It’s time for more cornhole at the Sany CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2023 booth! IRONPROS’ Wayne Grayson hangs out with SANY’s head of road equipment, Foster Ladlee, who explains why the company has so much momentum behind it.
Wayne Grayson 00:02
Hey guys, welcome back into CONEXPO-Con/AGG 2023. We're here again at the Sany booth and I'm here with Foster Ladlee. Foster is the portfolio manager for all of Sany's road equipment. Foster man, thank you so much for for coming out and playing some cornhole with us. Absolutely. Now, you told me just a second ago that you prefer the left side. So I'm already a little bit worried about this.
Foster Ladlee 00:28
I don't think I’ve had enough beers yet to get me really in tune.
Wayne Grayson 00:31
I'm the same way I gotta get to a field. We're gonna we'll probably play like three rounds here. And we'll see. We'll see what's what, at the very end of it, but we're just gonna hang out a little bit. Have a chat. I'll let you go first, man.
Foster Ladlee 00:42
Sounds good. Sounds good. Should have warmed up.
Wayne Grayson 00:48
Well, tell me a little bit about about your background, how long you've been in the industry and how you found your way to do what you do here at SANY.
Foster Ladlee 00:55
Been in the industry for almost 17 years. Started off on asphalt paving group did that for about 13 years. Went to Volvo Construction Equipment. I was an operator training specialist there for asphalt pavers. Yeah. And here I am now a portfolio manager for SANY's road machinery.
Wayne Grayson 01:15
What to you has been the most impressive aspect of what you guys have been doing here at the show? Or what's been your favorite part of the show so far?
Foster Ladlee 01:24
Well, I think by far we have one of the probably the most welcoming booth here.
Wayne Grayson 01:29
It’s been a party, man. Live music the whole time. Beer and food for all the customers. Absolutely. Everybody's relaxed. It's working the booth. But a good time. Yeah, absolutely.
Alright, so Foster, we just finished basically, you know, round one, I got a couple on the board, you nearly knocked a couple of them off the board. So it's looking like it's shaping up to be a good game so far. Tell me as you get ready for this next story. But tell me a little bit about what it's like going from the perspective of someone who's using the equipment and working on a road crew to helping create that equipment. What's that been like?
Foster Ladlee 02:07
Yeah, it's been it's been very rewarding, rewarding. It's funny, because the way we take the voice of the customer and the customer feedback and bring it back and implement it on the machines, yeah. And do it in a very fast fashion. So that's the most important thing. You got to we're here to build it for the customer. So we’ve got to make it right.
02:42
I'd have to say probably the guys, You know, construction talk is you know, you don't get that very other places. But, but no, it was it was a good move for the body anyway to go.
Wayne Grayson
I bet it was. Now how long did you work on the crew?
Foster Ladlee 02:59
About 13 years? 14 years? Yeah, yeah. So when you wake up and you feel pretty old every morning and your back's cracking and popping, it's just time to Yeah, man. I don't want to be 40 feeling like 90.
Wayne Grayson 03:34
Well, you were telling me off camera earlier you love to hunt. What's your favorite thing to hunt?
Foster Ladlee 03:47
Actually, for a long time was a deer hunter, but I got heavy into duck hunting. I love hanging out with the guys in a duck blind, drinking beer, grilling breakfast and that kind of stuff. There's nothing better. Nothing better.
I’m a big bow hunter.
Wayne Grayson
What's your favorite hunting spot?
Foster Ladlee
I'd have to go back home to Pennsylvania.
Wayne Grayson 04:45
All right, man. Well, that that that finishes it up. I did pretty well. I'm kind of proud of myself. Not gonna lie. I said like I said you had me worried in the beginning with with the side preference, but I feel like I feel like I represented a little bit there. Hey, man, thank you so much for joining us. and hanging out drinking some beer and playing cornhole guys that's pretty much been the vibe here all week here at ConExpo-Con/AGG at the Sany booth just kind of hanging out talking machines and checking out all the awesome sites here at ConExpo but Foster man, thank you so much again pal.
