Trane Technologies plc (NYSE:TT) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

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David Regnery: A bit of both on that. I think that you obviously are going to cannibalize any combustion engine that’s out there with your electric solution. But there’s also opportunities, you think about, I guess, like best example, that would probably be think of home delivery, right? That’s it’s a realm. I mean, it’s a relatively new market. Okay. It’s expanding quite quickly. I think with some of our new electrified product, that higher capacity, you’re going to be able to create different market opportunities. And I won’t be more specific than that. But we’re pretty excited about what we see there. And your other question was just €“

Brett Linzey: Just on the total outgrowth expectation for the year.

David Regnery: Yes, I won’t get too specific on that. But I think you could see that we’ve obviously taken share for the last couple of years, and we anticipate taking more share in the future, right. I mean, our team just does a great job there with working with our dealers, creating value propositions for our customer that are very compelling. I mean, I use Europe as an example. I mean, if you have a product that’s able to get 30% better efficiency than the best in the market, I mean, you’re going to have a very compelling opportunity to talk to every customer about the value proposition that we bring. And that’s what we do. And we see these innovations and Thermo King use innovations in residential, these innovations in commercial really hitting the mark with our customers.

And it really allows us to create that differentiated revenue growth that we’re seeing on the top line. It’s that Flywheel that I referred to, and we’re going to continue to make sure that we save plenty of dollars to reinvest in our business to keep that Flywheel very vibrant.

Brett Linzey: Yes, makes sense. Thanks. And just one follow up regarding the incremental investment. Could you just spend a little more time on those priorities. I think you said factory automation, anything on paybacks or what do you think the structural benefits might be there?

Christopher Kuehn: Yes, I’ll start, Brett. So generally what I’d look at is focused on our factory of the future and automation. We’re spending time and cost around digital and also around electrification that Dave spoke to, specifically. And not only that Thermo King portfolio, but also in our commercial HVAC portfolios as you think about electrification and heating. So they’re great investments to make. Some of them are driving revenues and backlogs immediately. On the automation side, the factory side. This is the opportunity for us as we see the productivity coming back into the business and allows the features for us to go drive more their productivity when you can drive some more automation, get more volume through the factories, and it’s been an investment we’ve been working on for several years.

And it’s also going to be a little bit of an increased investment in 2023. But very strong paybacks. And look, I think it helps contribute over the long term to that target we have in incremental as a 25%, or better.

Operator: We’ll take our next question from Andrew Obin with Bank of America.

Andrew Obin: Hey, guys, thanks a lot for fitting me in. Hey, good morning. Just a question very interesting discussion about the fact that the industry is changing. So do you think that these extended lead times and much more visibility in the cycle is becoming more of a permanent feature of the industry? Because it seems you and others are training the customers to live with the lead times? And maybe you’ve given them some flexibility in terms of deliveries? But it seems that perhaps it’s the future of the industry that’s here to stay? I was wondering if we could push that discussion further. Thank you.

David Regnery: Yes. I mean it’s a provocative question, Andrew. And I don’t see it that way. I think that as supply chain improves, you’ll see lead times contract, does it go back to what it was post pandemic? Maybe not, maybe it’s a little bit longer. I think that everyone sees the value in the visibility. And we’ve done a lot of work with our customers setting up some of those more visibility in that space so that will stay. So could they extend a bit? Sure. I don’t expect, I expect them to improve from where they are today. And if I went back a year, I would tell you, they’ve dramatically improved from a year ago. So we’ll see how it plays out. But it’s a very provocative question.

Andrew Obin: Thank you. And just a follow up. Can you just, the safety stock investment? What specific area is that related to? Thank you?

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