CONEXPO In-SANY-ty! XL Beer Pong and Equipment Management in Antarctica

[00:00:00.090] - Wayne Grayson 

Hey, guys. Welcome to CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2023. We're here in the SANY booth and I'm here with my buddy Jeremy Brothers. Jeremy, tell us what you do here. 

[00:00:12.240] - Jeremy Brothers 

I’m a parts and service rep for SANY America. 

[00:00:14.990] - Wayne Grayson 

Awesome, man. So, Jeremy, we are going to play some -- I don't know if I wouldn call it life size because that really doesn't make any sense, but it's a larger size, extra large, beer pong, I think today, right? There is no beer in these. Just to be clear. The only beer that we've got is in our cup. But we've got a couple of these tiny little volleyballs here that are probably going to bounce all over the place and embarrass us a little bit, but we're going to give it a shot and play. So you want to do the honors for us to kick us off? 

[00:00:44.930] - Jeremy Brothers 

Make the first row here. 

[00:00:45.950] - Wayne Grayson 

All right. You got to be kidding. Oh, wait, does that count? If it counts. All right. Now, again, we don't have any bearded down, but I'll go ahead and I'll have a little bit. 

[00:01:02.610] - Jeremy Brothers 

All right. 

[00:01:03.110] - Wayne Grayson 

Here we go. Here goes nothing. 

[00:01:04.310] - Jeremy Brothers 

All right, let's see it. 

[00:01:07.590] - Wayne Grayson 

Oh, my God. 

[00:01:08.780] - Jeremy Brothers 

Oh, my God. You got to put a little backspin on backspin I got. 

[00:01:14.310] - Wayne Grayson 

Here we go. So, Jeremy, we were talking a little bit about I'm going to distract you with conversation so that I can actually catch up here. 

[00:01:20.670] - Jeremy Brothers 

There you go. 

[00:01:21.130] - Wayne Grayson 

But we were talking earlier and your background, I told you, is awesome. It's fascinating. Now, you grew up in Oklahoma, but tell everybody a little bit about your background growing up. 

[00:01:32.640] - Jeremy Brothers 

So I grew up on a farm. 

[00:01:35.550] - Wayne Grayson 

He's not kidding about the backspin, that one. 

[00:01:37.940] - Jeremy Brothers 

It works, man. It works. 

[00:01:38.980] - Wayne Grayson 

Sure does. All right, I'm going to copy it. All right. Tell us about you. 

[00:01:41.650] - Jeremy Brothers 

Grew up on a farm working on John Deere equipment, Cat equipment and just as a kid and with my dad and fell in love with it. 

[00:01:50.530] - Speaker 3 

I hear you. 

[00:01:51.650] - Jeremy Brothers 

Thank you. 

[00:01:52.340] - Wayne Grayson 

Yes, sir. So fell in love with the equipment and started now, how did you get into the career of actually working on equipment for a living after? Did you do a little bit of that as an adult on the ranch and everything? 

[00:02:05.530] - Jeremy Brothers 

I did. Yes, I did. And then I went to a technical school. All right. Took diesel technology. 

[00:02:10.750] - Speaker 3 

Okay. 

[00:02:11.450] - Jeremy Brothers 

And then got in with caterpillar. 

[00:02:14.050] - Speaker 3 

Okay. 

[00:02:16.410] - Wayne Grayson 

I've got a couple of friends who are actually going through some diesel tech programs right now, and honestly, it's something that, honestly, more kids should be taking a look at in their career. You had that background. It just made perfect sense. 

[00:02:32.260] - Jeremy Brothers 

Right. 

[00:02:32.580] - Wayne Grayson 

You could learn the rest of the trade. But what about the diesel tech program did you like the most? 

[00:02:38.480] - Jeremy Brothers 

I just like using my hands. I like taking something that's broke, fixing it, make it run. Nothing better. 

[00:02:44.920] - Wayne Grayson 

All right, go ahead and take your next. All right. He's giving me some room here. 

[00:02:52.440] - Jeremy Brothers 

All right, you got a chance. 

[00:02:56.310] - Wayne Grayson 

You're right. It feels like a softball throw, almost. Oh, hey, we can't bounce them, can we? 

[00:03:02.330] - Jeremy Brothers 

Yeah, you can bounce. 

[00:03:03.280] - Wayne Grayson 

Oh, you can. 

[00:03:03.900] - Jeremy Brothers 

Let's see it. All right. 

[00:03:08.090] - Wayne Grayson 

Now look at that. 

[00:03:08.910] - Jeremy Brothers 

Now. 

[00:03:09.070] - Wayne Grayson 

I think that might be the ticket. All right, so I know that from there you actually got into some government contract and did a lot of traveling. 

[00:03:17.060] - Jeremy Brothers 

Yes. 

[00:03:17.310] - Wayne Grayson 

What was that like? 

[00:03:18.100] - Jeremy Brothers 

Always a blast. I got to see Australia. Spent some time working on machines there. New Zealand. And then the best part was going to Antarctica. 

[00:03:29.910] - Wayne Grayson 

Okay. So, yeah, we got to talk about Antarctica a little bit in the run. You know what? Maybe we should stop talking, because I don't think that that strategy is working here. All right, so you went to Antarctica to work on equipment. 

[00:03:47.350] - Jeremy Brothers 

Now. 

[00:03:47.610] - Wayne Grayson 

Antarctica and Machinery. What's going on there? And there's a bunch of machinery down there. 

[00:03:55.450] - Jeremy Brothers 

There are 300 pieces down there. Very cold. They don't like it. Heat, blankets on everything. Yeah. 

[00:04:02.240] - Speaker 3 

Okay. 

[00:04:03.090] - Jeremy Brothers 

I got to keep a lot of them inside, obviously. Yeah. 

[00:04:06.130] - Wayne Grayson 

It's a big facility to make facility. Now, how cold was it down there? 

[00:04:10.430] - Jeremy Brothers 

The coldest? I've seen it. It was negative 64 with 128 miles an hour wind. 

[00:04:16.240] - Wayne Grayson 

So not your typical fleet maintenance job. 

[00:04:19.490] - Jeremy Brothers 

No, that counts if it bounces out. 

[00:04:23.190] - Wayne Grayson 

Oh, my gosh, guys, I told you. Well, at least one of us is doing well, so yeah, you're doing some doing some maintenance. Now, how long were you down there? 

[00:04:35.130] - Jeremy Brothers 

Six months. But you did I did several stints. 

[00:04:39.120] - Wayne Grayson 

Several trips down there. 

[00:04:40.350] - Jeremy Brothers 

I'd stay for six months. I'd come home for a few months and then go back. 

[00:04:44.730] - Wayne Grayson 

What was it like? What were six straight months of? 

[00:04:48.810] - Jeremy Brothers 

The worst part is the wintertime down there. It's total darkness. I didn't care for that. 

[00:04:54.030] - Wayne Grayson 

You start going a little circle. 

[00:04:55.220] - Jeremy Brothers 

Yeah, you do. And when it's really cold and really windy and the storms are blowing in, you can't go outside. So it's dark, it's cold, and you're stuck indoors. 

[00:05:06.130] - Wayne Grayson 

This is bad. This is real bad. If I'm in the house for more than a couple of days, I started going a little stir crazy, let alone no light outside and everything else. 

[00:05:16.520] - Jeremy Brothers 

Right. 

[00:05:18.310] - Wayne Grayson 

So going from Antarctica, where did you head next? 

[00:05:22.870] - Jeremy Brothers 

After that, I spent some time in Hawaii. 

[00:05:25.570] - Speaker 3 

Okay. 

[00:05:26.420] - Jeremy Brothers 

Working for a dealership out there. I got tired of the cold. Wanting some? Actually, I was looking for some. 

[00:05:32.890] - Wayne Grayson 

I'll move to the actual opposite of Antarctica. Exactly. One of the most beautiful places in the world. 

[00:05:38.330] - Jeremy Brothers 

That's it. 

[00:05:38.810] - Wayne Grayson 

You were there for about a year, right? 

[00:05:39.790] - Jeremy Brothers 

Yes, sir. 

[00:05:40.300] - Speaker 3 

Okay. 

[00:05:40.970] - Wayne Grayson 

And so then Mama called, so to speak, was Sanny SANY gave you a call, and you've been here for about a year? 

[00:05:48.260] - Jeremy Brothers 

A little over a year, yes, sir. 

[00:05:49.150] - Wayne Grayson 

Okay, so what are some of your favorite things about SANY? 

[00:05:52.760] - Jeremy Brothers 

The people. 

[00:05:53.440] - Speaker 3 

Okay. 

[00:05:53.860] - Jeremy Brothers 

The environment. It's a blast to work with these guys. 

[00:05:58.320] - Wayne Grayson 

Yeah, absolutely. Well, I mean, any place that's got extra large beer pond guys, I think. 

[00:06:04.240] - Jeremy Brothers 

They'Re a little better at beer pong, too. Does that help? 

[00:06:07.190] - Wayne Grayson 

Look, now, I haven't hit any, but if there was a strike zone right there, we had a set place. I've hit the exact same place every single time, buddy. Go ahead. I haven't made a single one. He's cleared the board. I didn't have high expectations coming into this, but I thought I'd do a little bit better than this. All right. That's okay, though. And if the cups were about three and a half feet backward, I think I'd do a lot better, too, going back to Antarctica, because I definitely don't want you to make this one. What were some of the things that you kind of had to do as part of that job and take us through kind of some of the differences of a normal, I guess, cold climate. You grew up in Oklahoma, so it could have been more different working on some of that stuff. But what was some of the crazy stuff that you saw going on with some of the machines? 

[00:06:57.660] - Jeremy Brothers 

So, the first day out, actually, we had a tractor lose a fan belt, and I've never been in a negative 60 environment before. Right. So we go out, we tear the tractor down. I lay the fan belt on the engine while we're working on it, put the fan belt on, fire, the tractor up, and the fan belt just shatters like glass. I honestly didn't think about it. 

[00:07:26.190] - Wayne Grayson 

That is not a typical situation. 

[00:07:27.680] - Jeremy Brothers 

Right. We had to redo it. I left the fan belt on the defrostor of the truck this time, let it get you hurried up, put it on, and got it running. 

[00:07:39.670] - Wayne Grayson 

Absolutely. Oh, my God. Does that count? Oh, wait. So I guess I have made one. 

[00:07:45.090] - Jeremy Brothers 

Oh, yeah. 

[00:07:45.570] - Speaker 3 

Okay. 

[00:07:45.810] - Wayne Grayson 

So I got two. 

[00:07:46.450] - Jeremy Brothers 

You got two. All right. 

[00:07:47.210] - Wayne Grayson 

That's respectable, I feel like. All right, so we did end on a good note, and we actually figured out I actually hit two of those because apparently if they rim out, it's still good. So we are out of bucket. So I guess we're going to wrap this one up. We'll call it a tie. We'll call it a tie. It'll be good. All right, Jeremy, man, thank you so much, buddy. It's awesome to talk to you. 

[00:08:10.640] - Jeremy Brothers 

Yes, sir. 

[00:08:11.580] - Wayne Grayson 

Hey, and guys, stay tuned because we got way more games and awesome conversations coming up from the SANY booth this week. So come hang out with us.