Seven with Evan

Evan Carroll's focus now more than ever is on the future of Black Bros.

Representing the sixth generation of family ownership, in this segment Evan talks about the year ahead, his recent dive into engineering, and his faith in the upcoming generation of workers.

1. You've mentioned before Christmas is a favorite time of year. How were your holidays? What Carroll traditions were carried out?

Christmas was another great time. Great to get all the family together at my mom's house for probably the twentieth-some year we've been doing that. So, (it was a) really fun time. New faces, old faces. The magic is still there, for sure! . ... It was actually the last moments we all got to spend with my (maternal) Grandma before she passed away, so that was a special time to hang out with her. I was her last- ever Euchre partner, so that was pretty big. She taught us all to play. To get that last Christmas in with her meant a lot.

2. My condolences. That final memory of her sure is cool. ... Black Bros. had a strong year in 2023. What is the outlook for 2024?

I think another strong year. We'll see what the markets do — housing especially — but all-in-all we are looking at another great year with potential to be one of our best years. It just takes a couple orders or a breakthrough like we've seen in the past to really turn this into a monster year. We have a healthy backlog of orders worth mentioning, and we're going to play it how we always do by being willing to take on more and building every machine to the best of our ability.

3. Aside from the housing market, what other indicators do you look at to potentially predict how business is going to behave?

Jeff (Simonton, COO) may be our guy to answer that one. Besides the housing market — which seems to be our biggest leader and is always a really good one to watch — I don't know that I can say there's a specific indicator that I'm looking for. The CPI (Consumer Price Index) is good for everyone to keep an eye on. It measures the cost of the goods we have to purchase right now... from the grocery store to the cost of energy and gas. Interest rates would probably be another good indicator. Is it easy to borrow money and take out loans to buy capital equipment? But generally, if houses are flying, people are building and remodeling and spending money. But if houses sit still, inventory builds up and people are not spending as much.

4. You’ve recently made a shift in your role here at BBCO, moving from Production to Engineering. Describe how the transition is going.

I’m starting pretty fresh and brand new upstairs (in Engineering). I have a good feel for our ERP system and how our day-to-day operations go from inventory, to part movements, to machine production. You know, roll updates and all that. I feel very confident in being able to check and watch over that information. So now, I’m moving upstairs and starting pretty new with some of our 3-D CAD software. ... It’ll be a new challenge but a fun challenge. I'm just making sure I’m learning as much as possible from our great group — we have a lot of experience up there, just like all parts of our company. At the end of the day, the goals are to absorb as much as I can from those guys, to contribute the best I can, and complete some better knowledge of our company and how we design and build things the way we do.

5. Very difficult and humbling, I'm sure, to start from scratch on some of that. Who specifically have you leaned on in this new role?

(Brian "Tate" Frigg) is the senior engineer at 25 years and has done a good job making his rounds and checking up on me. Tate helped raise Jason (Tomlinson) up a little bit at the beginning, too, and now they are both helping me out. Yeah, Tate and Jason are the two who have really been the ones I've worked closest with so far in getting things situated and up to speed.

6. WMMA — the major association Black Bros. has been an active leader in for generations — has officially merged with WMIA to form a new association, the WIA. What are your initial feelings or thoughts on the merger?

I feel very comfortable with the time (the two groups) took to kind of work out the kinks, talk through all the pluses-and-minuses. It was an active process. And if I know anything about the board, it's a good group of people. I know them personally, and with their leadership I feel comfortable letting them re-imagine or reorganize the WMMA and WMIA going forward as one group. Time will tell, but between the board and the people we know within the organizations, I feel like everyone has in mind the best interest for each other and the wood industry as a whole. As for the long history of BBCO and WMMA? It's unfortunate that leg of history has ended, but we're still here and the WIA will still promote the same values as the WMMA. So it's sad, but we are in good hands with the new group we have formed.

7. I see no reason to disagree. ... Black Bros. welcomed around 20 local high-schoolers to headquarters in late Oct. for the annual "Discover Manufacturing Expo." In a time of major labor shortages, where is your faith in the next generation of workers?

During my coaching experience with high school, 15-16-year-old kids, I feel like I’ve only gotten to work with respectful kids that are putting their teammates before they put themselves and are willing to put in the work to be successful. So, it gives me a good feeling. If I’m seeing that on the basketball court, in a team setting, I think a lot of them are also going to be driven to be great at whatever they do in life.