The Intersection of Hardware, Aesthetics and Technology in Residential Design

Hey, everybody, and welcome back to provide today I'm your host Ben Thomas and we've got an exciting show today and one that really is hopefully going to be pretty informative for a lot of our listeners. We're going to renew kind of that focus on the residential market a little bit more from kind of that intersection of technology and design and hardware, functionality, things like that, especially when it comes to maybe some of those traditional tools, traditional home home hardware pieces that historically haven't been fully integrated into the home. And to talk about that a little bit more today, I brought on Martin Hek'ma of masonite tonight. Martin, Thanks so much for coming on the show today. Event great to be here. Thank you for having us. You know, Martin, you're somebody who's seen this transition happen firsthand, where historically I hate calling them this, but we'll call them. We'll call them. Dumb items are dumb hardware that hasn't been fully technologically integrated into the home have kind of just been pieces of the home. Right and now, especially coming out of Syria and jumping into some of these newer trends in a post-pandemic world, you're seeing a lot more integration of technology in things like doors, right? And smart home technology and things like shades and home theater systems really across the board. And, you know, as somebody who has their finger on the pulse of really that intersection, you know, what do you think's really driving that? Right? is it that end user demand? Is it a combination of other external factors? And your opinion, what's really driving that innovation right now in the space? Yeah, it's a real impact. That's a really, really good question. And you know, we are with masonite, we are a global designer manufacturer, a producer, distributor and marketer of, you know, into your next universe, mainly in the residential space, but also serving some of the commercial end markets. So, you know, we have all products everywhere right now ubiquitous. And, you know, people don't oftentimes, you know, acknowledge them or see them more, but they live with them. They open them, close them every day and in a sort of subconscious way. And I think, you know, especially with the last two and a half, three years, that really changed our lives in so many, so many ways. Right our homes, on our restaurants, homes, our schools, in our gyms, in our homes are so many different things that sort of trigger effectively this sort of influx of new ideation and new innovations coming in the home. And, you know, as a door manufacturer, if you will, you know, we sort of had our entry laid out with the small doors, you know, the first ever fully powered and integrated, you know, residential door featuring, you know, a smart analog integrated video doorbell, as well as inviting use cases and motion sensors to participate in that space. And I think that, you know, within like what you said earlier, you know, that the sort of term smart home has been a bit over used, if you will. And it's really just a home like this. People expect to live with this technology. And I think that's where when we look at market participants and our channel partners, you know, they look at it The same way, right? So I think taking technology in a way that it really, really addresses end use of problems and integrating it in a meaningful way. Whether that's a door, whether that's a shed, to your point, you know, whether that's irrigation systems or whatever that may be, it has to be easier and it has to be better than the way it is today. And that's really challenging. But I think, you know, talking about our small business, I think we're off to something. The feedback we're getting is really very valid. It's deeply rooted in as use of research and insights, a lot of work that we've done over the last several years to really identify what are and persona we call them SVT or strategic value target, what their needs are really evolving around safety, security and around comfort, convenience. And then we're making the most vital style has to be always foundational. It always has to be the right or if you will, and the right sort of look and feel that comes with it. Well Martin Leah, we talked a little bit before the show, and I told you one of the things that made me laugh, I was having a conversation with some of my buddies before I came on and they said, you're having someone on from masonite to talk about technology. Isn't that the door company? I said, yeah, but don't you have a smart lock and don't you have a doorbell? Smart doorbell. And that made me laugh a little bit because, you know, one of the things that you guys have obviously seen. And that's not only at Mason, that's at a number of different companies in the residential space kind of worldwide, is that, you know, this renewed focus on not only the aesthetics and really the functionality and kind of the all in one approaches is important. But, you know, like you touched on a second ago, that end user experience and the ease of use and the accessibility and the integration into existing tools is more important than it's ever been. You know, and as I was having that conversation, we talked about some of those tools that my friends had. You know, it became very apparent that they would love to have a smart door, right? Something that came in. They didn't have to worry about charging batteries. They didn't have to worry about power. You know, and that's where, you know, I think Mason and especially has incredible insight because you guys have been doing fantastic work on the design integration space for a long time, you know, but as you step into some of these more smarter tools, you know, talk about how that end user informs that experience. Sorry, informs that product and design process a little bit more than maybe they historically have. Yeah, it's interesting, you know, if we look at the space. And then before joining Mason a couple of years ago, I spent a decade in Iowa. And, you know, I remember back in 2010 or 2011, you know, everybody in the smarthome space back then was like at SEAS at the Consumer Electronics Show was like, oh, it's just a, you know, this is the year when everything is going to happen and we're going to go to adoption and adoption, right. And the reality is that hasn't been the case. We've seen sort of like this very steady, healthy growth, but we haven't seen that optimistic, you know, that people have expecting. And I think a lot of that has been because, you know, we'll talk a bit about, I'm sure, interoperability concerns, but also really, I don't want to call it lackluster use case. It's necessary, but not really use cases that really, really solve and a problem that has a really ugly next best alternative to it, if you will. And I think, you know, the ability to do that, I think and you mentioned no more changing that or we can to make sense of, you know, that's not the right that's a huge, huge opportunity, not only just for us, but for partners, for channel participants, for integrators and for a lot of different audiences, if you will, to really win together as an ecosystem. Right and then ultimately provide a, you know, a really great solution to an end user and, you know, the integration. All of those devices be a part of that. If you look at the lobbying infrastructure that allowed us to look at this with aesthetics lens, if you will, that's a bit native to what we do and have been doing for almost 100 years is to say, how do we even in mass adopting markets within this market, such as we do with others, how do we take that experience and actually accelerate or amplify that in a more meaningful way? Right, by placing the doorbell where naturally it sits as you approach the door. So then that will really provide a lot of better use cases when you think about facial recognition or whatever, whatever those use cases may be, that kind of result from that. So I think it's been a really, really interesting journey, especially over the last several years to see that as well. Martin you touched on it just a little bit, and I want to dig in to that interoperability kind of question, right? Historically, obviously, masonite has been a fantastic manufacturer of doors for you said right out 100 years. And, you know, obviously, the smart door is something that's a little bit newer in the scope of the vision of the company. You know, how do you how do you leverage existing technologies? Maybe it's through partners. You know, how do you basically kind of come into that market? I wouldn't say cold, but how do you come to that market as somebody who's been known historically for one thing, and then kind of adapting that to function in another way? It's really, really hard, but it's also a lot of fun. And, you know, it's amazing. You know, we work with so many talented people every day and you're really thinking about throwing capabilities into new areas. That's really at the box of what we're trying to do and what you have to do. And, you know, I think, again, tremendous progress the team has made in such a short amount of time. If you think about, you know, moving from manufacturing, you know, and doing good and really doing the things that no other company in the world does better. But again, like putting in a wire harnesses, you know, and routing technology and embedding that into the process is very different, you know, and and I think that stretches throughout the entire set of functions and functions and capabilities, if you will. So it's been a really, really interesting and tremendous journey thus far. And, you know, when we think about interoperability and partnerships and you mentioned it, then I think it's really important to think about the smart home today and the space in general. You know, partnerships are really at the core of what's happening. And I think we're moving absolutely in the right direction as an industry more broadly, as an industry, to say stuff should just work together right with each other. And, you know, we've hung in there for years. And I think we're finally with a matter of seeing, you know, a light at the end of the tunnel. And some of the protocols that should hopefully try to solve all that. Let's let the end user decide. Right, what the ecosystem of choice should be, and then let the best device win, if you will, and kind of have an even playing field. But, you know, the ability for stuff not to work together. And then that's also another reason why I think that's got to be holding back the small form of it over the last couple of years. So if we can, again, mapping this back to base tonight and what we do as a company. Right, we are teaming up with, you know, the best partners in the respective space, you know, and, you know, I think they're extremely good at what they're doing. So we're integrating their technology into a meaningful way, into an overall experience that people already expect to have. And see and evolve over time. So again, if you look at the impulse model are great use cases that are embedded there today. But you know what else is there that can do that the whole can do over time? Right so we're looking at a lot of those pieces from a worldwide standpoint as well of what they can mean over time, too, even in that new use cases or improve the existing use cases, you know, that goes across the whole spectrum of the whole. Well, and what's exciting to see, too, right now in residential is the increase in what I call the do it for me crowd. Right and users are familiar and comfortable with ordering food online and having somebody bring it to them and things like that. And that's trickled to the residential installation space, especially in smart homes, right where it historically, people maybe shied away a little bit from the integrators unless it was a massive enterprise installation. Now people are more, especially when you start talking about things like power and installation and aesthetics, people are a lot more willing to work with the integrator, right? So that puts a little bit more burden on the integrator, especially, you know, as from a design and functionality standpoint. You know, talk about masonite specifically, you know, as you guys are working on the residential channel, specifically talk about the role of how that integrator talk about the importance of really of the integrator in that channel right now. Yeah, it's a very important audience for us and it's a new audience for us as well as historically. We haven't really engaged that much with that audience. Now if you think about, you know, this is all public information, you know, the way we're going to market today is mainly for abstraction, which makes a lot of sense, right? If you think about it more, you know, having to be hooked up to the mains power of the Home and this is a bit of heavy lifting that has to happen there. So as the home is being built at all, coming in, that's a perfect symbiosis, makes a lot of sense. So as we engage with those channel partners, we're learning a lot more about the integrated audiences and really what they do and what must be true for them, you know, in order for this to be a win-win. But again, talking about CDI. And you know, there that was our first CDO show as well that we've attended a couple of weeks ago as an international, you know, I had an opportunity to attend a couple of those panels, and there was one panel that was really, really insightful. And in that, you know, the integrator and the designer and the architect audience were sort of brought together. You really talk about, OK, how do you guys see yourself interact and at what point in the journey does that have to happen? And it was tremendous. At one point, the moderator asked, OK, you know, what's the percentage look like in terms of with who would integrate already works with a designer at some point. And the number was very high. I think it was close to 50% And that was very encouraging to see, like, you know, at that early in the journey, if those two audiences collaborate together. I think that's a tremendous opportunity. So we have to, you know, as a company, really, really immerse ourselves into this space as well and really get closer to those audiences. And I think, you know, we're making a lot of great progress there and it was super excited to do that. So I think that's really important because the integrator, there has to be something in it for everyone, right? In order for this to really become a thing and really scale. And so it's really important to do that very early. Well, Martin, I appreciate your perspective on that. And I'll leave you with this right as the residential channel, not only buying channel, but but installation channels continue to change, you know, what's next for you guys? What's next for the industry in the next 5 to 10 years? What if you had a crystal ball? What are some of the things that you would anticipate seeing here in the next 5 to 10 years? Yeah, that's great. We're we're with the onset of this journey, you know, this you know, I've talked to folks internally, externally about this. This is really just the end of the beginning, if you will. You know, what we announced at the Consumer Electronics Show early in the year, you know, we are manufacture into your next to. All right. And if you think about opportunity space that can stretch from a technology standpoint and really, really end up providing, you know, a lot of meaningful use cases for various audiences, not just for good value targets, but also channel partners, partners in on the technology side, big tech. There's a lot of really cool stuff that we can do as a sort of manufacturer and marketer supplier of solutions. So we're looking at this space more broadly. Again, I think the power of small doors is a great first step into the marketplace, but not lots more to come to that. Be excited to try to infuse the existing experience and then as we go forward, builds on that and provides incremental, you know, use cases that people value and solve without any problems. Well, Martin, Thanks for coming on the show today and break it down. The new really in an innovative change is happening in the residential space. Martin Hek'ma of masonite. Martin, hey, we appreciate you coming on. Thank you so much for having us. And I appreciate it. Thank you very much. And Thank you guys for tuning in. Be sure to join us next time.