Beyond the Device: RAM Mounts with Kyle Lonzak

Reid Estreicher, host of 3Eye Technologies Beyond the Device podcast and Vice President, Business Development discusses RAM Mounts for Laptops and with Kyle Lonzak, Business Development Manager at RAM Mounts.  

In this episode of Beyond the Device, Kyle Lonzak explains the growing trend of replacing in-vehicle laptops with tablets and ruggedized keyboards for government (police, fire, military and EMS) as well as industrial fleet vehicles.  With RAM's modular design concepts, leveraging existing laptops while transitioning to tablets and other in-vehicle technology stacks becomes simpler and more cost-effective.  

Transcript

Reid  Estreicher (00:05): 

And we are live. And by live, I mean we're pre-recording this so we can edit it down should we make any mistakes later. Thank you so much for joining us for another episode of the Beyond The Device podcast, I'm joined today with the fantastic Kyle Lonzak hanging out with us, coming to us from the RAM Mounts team. Kyle, thank you for joining us, sir. Now I work with you, some of the folks listening or watching might know who you are, but some people might not. So could you please do a brief introduction of who you are and what you do for the wonderful RAM Mounts?

Kyle Lonzak (00:34): 

Yeah. Thanks, Reid, very happy to be here as always. So I'm a business development manager with the sales team over at RAM Mounts. My focus is transportation, logistics, warehousing, and manufacturing. So kind of a jack of all trades, but been with the company for a little over 12 years now and very much enjoying the transportation side of things.

Reid Estreicher (00:55): 

There's a lot of things in transportation, specifically what we're talking about today, the Gov Fleet management, also water, utilities, police, EMS, fire. There's a lot of, we were just recently at an expo that is... I'm blanking on the name. It's escaping me at the moment.

Kyle Lonzak (01:14): 

Government Fleet Expo, it was in Detroit.

Reid Estreicher (01:15): 

Thank you very much. Yes. This is why I can't do this alone. I just know that he would listen. The Government Fleet Expo. We were just there and I was in attendance, the fantastic Danielle Zebell, along with Ambrose Bregg and Tony Gilchrist, shout to those guys, and girl, that was over there for the Government Fleet Expo. One of the things that popped up was that, and this was a surprise, because we've been doing this. You and I have been working together for a ways back going back to our Samsung days. And I was shocked to learn because I think we've been ahead of this for so long, we've been working on it for so long. There are still a lot of people, a lot of organizations that have laptops in their squad cars and in their utility trucks. And I don't mean like a laptop, like, oh yes you got like a tough book and it's mounted. It's like, no, no, we have a free-floating laptop. Like you slam the brakes on that thing becomes an object to avoid, like to duck around in the cab.

Kyle Lonzak (02:12): 

Yeah, a projectile.

Reid Estreicher (02:13):

Right. I was very, very shocked. What is happening out there and how can we help solve these things? Because you've been doing this for a while, man. So tell us a little bit about how we can do a laptop and tablet refresh and help some folks out and hopefully save some foreheads out there in the meantime.

Kyle Lonzak (02:27): 

Yeah. I mean the best way to go about things is to secure your technology. So obviously it's an investment. Now, you know, no matter who's putting it into a vehicle, no matter who you work for, there's money being spent to deploy that kind of technology. And then you have the drivers or the users that have to be able to interface with that and need to be comfortable with it and want to be able to work with that technology or that laptop, or more so nowadays, tablets. So over the years have come up with a line of no-drill laptop mounts that allow you to put laptops safely into vehicles. It has these really unique swing arms on them that allow you to articulate the system and adjust it exactly where you need it. So you can more easily work with the laptop while it's mounted in the vehicle. But most importantly, like I said, keeping it safe. So while you're driving around or something, you know it's not just free-floating like you mentioned, it's actually being held in a proper position to keep it out of harm's way.

Reid Estreicher (03:28): 

Yeah. It's kind of an important thing when projectiles are in the vehicle. Because I think this is great, we talked about the articulating arm. Again, you don't want a laptop just randomly on the dashboard or somewhere in the vehicle. That's really crazy that's still happening, but can you walk us through this photo and just give us kind of a heads up of what we're seeing?

Kyle Lonzak (04:19): 

Yeah, absolutely. So the way that they attach in the vehicle is the patented No-Drill system. So it's something that utilizes the factory seat rail bolt, that bolts in their location, to be able to put a base down into the vehicle. That makes it so it's clean out of the way, and especially in rental or leased vehicles, you don't have to drill, cut or modify that vehicle, which would obviously avoid any sort of agreement to put something into a vehicle.

Reid Estreicher (04:48): 

Yeah you can't be drilling.

Kyle Lonzak (04:49): 

But off that base... Oh yeah. So off of that stamped steel base comes a set of what we call tele-poles. So that's your vertical pole you see that picture that gives you the option to be able to adjust the height of the laptop and of the overall kit. Some drivers are taller, some are shorter, and depending on the vehicle and the options, and the seating arrangement, you may need to have some adjustability with that. And that's what the tele-poles offer.

Reid Estreicher (05:15): 

Yeah, absolutely.

Kyle Lonzak (05:16): 

Off of the tele-pole, we have those swing arms that I had mentioned that give you three points of articulation. Again, to help keep that laptop out of the airbag deployment zone while the vehicle's in motion, but also more so, so you can more easily work with the laptop while it's in the tray. You know, something that we've learned over the years, is people having to turn sideways is hard on the back, hard on the shoulders, hard on the neck. So our system really allows you to adjust that closer to you as an operator, as a driver, to more easily interact with the tablet itself, or excuse me, the laptop. And then finally we have a universal laptop tray on the very top, it holds a variety of sizes of laptops, many different makes, and models, up to 17-inch wide device. So yeah, it's a really great system. Something that's been around for several years for us and been very, very popular in that fleet government utilities sector.

Reid Estreicher  (06:11): 

Yeah. And so if you guys have anyone listening, watching, if you have clients or if you are somebody who's looking to do this, there's a very simplistic, we can probably put this photo in the description, just like in a Google Drive something people can download it. Or you can reach out to us at sales@3eyetech.com in order to download it as well. We'd be happy to send it to you, but just to be able to share this around. I think again, it's like the very, and I've talked about this in before with you guys, you have a very smart design about how you've gone around getting these things to be implemented in the vehicle, not drilling, again, really big deal, especially if you're leasing. It's not just important for forklifts, it's important for utility vehicles, maintenance vehicles, trucks, all those things, so. And having those three articulating arms, it does allow you to get that laptop in front of you when you're not driving. Because again, you don't want that to be in front of the airbag if God forbid that goes off, or needs to go off rather. So yeah. So it is a really easy fix for you guys, should you need it. So you don't have laptops randomly again, floating around the vehicle, that's not safe.

Reid Estreicher (07:11): 

And then I want to show another photo for you guys real quick. This is a laptop replacement. So not a laptop anymore. We're going tablet and ruggedized keyboard. We got a bunch of videos on this, as well does RAM for RAM Live, talk about that in a little bit with Sarah. But do you want to walk us through what we're seeing here on screen for what this tablet intelliskin keyboard action is?

Kyle Lonzak (07:39): 

Absolutely so same or similar VB kit. So you have your base, that's the no-drill style base, your tele-poles, your swing arms that everything mounts off of, but with technology advancing and tablets and just the ability to connect, be on LTE signal, be able to be around outside the vehicle. Having that tablet makes you mobile, much easier to be able to move around than what the laptop does. And so with our intelliskin product line powered by GDS, your intelliskin protects, it wraps the tablet itself, and provides mil-spec drop protection on the device. It also provides a rugged charging interface. And what that means is that there's a dock that is holding this tablet and this intelliskin, and when you put it into the dock it's charging while it's in that docking station. One of the really cool things about our docks, we have different hubs or chargers that you can connect peripherals to like this.

Kyle Lonzak (08:36): 

We offer a line of rugged keyboards. This particular one is a trackpad version of a rugged keyboard. So you still get that functionality of a laptop or that familiarity, if you will, of being able to work off a keyboard. Those keyboards can be hard mounted, they can also be removed and actually put into your lap for again, easier interface with the keyboard itself. And then just ease of use with the tablet. All of us are very familiar with tablets with the iOS or OS systems, and just this makes it a really, really easy way for people to implement new technology, and get personnel excited about that technology. It's always fun to get a new device, and have a new gadget to be able to play with. So being able to implement something like this really gets user buy-in to be able to interact and want to use whatever's deployed.

Reid Estreicher (09:27): 

Yes. And the exciting piece of that is one part of this puzzle. The other part though is training. And I want to talk about that because this is a thing that I think RAM does very well, which is the support. I think we hammer on this, the support side of the business, probably on every podcast now, but it is such an incredibly important part of that day two support you commonly hear out there in the world. Nobody wants to get sold a bunch of stuff and then it's like, "Great now what?" And again, this was actually feedback that we got at the Government Fleet Expo was, if you can't be on-site, if you're not going to invest the time and energy and the resources to make sure that we know what we're doing once the stuff's deployed, then we don't want it. And I don't think that's a far cry. I don't think that's an unreasonable ask. Like if someone's going to spend potentially millions of dollars doing a whole entire fleet refresh, shouldn't you support that opportunity? I feel like.

Kyle Lonzak (10:20): 

Absolutely. I mean, it should be the white glove service. And so beyond just installation instructions that we offer in PDF format, those come with the kits, those are available on our website. We have many videos that we make in regards to the installation of these kits, the assembly of these kits, how these intelliskins work, how to put the intelliskins on, and how to assemble the docks. So we've created a very robust library of content to be able to help with the support. We're based in Seattle, Washington, RAM Mounts. And so you have a full US-based support team, service team, and sales staff that are all here available at any given time to be able to help our customers go through, troubleshoot, and provide suggestions on installation processes or services. We work with a number of highly regarded installation firms across the nation that can do nationwide installations. So we have the option to be able to help get you connected with them and provide A+ services to be able to get your product put in very familiar with ours. So again, providing that end-to-end solution and not just leaving people after they've cut that purchase order, but being there as a resource long term, as you continue to utilize the product.

Reid Estreicher (11:35): 

Yeah. And I think one more just point of how you guys designed these systems. Like for example, the no-drill, you couldn't swap out the tops of that, correct? Like if you wanted to choose a different one, let's say you wanted to refresh. It's like, "Hey, we're going to move away from the laptop. We're going to go to the tablet and the ruggedized keyboard." You don't have to try to figure out a way to repair the vehicle or worry about the holes that you put in because it's a modular system that you can just build on and augment.

Kyle Lonzak (12:05): 

Correct.

Reid Estreicher (12:06): 

And I think through a total cost of ownership perspective, especially in the business where everyone's trying to save money where they can, it's like, do you want to roll something out that you're going to have to full-on replace? Or do you want to roll out something that's modular in its implementation so that later on down the line, if you want to make a change, you can do that. And it's not wrecking you for doing it.

Kyle Lonzak (12:25): 

Yeah. And to your point, the systems are modular. So if you wanted to go from a laptop today, in two, three years, you're looking at putting in tablets, like what we see, most of the kit can stay. You don't have to replace the entire piece to be able to put a tablet in. It would just be the laptop tray that would come off and then whatever needed pieces after that would be added. The same is true if you're getting new vehicles. So, you know, today the Ford F-150 has a specific layout for the way that the seat's arranged and the hole spacing and such. While if they go through a model refresh in three, four years, there may be a new base that's required for that to continue that no-drill style, while the base may be different, but the tele-poles and the swing arms and everything, and your cradle to hold the device, those can all be swapped out. Those can be carried over from one vehicle onto the next. So-

Reid Estreicher (13:15): 

That's awesome.

Kyle Lonzak (13:15):

... a lot of flexibility, there's lifetime warranty in our mounting solutions. So as long as you continue to use these, we stand behind the product. We'll stand behind you as a customer, making sure you're having the best experience possible long-term with the product.

Reid Estreicher (13:30): 

Yeah. So, and again, just to kind of go back to recap that for the Government Fleet managers, whether it's EMS, fire, water, utilities, the police if you guys have a laptop, tablet refresh that needs to happen, or a mobile device refresh that needs to happen and you're not sure the best way, or you're looking for more information, RAM absolutely needs to be in the running for this. It's just such a solid product. And again, going long term, I didn't even think about like you were just saying, it's like, "Hey, if the base changes, we can just change the base for you and you keep everything else." So it's modular from top to bottom, it's not just one way. Because again, very intelligent, very smart design. And actually, you mentioned something too about the support in the videos that you guys have. I wanted to do a call out to Sarah, or sorry, I said Sarah like 700 times already. It's Ashley, not Sarah. Sorry Ashley, not Sarah. Where, Sarah Boutwell, that's why Sarah's in my head. Shout out to Sarah. But specifically around the RAM Live videos that Ashley's been doing, can you give us little information? We can put that as a link in the description as well. So you guys can go check those out, but that's a great resource as well.

Kyle Lonzak (14:39): 

It has been. Yeah. So Ashley, who's on our team, has done a fantastic job. They focus on different product sets per video, or different industries. So maybe it'll be last-mile delivery services or aviation or Marine or government fleets, and whatever products are really used within those areas, it's a quick 10, 15-minute video that'll give you a full hands-on view of what the product looks like. And more importantly, in my opinion, actual in-use photos and obviously video of what that looks like in the application. How does somebody interact with it? How is it installed? How do you use it? So they've done a fantastic job over the last couple of years of putting materials together. We're continuing to add more, technology's great, because more devices are continually being developed and rolled out, and we're continuing to find new use cases that we can help put those devices in. So always looking to expand our catalog of products and accessories.

Reid Estreicher (15:41): 

Yeah, absolutely. So I know we're getting close to a wrap-up and closing comments, but there are a couple of things I wanted to mention. We've got a really cool product coming to market with a company called INA. So we're going to talk about just a very high, high level. But before we do that, I want to talk about the investments that RAM is making in manufacturing. Logistics, in case you are asleep for the last three years, logistics have been a bit of a problem, even more so. So how we're getting around that is, for 3Eye, is also trying to partner with vendors that try to keep manufacturing as local and in the United States as possible. And there are some really awesome investments being made from a RAM perspective. So I wanted to talk about the, just a high level, we can't get into too much detail, but there are some investments being made to keep manufacturing here in the United States and it's to the tune of millions of dollars. So I know there's more information coming, but without giving too much away, Mr. Lonzak, can you give us just a little bit of a flavor of what's happening?

Kyle Lonzak (16:46): 

Yeah. You know, something that we're very proud about is being a US-based manufacturer of our product. And that happens in Seattle, Washington, where we're headquartered, where we're founded in 1992. Over the years, we've been blessed to be able to continue to expand and grow as an organization. And we are looking to further invest in our capabilities in Seattle and surrounding areas to continue our own ability to manufacture our product. So looking to expand what we can do in die-cast, we die-cast the majority of our aluminum products in Seattle. We'd like to be able to do even more of that in the Seattle area, continue to expand our powder coat facility, and be able to run full powder coating services. And then rubber and plastic injection is done on-site. And over the years we've built new buildings, and brought in many more machines to be able to make that happen. And again, just continuing to invest in the community, those around us, in our facilities giving our employees, our awesome people, just topnotch facilities and equipment to be able to work with and be able to help produce the best products possible.

Reid Estreicher (17:51):

Awesome. And then I know I very briefly alluded to it, but we have a really cool bundle coming to the market I'm very excited for which is the RAM Push-To-Talk solution powered by AINA PTT.

Kyle Lonzak (18:06): 

That's right. 

Reid Estreicher (18:07): 

Do you want to say anything else more than that? Do I want to say anything else? Do I just want to leave it there? Cliff hanger, teaser.

Kyle Lonzak (18:11): 

Maybe cliffhanger, but I agree. It's something very exciting that we are looking forward to have partnered with INA and with 3Eye on, and something that's going to rock the industry for sure. 

Reid Estreicher (18:21): 

I can't freaking wait. And to that point, we have a podcast, we're going to have them on Beyond The Device with you to talk specifically about that solution. We're going to be doing that I believe next week. And we have the INA, we're actually going to be bringing INA's podcast, I think we're recording that tomorrow. It'll come out for you guys shortly as well, so awesome. Can't wait for you guys to see what we're doing with INA, this is going to be freaking awesome. I think I said awesome like a thousand times-

Kyle Lonzak (18:50): 

It is.

Reid Estreicher (18:51):

... but I'll say it one more time. It's freaking awesome. So wrap up and closing comments, anything I left off the table? Anything you want to add before we're out of here Mr. Lonzak?

Kyle Lonzak (19:02): 

No, just again, with the product, we're just very thankful to be able to be in so many opportunities. But for those who haven't implemented technology in their vehicles or in their fleet yet, know that there are trusted providers like RAM that are out there that have many options to fit different budgets, different vehicles, and different applications. We've been in the game for some time now. So we really have good options out there to be able to make that happen. But most importantly, from the support side, we're here with you long term, not just to make a sale and leave you, but we're here to make sure that you're happy with what you purchase and then make sure it gets implemented and used properly as the years pass.

Reid Estreicher (19:42):

Awesome. Thank you very much, sir. So there you have it, the Fleet managers, oil, utilities, police, fire, EMS, whatever the case may be. If you're doing a laptop refresh, if you're just looking to put a tablet and a keyboard into a vehicle as well, RAM Mounts has a solution for that. And you can learn more about that by reaching out to us at sales, the number three, E-Y-E-T-E-C-H, .com. That's sales@3eyetech.com. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out to us. We'll put a bunch of this information in the description. Also, click like and subscribe. It makes us very happy when leave a comment in the comment section and let us know what else you'd like to see or what other questions you'd like to answer in these videos. It helps us out tremendously. Thank you guys so much for tuning in and be sure to catch us up next time for another episode of Beyond The Device. We'll see you on the internet. Cheers guys.

Kyle Lonzak (20:28):

Thank you.