LIVE From IRE 2023 With CIDAN Machinery!

Chandler and Ryan from CIDAN share the latest updates on their product line at IRE 2023!

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of an live interview with Ryan King and Chandler Barden from CIDAN. You can read the interview below or watch the YouTube video!

Karen Edwards: Hello everyone, and welcome back. I'm Karen Edwards and we are coming to you live from the RoofersCoffeeShop sound stage. And I am delighted to welcome Ryan and Chandler from CIDAN.

Chandler Barden: Thank you. Thanks for having us.

Ryan King: Thank you.

Karen Edwards: Wow. So the show just opened. I've heard that the line out there is really long, so there's a lot of people coming.

Chandler Barden: Yeah. We had one guy leave and he called me and said it's the biggest line to a trade show he is ever seen.

Karen Edwards: Wow.

Chandler Barden: Elbow to elbow.

Karen Edwards: Wow. This is why we're bringing the show to you because if you're stuck out there in line, we're going to give you a sneak peek of what's going on inside. Now, CIDAN makes machinery.

Chandler Barden: Mm-hmm.

Karen Edwards: We saw Ryan at the NIRCA show a few weeks ago.

Ryan King: Yep.

Karen Edwards: And you can't bring big pieces of equipment to a small regional show, so we watch videos and we have conversations, but you guys have a large booth full of equipment.

Chandler Barden: Yep.

Karen Edwards: Tell me what you've got in there.

Chandler Barden: We have a number of CIDAN folders that are 10 feet long, and then a RAPIDO shear. And then we're releasing a couple of new products. One is specific for this market. It was designed for roofers, and it's a 10-foot double folder. It's a Thalmann TD 3.2 meter. That's a new product that we've already sold a handful of them even prior to us launching the product. Customers were so eager for it that they were ready to place orders. But that's a new product we're going to show. We also have our 21 foot, which is more common right now, double folder, the Thalmann TD. And then we have a couple of coil lines, an automated slitting machine. It automatically changes the knifes for you, the new slit. And-

Karen Edwards: You must have a really large booth space?

Chandler Barden: Right. How big is our booth?

Ryan King: I think It's 40 by 80. That sound about right?

Chandler Barden: Yeah.

Ryan King: It's a good size.

Karen Edwards: Wow. Wow. Okay. And we want to make sure we mention the booth number.

Chandler Barden: It's 4912.

Karen Edwards: 4912.

Chandler Barden: Yeah.

Karen Edwards: Excellent. Okay. In addition to seeing all this machinery and the new products, are you going to be demonstrating?

Chandler Barden: Oh yeah. All machinery's powered, all machinery's running just as it would in a shop. Ryan does a great job at strategically placing the machines to have a shop flow in some different scenarios.

Karen Edwards: Nice.

Chandler Barden: And then we also have some software that we sell, the new IT software that's connected to the machines as if they're running in a shop.

Karen Edwards: Wow.

Chandler Barden: Forming parts panels, trim, edge trim.

Karen Edwards: It's going to feel and look like a real shop.

Ryan King: As much as we can given the space. I mean, most shops aren't carpeted.

Karen Edwards: Right.

Ryan King: But it does give it a nice look. And Chandler, you forgot another new machine.

Chandler Barden: I know. The manual hand break. We have a manual hand break that compliments our folders. It's for making box and pan breaks, chimney caps or different splice plates, custom work, a lot of custom copper work, stuff like that. It's called a MFB.

Karen Edwards: MFB Okay. Ryan, you're in sales.

Chandler Barden: Yep.

Karen Edwards: So you answer a lot of questions, I'm sure-

Ryan King: Yeah.

Karen Edwards: ... from contractors. What are some of the things that contractors most want to know?

Ryan King: It really depends on who the contractor is. There's a lot of our customers out there that they've been, for example, buying all their roofing trim from a local shop. Maybe they have a small manual break that they have at the shop. So a customer like that, we're really answering a lot of questions of... Let me back up. So many people think it's this crazy big, long an investment in a gigantic amount of time and effort they put in, but it's really not that hard to get into fabricating your own pieces. So customers like that, we're really trying to not just show them our machines, but educate that the entry into it when you're already have, say a successful roofing business, is a lot easier than a lot of people think. But then of course, other customers that maybe have a mature shop, they've been open for years, those type of people we're really showing efficiency and automation and how to do more with less, essentially.

Karen Edwards: What's the learning curve like?

Ryan King: It's pretty quick.

Karen Edwards: Yeah.

Ryan King: But most people playing on the machine for a little while... I mean like anything, there's a learning curve, but most people we can have up and running in a matter of hours. The technology has come such a long way that... I learned on CNC machines. I never was somebody who was using hand breaks and such, so to me I'm like, "Ah, this is just, I just type this in. I draw the part and I hit go." And so a lot of respect to the people that know how to do it and the more manual traditional ways. But people getting into it now, it's just incredibly easy. You're talking hours.

Karen Edwards: It's computer driven, right?

Ryan King: Mm-hmm.

Karen Edwards: You're basically telling the computer what you want and it's going to make it for you. Right?

Chandler Barden: In some scenarios, yeah. Definitely. Definitely. And it's becoming more and more that way with automation. We're investing heavily in automation and getting from, "Hey, a customer's going to draw my part to a finished part, and somebody's packaging it and throwing it on a truck." So that streamlined... That whole process is part of our one stop partner strategy for our customer.

Karen Edwards: That's fantastic. So what's fun in your booth? Somebody comes over, what are you giving away?

Chandler Barden: Fun is in the knowledge of machines.

Ryan King: Yeah. No, I don't think we have any candy yet.

Karen Edwards: Oh, I always like to say, come and get a hat. Get some candy.

Ryan King: No, we definitely-

Chandler Barden: We have some hats.

Ryan King: Some hats and such. Maybe we'll form a nice little gutter piece that they can take with them when they're done.

Chandler Barden: Yeah.

Karen Edwards: A souvenir. Yeah.

Ryan King: We'll make you something. How about that?

Karen Edwards: Yeah. Oh, that's really cool.

Ryan King: Yeah.

Karen Edwards: That's really cool. Okay. Booth 4912.

Ryan King: Mm-hmm.

Karen Edwards: Stop, see Chandler, see Ryan, and check out the machines. Now, I know that you guys are RoofersCoffeeShop partners, and I know that you've got some information on our site about purchasing used machines.

Ryan King: Mm-hmm.

Karen Edwards: I don't know that people always know that that's an option.

Ryan King: Yeah. I think we have something about 35 used machines right now.

Karen Edwards: Oh wow.

Ryan King: Yeah, we'd definitely love to get some of those out there. A lot of times it's customers wanting that entry into the market without spending the full dollar amount on a new machine. Or a lot of times it's also customers that maybe they have a folder and they just want to have that second one for when they're really busy or that sort of situation.

Karen Edwards: Good option. Stop by 4912, find out all of your options and see how the machines work. See how easy it is.

Ryan King: Absolutely.

Karen Edwards: And we invite you to follow along with us the rest of the day too. We'll be talking to partners all day. We have coffee conversations coming to you live at one o'clock Central time.