you mentioned that is a big concern for you. How do you approach that in this age of generative AI and all the things that are happening with data?
Nolan: Yeah, we’re very, very careful on what we do and how we do it. And I’d say that, I think, is going to be important for all companies going forward. How do you make sure that the data you’re getting is secure and it’s trusted by your consumers? We spend a lot of time on that, and it’s very, very important to us. We don’t do anything with the data that we shouldn’t be doing, and we’re very, very transparent with what we’re doing with the data that we’re collecting.
Murray: Kevin Nolan, thank you so much for joining us on Leadership Next.
Nolan: Thank you.
[Interview ends.]
Murray: That was Kevin Nolan, CEO of GE Appliances. And, Michal, that wraps up my part of this podcast. I can’t thank you enough for all the great work you’ve done. You’ve taken this podcast to heights that I never imagined, and I’m sure there are great things to come. So thank you.
Lev-Ram: Thank you, Alan. It’s been such a pleasure and an honor.
Murray: And that’s it for this episode of Leadership Next. I’m Alan Murray.
Lev-Ram: And I’m Michal Lev-Ram.
Murray: Thanks for listening.
[End of transcript.]
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And so we co-created the Opal nugget ice maker with that community. And it’s been a huge success. And then, as you mentioned, the smart indoor smoker, that was another one where we saw a trend of people wanting to smoke their own meats at home, but the traditional outdoor smokers were big and bulky and hard to use. So we worked with the community to create a smart indoor smoker that could be used in any kitchen. And it’s been a hit as well. So these are just a couple of examples of how co-creation with our customers has led to successful products.” ” So we came out, we crowdfunded that and we used crowdfunding, really not to raise funds, but to see, do people want it? So we use that as a validation method, so much more powerful than typical research because you can ask anybody anything, but until they have to pay for it, you don’t really know. Is it, you know, are they telling you the truth? And that thing just took off. I mean, it’s been incredible what you’ve seen it’s done. The latest one is just what, Michal, what you talk to is this indoor smoker. And it was another one where we had a bunch of people that were just, love smoking food. So we found a passionate community. Then, by knowing that community, you start understanding is there any way they want to be served differently? And those insights start coming there. Oh, well, there was trouble in the wintertime and others. So the question, well, what if we could do it indoors? Well, you can’t. Say, well, maybe we can. And that’s what started that whole project. So people have been involved. They’ve seen we’ve been working on that from day one. And so far, it’s doing very, very well.
Lev-Ram: I’m curious, I’m all for, you know, setting my indoor smoker at 2 a.m. from bed, you know, using my phone, right, and so many of these amazing features that appliances have now. But there is a little bit of pushback on them getting too smart and the costs associated with maintenance, with fixing, with all sorts of repairs and just a lot of features, right. Maybe too many in some cases. So how do you guys, do you spend time thinking about it? And how do you kind of draw that balance between being innovative, you know, pushing the envelope and also not making them too smart, I guess?
Nolan: Yeah. So the smart, I think, one is the cost of being smart has come down radically. I mean, you know, the cost of putting smart typically enables you to communicate with that appliance. So the cost of that is really come down. I’d say the key is what do you do with it? You know when you talked about reliability and service, the real reason we got into having these things communicate, because we’ve been doing this for a long time now, was just for that, for service. So that when something is wrong, we can tell. And because these things are more complicated now, there’s many more features, and just having the average repairman roll out and be able to fix this day one, it’s much like cars. I mean, you need to understand. And every time you bring a car in, they plug it in and they’re going to see with diagnostics what’s really going on. We have that same technology in basically all of our appliances. So it’s really there to help serve the consumer if there’s ever an issue. But on top of it, it allows consumers the features they want when they want it and how they want it. So you’re going to see a future of appliances that come out they’re going to be as basic as you want, or you can have all kinds of advanced features if you want to have them. And it’s going to be much more up to the consumer than having one size fits all.
Lev-Ram: So we can all have conversations in different languages with our washing machines if we want to, but we don’t have to.
Nolan: If you want to, and I guarantee there’ll still be a button on there where you can get this thing…
Murray: Just wash the thing.
Nolan: …to start and stop.
Murray: But Michal raised the point of, you know, we now have these powerful generative AI models that will allow you to talk to your washing machine or talk to your refrigerator. Have you figured out yet whether there are valuable uses of that technology in your appliances?
Nolan: Yeah. So we’re all over gen AI. I’d say we’re looking throughout the company for every role I see it transforming. So we’re really trying to democratize that tool so that people we can see, you know, what are the best use? But it’s in the hands of our consumers already. Our SmartHQ app, which is the app that you can use with the appliances, anyone can download it. But one thing we worked with Google, we came out, it’s called Flavorly, and it can give you whatever ingredients you have and it’s fun to fool around with if you haven’t. Just give it a list of ingredients, tell it what style of food, it can even make cocktails that you want and it will come up with a recipe.
Murray: Oh, that’s cool. Here’s what I’ve got. It’s here’s what I’ve got right? Or what can I make?
Nolan: And we’re trying to get after food waste.
Murray: Yeah.
Nolan: But it turns out being a lot of fun. I’d say it’s a powerful use of AI, but a different one than we would have thought.
Murray: And I mean, you’ve made a nod to this earlier. You know, Michal and I will go to the Consumer Electronics Show every year, and you see these appliances that do amazing things. And you sometimes wonder, the technologists who develop them, I’m sure, are very proud of their developments. But does anybody really want that? Like, I never really, the idea of being able to see inside my refrigerator never really appealed to me. You know, did that catch on or did it not catch on? I’m sure you must have a lot of cool things that are possible that people don’t really want.
Nolan: Yeah, that’s, we try to focus hard on that. And as a technologist, as an engineer, you’ve got to make sure, are you doing what you think is cool or what a customer really is interested in? That’s what we like about first build, about co-creation, because it keeps you from making some of those dumb mistakes.”
Murray: That’s really interesting. It sounds like Haier has a very unique approach to global operations. And it’s great to hear that you are focusing on serving the U.S. market and investing in manufacturing and distribution here. It’s important for companies to adapt to the markets they operate in. Thank you for sharing that perspective, Chip.
Nolan: Absolutely, it’s been a pleasure to talk about it. Thank you for having me.
[Music fades out.]
[End of transcript.]
But the main support is trusting us to serve our market the way it wants to be served.
Murray: And no one’s attacking you saying, Oh, these refrigerators are sending data back to Beijing that there’s somehow….
Lev-Ram: About what Alan’s keeping in his refrigerator.
[Laughter.]
Nolan: I mean, the thing is, as an engineer, we are very, very strict. And I would say, we have all kinds of third-party tests, people coming in. Just, the software is written in the U.S. We’re very, very careful on what we do and how we do it. And I’d say that that, I think, is going to be important for all companies going forward of how do you make sure that the data you’re getting is secure and it’s trusted by your consumers? We spend a lot of time on that.
Lev-Ram: Well, and especially as gen AI becomes, you know, more and more a part of these appliances. And again, we’re actually talking to them and they’re listening. I would imagine that becomes more important. I was wondering, when it comes to manufacturing in the U.S., we’re hearing about on the semiconductor side, some of the challenges, despite all of the incentives to build out new fabs, some of the challenges of actually staffing them. Are you finding that that’s an issue? Obviously, very different manufacturing process for you guys. But when it comes to just staffing and manufacturing talent, are there issues there or do you have enough resources?
Nolan: You know, I’d say there’s different issues, but I think everyone that’s in manufacturing is feeling some of the same. During the pandemic, it was almost impossible to get workers. I mean, I was out working on the assembly line. We had us all out there, all hands on deck. If you can come in to work, get out there and build product because our consumers need them. That’s kind of going away. And I’m glad it’s gone away because I didn’t like going out on the factory floor every morning. But we we’ve got the work, but there is a big competition because you’re seeing more and more manufacturing come into the states and certain regions it’s lumpy where it’s going too. So the regions that are attracting a lot of it are starting to have labor. One of the first things you want to look at, if I’m going to put a manufacturing site in, is there a labor pool available that we can take part?
Murray: Is that forcing you to get more involved in education, training, sort of creating areas, ecosystems, working with colleges to create the talent you need?
Nolan: I’d say we’ve always been there. I think now others are realizing you’ve got to do it. And if you look at what we do of us getting involved in the elementary schools, middle schools, we put in all kinds of things around Louisville. You can see we’re part of the curriculum and we’re part of the college curriculum. But manufacturers got to get more involved. If you look at a lot of these apprentice programs that were around went away in the seventies. So if you look at the skill set, you need robotics engineers. We need advanced manufacturing, people who can put equipment install…that’s where I’d say the biggest shortage in this country is—the skill set to put in this high-tech stuff that you need in a modern factory. And we’ve all got to do our part to get these young kids excited. They’re great jobs. These aren’t going away. You know they’re jobs, quite frankly, you won’t have to worry about gen AI taking away. But we’ve got to get more interest and people got to know that these jobs are real. They’re coming to America in a big way.
Lev-Ram: Did you sleep on the factory floor, too, like Elon Musk?
Nolan: No, I’m not…
Lev-Ram: You didn’t get there.
Nolan: I don’t know. I’d like to see if he really slept. It sounds like a good, a good story, but…
Lev-Ram: He had a cot. Apparently so.
Nolan: Developing programs I slept at work a few times, but I wouldn’t say it was a practice.
Murray: So this podcast started four and a half years ago. This is my last, by the way. This is my, Michal is going to keep going. There’ll be many more to come, but this is my last.
Nolan: It’s an honor to be here.
Murray: Well, it’s an honor to have you for my last. It started in early 2020 and it was really an effort to kind of focus on this rising discussion and focus on stakeholder capitalism, on businesses that wanted to make a profit for sure, but also wanted to make sure they did business in a way that maximized the benefits for the community, for the workers, for the customers, for the environment. How do you think about that at Haier?
Nolan: You know, I’d say it’s very important to us. It’s been in our DNA and it goes back pre-Haier. If you look at what we were about, you look at the products we make, they use electricity, they also use gas. And we have to look at the responsibility we have because if you look at the impact, we have a lot, the social impact of our factories, how they run, but the real energy usage and the thing that we can have huge impact is the stuff that’s going out in everybody’s homes. So, we’ve time and time again made sure what are the chemicals we’re using? You know, you look at greenhouse gases. We were one of the first to make sure that we were foaming refrigerators with the most friendly environmental thing you could do. We brought that into the States. The same with the refrigerant that goes into those products, very environmentally friendly. And then it gets into energy use. You see, one of the products we just came out with is a combo. It wash and dries at the same time, but in one unit. And consumers are loving it. It’s really resonating.
Pero esa no es la razón por la que lo hicimos originalmente, porque el uso eléctrico en él es asombroso. Quiero decir, seca tu ropa exactamente como esa secadora que tienes en tu casa en este momento que tiene un gran enchufe que se conecta a un tomacorriente de 220 amperios. Bueno, esto se conecta de la misma manera que cargar tu teléfono celular, en ese soporte, en el mismo tomacorriente en el que vas a cargar tu teléfono, ahora puedes secar tu ropa. Un gran impacto en el medio ambiente. Lo mismo con el calentamiento de agua. Traer tecnología de bomba de calor para calentamiento de agua híbrido. Así que creo que ha sido parte de nuestro ADN y ahora estamos en una gran misión para lograr hogares de energía cero. ¿Cómo podemos permitir a los consumidores tener estos hogares de energía cero a un precio asequible? Así que tenemos un montón de socios con los que estamos trabajando. Tecnología con la que estamos trabajando porque sentimos que jugamos un papel importante en eso y realmente podemos ayudar a los consumidores a lograr esas cosas.
Lev-Ram: Una pregunta más para ti, Kevin, y es algo ligero. Esta no es una pregunta seria. Nos enteramos de que eres relojero en tu tiempo libre. Pero primero, ¿qué tipo de tiempo libre tienes? Y segundo, ¿es algo en lo que te gusta trastear porque es tan mecánico? Quiero decir, a medida que te estás moviendo más y más hacia estos dispositivos inteligentes, ¿qué significa para ti hacer relojes?
Nolan: Sí, es mi tiempo libre porque me di cuenta de que no hay forma de ganar dinero con ello.
[Risas.]
Pero sabes, lo disfruto. Siempre he disfrutado de la ingeniería y realmente es mi pasión. Así que lo hago casi todas las noches. Me encontrarás en el garaje allí mecanizando.
Murray: Pero es una tecnología muy antigua. Es como…
Nolan: Es antigua y nueva. La tecnología es antigua, lo que estoy haciendo. Pero la tecnología que estoy usando, ya sabes, porque bueno, usaremos programas CAD, programas CAM, CNC. Así que algunos de los relojeros tradicionales se molestan cuando ven, ya sabes, es CNC pudiendo hacer algunas de las partes que solían tener que hacer y limar a mano. Pero también lo uso para mantenerme actualizado en realidad en tecnología porque es algo extremadamente desafiante de hacer. Y es un buen juez porque si no lo haces bien, no mantiene el tiempo. Así que no es como si alguien te dijera si se ve bonito o no. Puedes decir que es bueno o no lo es.
Murray: Hemos preguntado a mucha gente en los últimos cuatro años y medio qué hacen para relajarse. Pero eres el primero que lo hace haciendo relojes.
Lev-Ram: Por cierto, mis padres tienen un viejo reloj de pie que ha dicho que son las 6:15 durante los últimos cuatro años, creo, porque es tan difícil encontrar a alguien que realmente lo arregle. Así que la próxima vez que estés en el Área de la Bahía, por favor pasa por aquí.
Murray: Tengo a un tipo. Tengo a un tipo, Michal.
Nolan: Podría ser la fase dos de mi carrera.
Murray: Es algo bueno de hacer. Bueno, muchas gracias por tomarte el tiempo de estar con nosotros. Una empresa fascinante. Y mantente cerca. Es muy interesante escuchar sobre lo que estás haciendo.
Nolan: Aprecio el tiempo. Gracias.
Murray: Leadership Next es editado por Nicole Vergalla.
Lev-Ram: Nuestro productor ejecutivo es Chris Joslin.
Murray: Nuestro tema es de Jason Snell.
Lev-Ram: Leadership Next es una producción de Fortune Media.
Murray: Los episodios de Leadership Next son producidos por el equipo editorial de Fortune. Las opiniones expresadas por los oradores y los invitados del podcast son únicamente suyas y no reflejan las opiniones de Deloitte ni de su personal. Tampoco Deloitte respalda o recomienda a las personas o entidades presentadas en los episodios.
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