{"id":233804,"date":"2024-06-18T19:50:09","date_gmt":"2024-06-18T19:50:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/18\/why-the-ceo-of-ge-appliances-welcomes-the-public-into-the-companys-rd-lab\/"},"modified":"2025-06-25T17:16:45","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T17:16:45","slug":"why-the-ceo-of-ge-appliances-welcomes-the-public-into-the-companys-rd-lab","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/06\/18\/why-the-ceo-of-ge-appliances-welcomes-the-public-into-the-companys-rd-lab\/","title":{"rendered":"Why the CEO of GE Appliances welcomes the public into the company&#8217;s R&#038;D lab"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> [ad_1]<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/img-assets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Kevin-Nolan.jpg?w=2048\" \/><\/p>\n<p>On this episode of\u00a0<em>Fortune<\/em>\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/topic\/leadership-next\/\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Go to https:\/\/fortune.com\/topic\/leadership-next\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" class=\"sc-80b85506-0 ovBKL\"><em>Leadership Next<\/em><\/a>\u00a0podcast, co-hosts Alan Murray and Michal Lev-Ram talk to Kevin Nolan, CEO of GE Appliances. The company is owned by Haier, which Murray says is \u201cprobably the most interesting and innovative company in China.\u201d The interview covers the reasons Nolan believes crowdfunding sites are a good testing ground for innovative products, how \u201cmicro-enterprises\u201d keep the company nimble, and the importance of data security in the age of generative AI.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re very, very careful on what we do and how we do it,\u201d says Nolan. \u201cAnd I\u2019d say that, I think, is going to be important for all companies going forward. How do you make sure that the data you\u2019re getting is secure and it\u2019s trusted by your consumers? We spend a lot of time on that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The episode is also a goodbye to one of the hosts. After four-and-a-half years with <em>Leadership Next<\/em>, Alan Murray is stepping away from the microphone.<\/p>\n<p>Listen to the episode or read the transcript below.<\/p>\n<p><iframe class=\"\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"200\" loading=\"lazy\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/playlist.megaphone.fm\/?e=FMC3621687918\" style=\"border:none\" width=\"100%\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<hr class=\"sc-fa0656e5-0 hDabQp\"\/>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Transcript<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Alan Murray:\u00a0<\/strong><em>Leadership Next<\/em>\u00a0is powered by the folks at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/company\/deloitte\/\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Go to https:\/\/fortune.com\/company\/deloitte\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" class=\"sc-80b85506-0 ovBKL\">Deloitte<\/a>\u00a0who, like me, are exploring the changing rules of business leadership and how CEOs are navigating this change.<\/p>\n<p>Welcome to\u00a0<em>Leadership Next<\/em>, a podcast about the changing rules of business leadership. I\u2019m Alan Murray.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Michal Lev-Ram:<\/strong> And I\u2019m Michal Lev-Ram. Today\u2019s guest was Kevin Nolan. And this is your last guest on the show, Alan.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Murray:<\/strong> Yeah, and you might say, well, geez, GE Appliances, is that the very last show I want to do? But I actually love this company. I mean, yes, I use their refrigerator and their washing machine, but you know, it\u2019s part of a Chinese, probably the most interesting and innovative company in China, a company called Haier, which not only innovates in appliances, but it innovates in management. It has a very interesting approach to the way it manages people, tries to decentralize, encourage entrepreneurship, encourage individual initiative. And we talked about that a lot on this show.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lev-Ram:<\/strong> Yeah, and I think,  like you said, the brand and what you associate with it might be surprising to some people as your last <em>Leadership Next<\/em> episode. But I actually think the conversation really encapsulated so much of what you talk about so often, Alan, and that\u2019s in addition to innovation, everything you just mentioned and leadership, of course, and how leadership allows for innovation, we talked about China. It\u2019s a Chinese-owned company. We talked about the changing roles of leadership and sort of what\u2019s different today, the political atmosphere and how that has impacted Kevin. And, of course, we talked about gen AI. So you kind of you got all the ingredients in this one last episode.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Murray:<\/strong> The other thing I liked about this conversation is that Kevin Nolan is at heart an engineer. He called himself a maker, and his current side hustle is he makes clocks. He showed us a picture of a grandfather clock he was constructing.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lev-Ram:<\/strong> Yeah, it was pretty awesome. He actually said that he tinkers pretty much every day, which is amazing. So, Alan, I hope you have plenty of time for tinkering with whatever you want to tinker with in your little little bit of time off that you\u2019re going to take before you plunge into your next thing. And it has been just such a pleasure and an honor doing this podcast with you.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Murray:<\/strong> Well it\u2019s been so much fun doing it with you and I\u2019m sure there are more great things to come. So, let\u2019s hear from Kevin Nolan and after that, you can put me in the freezer.<\/p>\n<p>[Interview begins.]<\/p>\n<p>Kevin Nolan, welcome to <em>Leadership Next<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Kevin Nolan: <\/strong>It\u2019s great to be here. Thank you, Alan.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Murray:<\/strong> Thanks for doing it. You\u2019re the CEO of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.geappliances.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Go to https:\/\/www.geappliances.com\/\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"sc-80b85506-0 ovBKL\">GE Appliances<\/a> and we all know GE Appliances, most of us have them in our homes. But I\u2019m not sure everyone knows that GE Appliances was bought by Haier eight years, was it eight years ago?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>Yeah, just about eight years ago.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Murray:<\/strong> And Haier is, to my mind, one of the most fascinating companies in the world, has this philosophy that everybody who works there should be an entrepreneur. So explain to us how when you\u2019re making refrigerators and washing machines, everyone can be an entrepreneur.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>Yeah. So it is interesting. I mean, and it is so much different than what I grew up with, right, being a long-time employee previously with GE. But it is really a philosophy they have about how are you going to get close to the customer. And every employee needs to see what our value is and how it contributes to true customer value that comes across. So if you look at, you know, the most important people are the people actually making the goods\u2026<\/p>\n<p><strong>Murray: <\/strong>Right.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>\u2026you know, they\u2019re making those products. So we look on them, you know, how can we be more innovative? How can we be more creative on how we assemble, how we produce? But then all the way back up into the management roles of, you know, people shouldn\u2019t be focused on management, they should be focused on the work and the customer.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Murray:<\/strong> But how does that manifest itself? I mean, if you\u2019re putting together a washing machine, it\u2019s my washing machine, I\u2019m not sure I want you to be too innovative.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>Yeah.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Murray: <\/strong>And so what you\u2019re talking about mass manufacturing. How are people allowed to innovate? Give us a couple of examples.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>Well, I\u2019d say if you look at on the factory floor, it\u2019s innovation through can we build better workspace, better ergonomics? So allowing the assembly workers to have a real voice because they know what\u2019s best, they know the best way for them to get the job done that they need to do. So you\u2019ll see a lot of, it\u2019s a lot of lean techniques, Kaizen, etc. So, on the factory floor, you\u2019ll see it pretty much done through lean methodology, which most people in manufacturing will be used to, but we really try to take that a step further and then get that back upstream of true innovation, innovative products that we know our customers, they might want. So how do we really understand the customer needs and bring them the products that they\u2019re really looking for?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Murray:<\/strong> Hmm.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lev-Ram:<\/strong> I read that you have a thing about the word boss that, I mean you are the boss, but that you don\u2019t really think that way or use that language. Can you explain that and how it fits into what you\u2019re talking about? Because I would assume that while you have to constantly push for innovation, some level of hierarchy is actually really needed in a company that ultimately manufacturers appliances.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>You know, I don\u2019t know if I am the boss, that\u2019s a topic for another day. But what we try to do is when I became CEO, a key person on the team is Rick Hasselbeck, who is our head commercial officer. And Rick came up with the whole idea. He said, \u2018Hey, we\u2019re not the bosses around here. The customer is the boss.\u2019 So we did a big campaign of really, who are we working for? You\u2019re not working for me. You\u2019re not working for Rick. You\u2019re not working for the other people on the leadership team. We\u2019re working for our customers, our consumers. So really getting that through people\u2019s head of, because I think too much in companies, they\u2019re always looking up and they\u2019re not looking at where value is creative, what do we really exist here for? So we\u2019ve done a lot of, what approval do I have to be involved in and what decisions can we make and really making it so I don\u2019t have to be involved in all these decisions because by the time it gets to me, there\u2019s a long delay of what really needs to be done to address the market and to address what we need to do out there with our consumers.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Murray:<\/strong> And how do you get all your people out to understand what the consumer wants and needs? Do they do consumer visits? What are your techniques?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>Well, one is we\u2019ve tried to break the company down. That\u2019s part of what it is into what we call micro-enterprises. So the smaller things are, typically, the more nimble they\u2019ll be and the more say people have on the different directions. So step one, I think, is, is how do you make your company more nimble so it doesn\u2019t have big bureaucratic functions. You need certain things. We call them platforms where you want efficiency. So we\u2019ve looked at are there certain things that we do that the customers, they just want us to do them efficiently? Take, for example, our distribution, getting products into our warehouses, getting them into the homes. We don\u2019t want that done by every individual micro-enterprise. We want efficiency and we want to streamline. So they\u2019re going to look very traditional, right, of what we do. But these micro-enterprises, for them, they\u2019re very much involved with the market, involved with the consumers. And we really embrace what we call co-creation. So the way we really want to innovate and we\u2019re doing more and more, is how do we co-create with our consumers, our customers to really understand what are they looking for and have them part of the innovation process. Because if it\u2019s too much traditional market research, traditional companies working in R&amp;D off in the corner, is it really what customers need or they want?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Murray:<\/strong> So you\u2019ve got one of these co-creation spaces up in Connecticut, not far from me, a micro factory. What does that look like? How do you co-create a refrigerator or an oven?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>Yeah, so this really started out in Louisville, where on University of Louisville\u2019s campus we came up with what we call first build, and it was an idea of can we redefine corporate R&amp;D? Can we change the way that we think about doing our innovation process? And we really flipped it on its head. It\u2019s typically a secret place where there\u2019s badges, the hardest thing for someone to get into is the R&amp;D facility of a corporation. So we opened the doors. We said, we\u2019re going to do it, we\u2019re going to do it with the public. Because time and time again I found through our R&amp;D process, because I used to run engineering for years, we work on this, you bring it to consumers, they didn\u2019t care. And you know, how often do things go through your innovation funnels and are they really successful? So we did a lot of research, a lot of looking \u00a0at startups, quite frankly, of what do they do different. And we found that, you know, right away they\u2019re getting customer feedback, very agile when you think about it. So we do that day in and day out of anything we\u2019re working on, people that came into Louisville, they could see it. And we open, it\u2019s a maker space, we open to the public so people are always doing all kinds of fun stuff, interesting things, so, opposite of any corporate environment, totally free flowing, we let people come in and use the equipment, the machines, and we\u2019ve had great success. I mean, the things that we\u2019ve come out of there, the hit rate there is just\u2026<\/p>\n<p><strong>Murray:<\/strong> Can you give us a couple of examples of\u2026<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lev-Ram:<\/strong> Yeah, I think there\u2019s one that I read about that was a smart indoor smoker\u2026<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>Yes.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lev-Ram: <\/strong>\u2026which is, I think a product every one of us can relate to aspirationally, at least.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Murray:<\/strong> Send one to Michal tomorrow.<\/p>\n<p>[Laughter.]<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>Yeah, so that\u2019s probably the latest. I would say the first big hit we had was our Opal nugget ice maker. And that was, it didn\u2019t come out of market research. What it came out of was, we noticed there was a couple of our sales team that loved nugget ice. I didn\u2019t know what it was about. We didn\u2019t know what it was about. But they would get up every day and go to this restaurant to buy ice to go through the day. So we started looking into it. We found out there was this big, passionate community around chewable ice. 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\u2019t really know. Is it, you know, are they telling you the truth? And that thing just took off. I mean, it\u2019s been incredible what you\u2019ve seen it\u2019s 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\u2019t. Say, well, maybe we can. And that\u2019s what started that whole project. So people have been involved. They\u2019ve seen we\u2019ve been working on that from day one. And so far, it\u2019s doing very, very well.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lev-Ram:<\/strong> I\u2019m curious, I\u2019m 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?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>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\u2019d 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\u2019ve 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\u2019s many more features, and just having the average repairman roll out and be able to fix this day one, it\u2019s much like cars. I mean, you need to understand. And every time you bring a car in, they plug it in and they\u2019re going to see with diagnostics what\u2019s really going on. We have that same technology in basically all of our appliances. So it\u2019s really there to help serve the consumer if there\u2019s 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\u2019re going to see a future of appliances that come out they\u2019re 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\u2019s going to be much more up to the consumer than having one size fits all.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lev-Ram:<\/strong> So we can all have conversations in different languages with our washing machines if we want to, but we don\u2019t have to.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>If you want to, and I guarantee there\u2019ll still be a button on there where you can get this thing\u2026<\/p>\n<p><strong>Murray:<\/strong> Just wash the thing.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>\u2026to start and stop.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Murray:<\/strong> 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?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>Yeah. So we\u2019re all over gen AI. I\u2019d say we\u2019re looking throughout the company for every role I see it transforming. So we\u2019re really trying to democratize that tool so that people we can see, you know, what are the best use? But it\u2019s 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 <a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/company\/alphabet\/\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Go to https:\/\/fortune.com\/company\/alphabet\/\" class=\"sc-80b85506-0 ovBKL\" rel=\"noopener\">Google<\/a>, we came out, it\u2019s called Flavorly, and it can give you whatever ingredients you have and it\u2019s fun to fool around with if you haven\u2019t. 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.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Murray:<\/strong> Oh, that\u2019s cool. Here\u2019s what I\u2019ve got. It\u2019s here\u2019s what I\u2019ve got right? Or what can I make?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>And we\u2019re trying to get after food waste.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Murray: <\/strong>Yeah.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>But it turns out being a lot of fun. I\u2019d say it\u2019s a powerful use of AI, but a different one than we would have thought.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Murray:<\/strong> And I mean, you\u2019ve 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\u2019m 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\u2019m sure you must have a lot of cool things that are possible that people don\u2019t really want.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>Yeah, that\u2019s, we try to focus hard on that. And as a technologist, as an engineer, you\u2019ve got to make sure, are you doing what you think is cool or what a customer really is interested in? That\u2019s what we like about first build, about co-creation, because it keeps you from making some of those dumb mistakes. And we always say is this true value innovation or innovation. And you\u2019re seeing it a lot. You\u2019re seeing a wave of AI. Everything\u2019s AI today. Well, how are we going to use that AI to make our experiences better, our lives simpler? And we try to focus in on that.<\/p>\n<p>[Music starts.]<\/p>\n<p><strong>Murray:<\/strong> I\u2019m here with Jason Girzadas, the CEO of <a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/company\/deloitte\/\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Go to https:\/\/fortune.com\/company\/deloitte\/\" class=\"sc-80b85506-0 ovBKL\" rel=\"noopener\">Deloitte<\/a> US, and the sponsor of this podcast. Thanks for sponsoring it. Thanks for joining me, Jason.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jason Girzadas: <\/strong>Thank you, Alan. It\u2019s a pleasure to be here.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Murray:<\/strong> Addressing health equity is not just the right or moral thing to do. It\u2019s become a business imperative. In fact, in the United States, health inequities cost $320 billion annually. Every organization has a role to play in making health more equitable. And as business leaders, we need to make sure we communicate how health equity drives business value. So what role should business play in addressing health equity?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Girzadas:<\/strong> I think you\u2019re right to point out the moral and the business imperative around health equity. We actually believe that the health equity cost to society could rise by up to a trillion dollars by 2040. So this is an economic issue for all businesses. The role of business is to recognize that health equity impacts the workforces of every single business, and it\u2019s needing to be on the CEO agenda and board agendas for all organizations. In our country your zip code can determine your health status, and that\u2019s problematic if you think about the drain on worker productivity, the cost to businesses in terms of the health and well-being of their workforces. Making this a priority from the standpoint of looking at what actions you can take through your organization around health and benefits, as well as how it pertains specifically to the products and services and also the types of partners that organizations team with to address health equity issues broadly. There are resources to look at, the Deloitte Health Equity Institute, which has pro bono data and analytical tools to leverage that are accessible to all organizations to start on this journey of making health equity not just a societal concern, but actually a business priority.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Murray:<\/strong> Thank you for that, Jason. A pleasure to be with you.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Girzadas:<\/strong> Thank you.<\/p>\n<p>[Music ends.]<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lev-Ram:<\/strong> Can you talk a little bit about your own personal career trajectory? You know, you mentioned you used to run engineering. You\u2019re an engineer and a maker originally. And talk a little bit about your own path and how that\u2019s informed where you sit today.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>Well, I like to think I\u2019m still an engineer because if I\u2019m not good at this day job, I want something to fall back on. So I still want to say I\u2019m an engineer. But I just, I\u2019ve loved, creating things, innovating things has really been my driver. I started at a place in Connecticut with GE that we made our circuit breakers, kind of one of the foundations of the company. So working through them in different roles, but always staying within engineering and getting on to different ways of impacting product, bringing different products out. So that\u2019s my passion. And I think still and as a CEO, I try not to get too far away. I think we always got to remember what are we really good at? What are we not good at?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Murray:<\/strong> We\u2019ve seen a spectacularly bad example of that recently with what\u2019s going on at <a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/company\/boeing\/\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Go to https:\/\/fortune.com\/company\/boeing\/\" class=\"sc-80b85506-0 ovBKL\" rel=\"noopener\">Boeing<\/a>, where the company got too far away from the manufacturing plant. I\u2019ve got to say, I do have GE appliances in my kitchen. I\u2019ve got some other appliances in my kitchen that aren\u2019t nearly as reliable, well made. I mean, you seem to maintain a reputation for doing this right.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>Well, that\u2019s good to hear. First of all, we thank you for that. But, you know, it\u2019s important to me. I mean, we use these products. I go home, I use them, we test them. And, you know, I think on having the background I have, it\u2019s great because I know how these work and I know what we\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Murray:<\/strong> But so tell me, I think Haier is a fascinating company and a very unique company. I got to interview [CEO] Zhang Ruimin at our event in Gwangju in 2017. It was one of the most interesting interviews I\u2019ve ever done because he has such a very particular view of how a company, a unique view of how a company should be run. But these are difficult times in terms of U.S.-China business relations, a lot of increasing protectionism, tit-for-tat stuff going on, local governments that don\u2019t like the idea of Chinese investment. How is all of that affecting you and your big facility in Louisville?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>Yeah, I\u2019d say one thing that with Haier is they are very unique and I think the chairman was very visionary. And when he thought about globalization, he did it much different than I\u2019ve ever seen other companies, and it was much different than my experience working with GE. Is he really looks at you\u2019ve got to serve the markets. And if you think what we started to talk about, it\u2019s very market consumer focused. So he looks at us as we\u2019re responsible for the markets we\u2019re in and same Europe and others, so I like to say we\u2019re more American now than we ever were before. I mean, if you look at what we\u2019ve done, we felt to serve this market well, we need to manufacture in the U.S. We need more manufacturing in the U.S. We need more distribution, more warehousing to better serve. It really gives you in the market the decision making. Now you take the responsibility, but you take the decision making. What is best for us to do? And what\u2019s the best way to serve our customers? So you look at the technology we developed, SmartHQ, it\u2019s all developed by us in the U.S. and I\u2019d say we have a supportive parent. But the main support is trusting us to serve our market the way it wants to be served.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Murray:<\/strong> And no one\u2019s attacking you saying, Oh, these refrigerators are sending data back to Beijing that there\u2019s somehow\u2026.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lev-Ram:<\/strong> About what Alan\u2019s keeping in his refrigerator.<\/p>\n<p>[Laughter.]<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>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\u2019re very, very careful on what we do and how we do it. And I\u2019d 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\u2019re getting is secure and it\u2019s trusted by your consumers? We spend a lot of time on that.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lev-Ram:<\/strong> Well, and especially as gen AI becomes, you know, more and more a part of these appliances. And again, we\u2019re actually talking to them and they\u2019re listening. I would imagine that becomes more important. I was wondering, when it comes to manufacturing in the U.S., we\u2019re 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\u2019s 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?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>You know, I\u2019d say there\u2019s different issues, but I think everyone that\u2019s 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\u2019s kind of going away. And I\u2019m glad it\u2019s gone away because I didn\u2019t like going out on the factory floor every morning. But we we\u2019ve got the work, but there is a big competition because you\u2019re seeing more and more manufacturing come into the states and certain regions it\u2019s lumpy where it\u2019s 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\u2019m going to put a manufacturing site in, is there a labor pool available that we can take part?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Murray:<\/strong> 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?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>I\u2019d say we\u2019ve always been there. I think now others are realizing you\u2019ve 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\u2019re part of the curriculum and we\u2019re 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\u2026that\u2019s where I\u2019d say the biggest shortage in this country is\u2014the skill set to put in this high-tech stuff that you need in a modern factory. And we\u2019ve all got to do our part to get these young kids excited. They\u2019re great jobs. These aren\u2019t going away. You know they\u2019re jobs, quite frankly, you won\u2019t have to worry about gen AI taking away. But we\u2019ve got to get more interest and people got to know that these jobs are real. They\u2019re coming to America in a big way.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lev-Ram:<\/strong> Did you sleep on the factory floor, too, like Elon Musk?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>No, I\u2019m not\u2026<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lev-Ram:<\/strong> You didn\u2019t get there.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>I don\u2019t know. I\u2019d like to see if he really slept. It sounds like a good, a good story, but\u2026<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lev-Ram:<\/strong> He had a cot. Apparently so.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>Developing programs I slept at work a few times, but I wouldn\u2019t say it was a practice.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Murray:<\/strong> 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\u2019ll be many more to come, but this is my last.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>It\u2019s an honor to be here.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Murray: <\/strong>Well, it\u2019s 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?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>You know, I\u2019d say it\u2019s very important to us. It\u2019s 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\u2019s going out in everybody\u2019s homes. So, we\u2019ve time and time again made sure what are the chemicals we\u2019re 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\u2019s really resonating. But that\u2019s not the reason we originally did it, because the electric use on it is amazing. I mean, it dries your clothes just like that dryer you have in your home right now that has a big plug that plugs into 220 amp outlet. Well, this plugs in just like charging your cell phone, in that stand, the same outlet you\u2019re going to charge your phone, you can now draw your clothes. Huge impact from environment. Same thing water heating. Bring in hybrid water heating to heat pump technology. So I think it\u2019s just been part of our DNA and we\u2019re on a big charter right now for zero energy homes. How can we enable consumers to have these zero energy homes at an affordable price? So we\u2019ve got a bunch of partners we\u2019re working with. Technology we\u2019re working because we feel we play a big part in that and we can really help consumers achieve those things.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lev-Ram:<\/strong> One more question for you, Kevin, and it\u2019s a light one. This is not a hard-hitting question. We heard you\u2019re a clockmaker in your spare time. But first of all, what kind of spare time do you have? And second, is that something that you like to tinker with because it is so mechanical? I mean, as you\u2019re moving more and more into these smart devices, what is clock making mean to you?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>Yeah, so it is my spare time because there\u2019s no way I can make money at it I\u2019ve realized.<\/p>\n<p>[Laughter.]<\/p>\n<p>But you know, I enjoy it. I\u2019ve always enjoyed engineering and it\u2019s really my passion. So I do, I do it almost every night. You\u2019ll find me in the garage out there machining.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Murray:<\/strong> But it\u2019s very old tech. That\u2019s like\u2026<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>It\u2019s old and new. The tech is old, what I\u2019m doing. But the tech I\u2019m using, you know, because, well, we\u2019ll use CAD programs, CAM programs, CNC. So some of the real traditional clock makers get annoyed when they see, you know, it\u2019s CNC being able to make some of the parts they used to have to make and file by hand. But I also use it to keep me current actually on technology because it is an extremely challenging thing to make. And it\u2019s a good judge because if you don\u2019t make it right, it doesn\u2019t keep time. So it\u2019s not like someone tells you it looks nice or not. You can tell it\u2019s either good or it\u2019s not.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Murray:<\/strong> We\u2019ve asked a lot of people over the last four and a half years what they do to wind down. But you\u2019re the first that does it making clocks.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lev-Ram:<\/strong> By the way, my parents have an old grandfather clock that has said that the time is 6:15 for like the last four years, I think, because it\u2019s so hard to find somebody that\u2019s actually. So next time you\u2019re in the Bay Area, please swing by.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Murray:<\/strong> I got a guy. I got a guy, Michal.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>Could be phase two of my career.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Murray:<\/strong> \u00a0It\u2019s a good thing to do. Well, thanks so much for taking the time to be with us. Fascinating company. And stay close. Stay close to the factory. It\u2019s really interesting to hear about what you\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Nolan: <\/strong>I appreciate the time. Thank you.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Murray:\u00a0<\/strong><em>Leadership Next<\/em>\u00a0is edited by Nicole Vergalla.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lev-Ram:<\/strong>\u00a0Our executive producer is Chris Joslin.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Murray:\u00a0<\/strong>Our theme is by Jason Snell.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lev-Ram:\u00a0<\/strong><em>Leadership Next<\/em>\u00a0is a production of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/company\/fortune-media\/\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Go to https:\/\/fortune.com\/company\/fortune-media\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" class=\"sc-80b85506-0 ovBKL\">Fortune Media<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Murray:\u00a0<\/strong><em>Leadership Next\u00a0<\/em>episodes are produced by\u00a0<em>Fortune<\/em>\u2019s editorial team. The views and opinions expressed by podcast speakers and guests are solely their own and do not reflect the opinions of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/company\/deloitte\/\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"Go to https:\/\/fortune.com\/company\/deloitte\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" class=\"sc-80b85506-0 ovBKL\">Deloitte<\/a>\u00a0or its personnel. Nor does Deloitte advocate or endorse any individuals or entities featured on the episodes.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>[ad_2]<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/2024\/06\/18\/why-the-ceo-of-ge-appliances-is-welcoming-the-public-into-the-companys-rd-lab\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[ad_1] On this episode of\u00a0Fortune\u2019s\u00a0Leadership Next\u00a0podcast, co-hosts Alan Murray and Michal Lev-Ram talk to Kevin Nolan, CEO of GE Appliances. The company is owned by<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":233805,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[149],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233804"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233804\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michigandigitalnews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}