60 Seconds with Steve Raymond, Raymond Handling Concepts Corp.

Modern: Steve, if you don’t mind, I’d like to take you down memory lane a little today. You grew up in the lift truck industry. Do you remember when you first became aware of lift trucks? 

Raymond: I was born in 1949, the same year as the electric narrow aisle truck was invented by what is now The Raymond Corporation.

Some of my first memories are of playing in the office on Saturdays when I was 4 or 5 years. My grandfather kept a toy lift truck that plugged into the wall and ran around on the floor.

When I was a kid, Raymond was the biggest employer in the village of Greene, N.Y. My goal was always to make my father and grandfather proud, but I think my real job was to not screw up and draw attention in a negative way.
 
Modern: What was the state of the lift truck industry when you joined the company in 1976?

Raymond: I got a summer job in 1976 at Raymond when I was in an MBA program at the state university in Binghamton. I was a junior assistant engineer trainee for a subsidiary corporation that was the systems part of the company.

This was back around the time we invented wire guidance and computer-controlled order picking systems with lift trucks that followed a wire and were being automatically positioned.

If you think about that, there’s always been automaton in our industry. What’s different today is that the technology has progressed and now there is a market for it.

Modern: Fast-forward 40+ years, and what has changed—about the industry and also about the truck?

Raymond: When I was starting RHCC in the 1980s, we were just beginning to use microprocessors to control lift trucks. Today, the controls are all microprocessor based, which provides for the opportunity to put telematics on a truck and gather data.

To do those things 30 years ago, you had to completely redesign the truck, which made it expensive. The cost of technology has come down, the practicality of using it has come down, and the ability to justify it is easier.

Today, we have people begging for automation because they can’t find people to work. And, there’s no one who doesn’t believe that lift trucks can act autonomously.

Modern: And, while I know you’re retiring, if you look forward, what most excites you about the coming changes for the lift truck?

Raymond: One is the change in energy technology, such as lithium ion batteries and alternative forms of energy. But more than that are the advances in telematics and the ability to remotely diagnose a problem without sending a technician in. If we can diagnose and fix a truck remotely, that would really be exciting. As a dealer, the most difficult problem to solve is to hire, train and repair technicians.

Modern: What’s the future—how will RHCC continue?

Raymond: It has been purchased by The Raymond Corporation, and they’ve appointed James Wilcox, who is the president of Raymond Handling Solutions in Southern California, to also be the president of RHCC.

Modern: Any final thoughts?

Raymond: Someone asked me yesterday what I planned on doing next. I joked that I’m still on the payroll for a few more months, but I have no job responsibilities, no title and no office. I’m available to do anything anyone wants me to do for The Raymond Corporation or another dealer. I would hope to be doing that for at least the next couple of decades.