Building Customer-Driven Innovation in Industrial Markets With Scott Rolston

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

02:30 How field experience shaped Scott Rolston’s leadership approach
03:54 Why hydraulic couplings are the “Achilles heel” of systems
06:24 What drives Stucchi’s culture of customer-focused innovation
09:38 Mega trends reshaping safety and productivity in every industry
14:17 The real-world problem behind Stucchi’s new VT17-ZN RoT-lock innovation
16:38 How equipment downtime leads to lost revenue and bonuses
24:55 The secrets to building lasting partnerships over transactional deals

Listen to this episode on Apple Podcasts.

 

In this episode…

In industrial markets, innovation rarely starts in a lab. It takes shape in the field, shaped by pressure, downtime, and real-world constraints. But what happens when companies truly build solutions around those realities instead of just the product?

Drawing from his experience as a seasoned leader in fluid power, Scott Rolston explains that innovation begins by deeply understanding the customer’s application, not just the component itself. He emphasizes that what may seem like a simple product often sits at the center of safety, uptime, and productivity challenges once it’s exposed to real-world variables like vibration, pressure, and operator behavior. This perspective shifts the focus from selling parts to solving business-critical problems, making innovation more practical, impactful, and aligned with how customers actually operate.

In this episode of In Good Company: Where Relationships Drive Results, Lisa Kilrea is joined by Scott Rolston, President of Stucchi USA, to discuss building customer-driven innovation in industrial markets. They explore how to differentiate in commoditized spaces, why safety and productivity are reshaping expectations, and how real-world feedback drives product development. Scott also shares insights on turning strong partnerships into a competitive advantage.

 

Resources mentioned in this episode

Lisa Kilrea on LinkedIn
WSI eResults
Scott Rolston on LinkedIn
Stucchi USA

 

Quotable Moments

• “We built everything from the market presence to relationships. It was literally one conversation at a time.”
• “That only happens when you listen well. And then you translate that into those real-world problems.”
• We try to penetrate the surface level of an application. And that requires us to differentiate ourselves.”
• “Customers today are expecting a lot more than just a component that connects and disconnects.”
• “Strong relationships always make it easier to take smart risks and bring meaningful innovation to the market.”

 

Action Steps

1. Spend more time in the field with customers: Direct exposure to real-world applications helps uncover problems that aren’t visible from a purely internal perspective.
2. Focus on business drivers, not just product features: Understanding safety, uptime, and productivity ensures solutions deliver meaningful impact beyond basic functionality.
3. Build strong, trust-based partnerships: Long-term relationships create open feedback loops that make it easier to innovate and solve complex challenges together.
4. Translate customer insights into actionable requirements: Turning real-world problems into technical and commercial solutions ensures innovations are practical and scalable.
5. Shift conversations from price to total cost of ownership: Helping customers see long-term value encourages better decisions around reliability, maintenance, and performance.

Learn more about the VT17-ZN RoT-lock

Scott Rolston – Stucchi USA

This podcast first appeared here: Building Customer-Driven Innovation in Industrial Markets With Scott Rolston – Digital Marketing for Manufacturers

 

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Scott Rolston focused on as President of Stucchi USA?

Scott Rolston leads the U.S. business for Stucchi. His focus is threefold: strengthening customer relationships, building out partnerships, and staying connected to customer applications, because that is where the real challenges are.

How does Stucchi USA stand out in a commoditized hydraulic coupler market?

Stucchi USA gets beneath the surface of each application. The team learns the details of performance, safety and reliability, including pressure, vibration, connection frequency, contamination risk and operator behavior. Then it applies the right product, or an adaptation of it, so the customer can reach its business objectives.

What trends are shaping customer expectations across industries?

Safety is the biggest common theme. Customers want components that reduce risk and leakage and protect the operators who use them. Productivity pressure from lower headcounts adds demand for faster connections, easier operation and fewer errors. Together, these trends move the conversation from upfront price to total cost of ownership.

What is the VT17-ZN RoT-lock, and what problem does it solve?

The VT17-ZN RoT-lock is a screw-to-connect quick-release coupling with flat face valving and an automatic locking sleeve. Stucchi developed it to address unintentional loosening, disconnection and premature wear of hydraulic quick couplers in high-pressure, high-vibration applications, where a failure means downtime, safety hazards and significant maintenance costs.

Where would the VT RoT-lock be used?

It is designed for demanding mobile hydraulic equipment, such as excavators, excavators adapted for drilling, and excavators running a hammer on a demolition site. These machines run harder and longer, with frequent tool changes and limited maintenance windows. A coupler failure can shut down a job site and put deadlines, chargebacks and early-completion bonuses at risk.

How did customers and partners shape the VT RoT-lock?

The product came out of many feedback loops with customers, distributors and Stucchi’s internal teams. Real applications, such as leaking high-flow auxiliary lines on high-reach demolition excavators working on a bridge, showed that vibration, rotation, pressure and long duty cycles went beyond what existing coupler designs could handle. From concept to production took about five years, with several design revisions over the last three.

What separates a strong long-term partnership from a transactional relationship?

Trust allows open dialogue, and open dialogue creates the feedback loops that drive innovation. Strong partnerships are built on shared goals, transparency and long-term thinking. Transactional relationships focus on price and availability, while partnerships focus on solving problems together over time.

How can I connect with Stucchi USA?

Start at stucchiusa.com, which lists the phone number and the sales email. The Stucchi USA team prefers a phone conversation so it can understand the full context of your application. Scott Rolston is also on LinkedIn.

 

Transcript

In Good Company podcast. Host: Lisa Kilrea, WSI. Guest: Scott Rolston, President, Stucchi USA. This transcript is lightly edited for readability: filler words and false starts are removed. Timestamps mark where each section begins.

[00:00] Introduction

Announcer: Welcome to In Good Company, where relationships drive results, with your host, Lisa Kilrea. In each episode, we explore how great leaders build trust, inspire teams, and turn meaningful connections into real success.

Lisa: Hi, I’m Lisa Kilrea, host of In Good Company, where relationships drive results. Today’s episode is sponsored by WSI. At WSI, we help manufacturers and B2B distributors build the strategic foundation they need for AI-driven growth. Our work spans digital strategy, search visibility, and multichannel programs designed to deliver measurable results. To learn more, visit www.wsi-manufacturing-marketing.com.

In industrial markets, innovation is often measured by performance, visibility, reliability and efficiency. Behind every product and every advancement, there are teams working closely with customers, partners and each other to solve real-world challenges. Those relationships often play a critical role in how new solutions are developed, refined and successfully brought to market.

Today, I’m fortunate to be joined by Scott Rolston, president of Stucchi USA. Thank you for joining us today, Scott.

Scott: Thank you, Lisa.

Lisa: It’s really great to have you. To give listeners some context: as I mentioned, you’re the president of Stucchi USA. Stucchi is a leading manufacturer of hydraulic quick-disconnect couplings, serving industries like construction, agriculture, industrial, and oil and gas. You bring extensive leadership experience in fluid power and industrial markets, with a focus on driving growth, operational excellence and customer-focused innovation. In your role, as I understand it, you lead Stucchi USA’s strategic direction and sales operations, working closely with OEMs, distributors and end users to deliver reliable, high-performance solutions. Would you say that’s…

Scott: It’s a mouthful.

Lisa: Yes, it is. But you’re a busy guy, so we truly appreciate having you here today.

[02:22] Scott’s Background and Stucchi USA’s Start

Lisa: To start, can you share a bit about your role today and what you’re most focused on at Stucchi?

Scott: Sure. To give a high-level overview, today I lead the U.S. business for Stucchi, but my journey in fluid connectors goes back more than 30 years. I entered the fluid power industry right out of college, joined a manufacturer’s rep agency in 1993, and by 1995 I was fully immersed in quick-release couplings. Back then we represented a company called Perfecting Couplings, an innovator in quick-release couplings going back to the ’60s and ’70s. From there I got exposure to another manufacturer, Tomco Products.

That early period formed my foundation for what I do today. It gave me a deep appreciation for both the engineering behind the products and the realities of how they’re used in the field: going out, making joint sales calls, and building my career on working in the field and in sales. Those experiences shaped how I think about this business.

Quick-release couplings often look simple, but when you see how they behave under application factors like pressure, vibration, contamination and operator use, you realize they play a much bigger role in safety and in other business drivers, such as productivity, efficiency, uptime and overall system performance, than people often give them credit for. We can be the Achilles’ heel within a broader system. That’s what formed my foundation and my vision for the business.

When we started Stucchi here in the U.S., we were essentially an organic startup. We didn’t inherit a large customer base or a predefined strategy. We built everything, from market presence to relationships, literally one conversation at a time. From the very beginning, our question wasn’t just “How do we sell couplers?” We were focused on where we could deliver real value in terms of business drivers. That value mindset has stayed with the company. It’s part of our culture and the core of how we operate, from inside sales to outside sales to operations.

We still spend a lot of time in the field, talking with customers, with distributors and directly with OEMs. We try to understand their applications and learn where existing products fall short. In many cases, customers aren’t looking for something radically new. They’re looking for something that works better, lasts longer, and has a day-to-day impact on business drivers such as safety or ease of operator use. That’s where we keep our focus.

From a leadership perspective, my role has always been about creating alignment between customers, our engineering team, our sales team, and the channel partners who work with our customers. When we’re innovating or creating a new product, it doesn’t happen in isolation. We take a 360-degree perspective, and that only happens when you listen well, translate real-world problems into technical requirements, and then figure out how to execute in a way that makes sense commercially and operationally for all parties.

Lisa: That’s a lot right there, so thank you for the background.

Scott: Kind of a rant, but we’re pretty passionate about what we do. To bring it back to where my focus is, it’s really threefold: strengthening customer relationships, building out partnerships, and making sure we stay connected to the applications, because that’s where the real challenges are. Operationally we have to feed the supply chain, but are we also solving problems at the application level, not just at the channel level? We’re solving problems on several levels throughout the supply chain.

[06:58] Differentiation in a Commoditized Market

Lisa: I imagine hydraulic couplers can be a very competitive and sometimes commoditized space. How do you think about differentiation in that kind of market, and what are you seeing right now in customer expectations or shifts in demand?

Scott: Hydraulic quick-release couplings absolutely can be seen as a commodity. What we try to do is reset that perspective around business drivers. We try to get beneath the surface of an application, and that’s what we consider our differentiator: we learn more about the application. We understand the intimate details of performance, safety and reliability over time.

Understanding those variables lets us apply the right product to the process or the technical requirements, such as pressure, vibration and connection frequency. How are those parts integrating with the customer’s systems and processes? What impact, positive and negative, are we having? Then we apply the product, or adaptations of it, accordingly. There are contamination risks, and there’s operational and operator behavior. So it’s not just how the product performs; it’s how it performs across all of those variables. That’s what lets us separate ourselves from being fully commoditized.

Of course it’s a commodity; there’s no denying that. But by understanding those details intimately, we can say, “In your situation, in your application, something different may help you achieve your business objectives with our product,” rather than just solving a product issue, because many times the problem goes beyond the product.

[09:14] Trends Across Verticals: Safety and Productivity

Lisa: I know you serve quite a few different verticals, and I imagine you didn’t serve all of them right away. Are there unique differences in how your products and solutions help those verticals, or are there common themes?

Scott: There are differences in adoption. There are megatrends, and different verticals adopt them at different speeds. Customers today expect a lot more than a component that connects and disconnects. In some operating environments, safety is the business driver, which brings more complex machine requirements. Other industries are more focused on downtime. Every company cares about downtime, but the material impact differs from one industry to another.

We can look at the same application in two industries that are 90% the same, but one customer focuses more on safety because of its regulatory environment, while the other focuses on productivity within the same hydraulic schematic. So again, we focus on those drivers.

We’re also seeing a big shift today because of headcount shortages and labor challenges. If I had to isolate one theme, it’s safety. As equipment becomes more powerful and regulation more stringent, customers want components that reduce risk and the exposure to accidents on a work site or in a plant. They want less leakage, again because of safety exposure like slips, trips and falls, and they want to protect the operators who interface with the parts. Safety isn’t a nice-to-have anymore; it’s an expectation. That’s a big common denominator.

Combine that with productivity pressure, with lower headcounts but the same expected output, and it puts a lot of pressure on every industry and vertical market. For our product, that translates into faster connections, easier operation, and solutions that don’t require special tools or extensive training. The quick-release coupler has to be easy to use and less prone to error, because customers are far less tolerant of anything that takes extra effort.

Lisa: I can’t imagine an industry or situation where safety and productivity aren’t important, so I can see why those would be the consistent themes.

Scott: And that’s moving the discussion away from upfront price. Yes, we’re a commodity, but these megatrends are shifting the conversation from upfront cost to total cost of ownership. Customers are more sophisticated about their business drivers. Foremen may have KPIs today that they didn’t have before. So how does that affect daily operations, and how does that filter down to our product? Customers are asking: How long will this product last? How often will it need maintenance? How readily available are replacement parts? What happens if it fails in the field?

So, going back to commoditization, we’re offering a higher-quality solution that reduces downtime and service calls. The discussion has changed quite a bit, and where it hasn’t, we’re trying to trigger it, because these megatrends, if they aren’t in front of a customer today, will work their way down to that market or that customer.

[13:53] Introducing the VT RoT-lock

Lisa: One of the things I was really interested in talking about, from my research on Stucchi, is that you’re introducing a new product called the VT RoT-lock. Can you explain what it is and the problem it’s designed to solve?

Scott: Sure. The VT RoT-lock was developed to address a very real problem we see on job sites. The application factors I mentioned earlier are more extreme in certain applications: unintentional loosening and disconnection of a hydraulic quick coupler, and premature wear that leads to catastrophic failure in high-pressure, high-vibration applications. As machines become more powerful, traditional coupling designs are being pushed beyond what they were originally designed to handle.

And it’s not just an inconvenience. When a hydraulic connection fails, it means downtime, safety hazards and significant maintenance costs. The RoT-lock was engineered specifically to improve reliability in those demanding environments where uptime matters most.

From a design perspective, at its core the VT RoT-lock is a screw-to-connect quick-release coupling with flat face valving, so we’re checking some boxes. Flat face versus a poppet valve eliminates leakage and spillage on the job site. Screw-to-connect is a mechanical interface that relieves the premature wear a traditional ball-and-latch design can suffer in high-vibration, high-torsion applications. The third feature is an automatic locking sleeve. So there are three core features: screw-to-connect, flat face, and an automatic locking sleeve. But it’s not just the individual features; it’s how they work together that changes performance on the job site.

[16:11] A Typical High-Demand Use Case

Lisa: I love the detail. Can you walk through a typical high-demand situation where the VT RoT-lock would be needed, and how it prevents issues or improves safety or productivity?

Scott: Sure. Take the most basic high-impact example: typical mobile hydraulic construction equipment, like an excavator, or an excavator adapted for drilling. Any of these applications with higher working pressures and higher flow requirements, where vibration and movement have an impact, which is very common across construction equipment. These machines are running harder and for longer hours, often changing out work tools, with limited maintenance windows. So there can be premature wear, and the operator is interfacing with the connector.

A catastrophic failure will literally shut down a job site. We’ve seen this repeatedly through our customers, our channels, and calling directly on end users: job sites shut down by a quick-release coupling that failed. It might be a demolition site. Now your main piece of demolition equipment, the excavator with a hammer, is no longer running, and you’ve lost all that productivity.

There’s real money at stake. Unscheduled downtime means you may not meet deadlines. Contracts may have thresholds with chargebacks if you miss them, or bonuses on the back end for finishing early that you now lose. So it cuts both ways: chargebacks, or lost revenue in the form of expected bonuses, because you normally execute ahead of schedule and built that into the contract. A failure can affect a number of factors.

Lisa: That’s a great example, and it puts in perspective why you shouldn’t focus only on price, because that can backfire significantly.

Scott: Sure. Price does matter, and we recognize price elasticity. It can’t be a golden VT RoT-lock. We feel the product is priced fairly for the engineering and technical features built into it, and it falls in line with our other product families that solve specialty problems. But to reinforce your point, with this product we’re really focused on the big-picture business drivers. We believe it will solve or eliminate some of the catastrophic issues that can shut down part of a job site’s production, because ultimately, a job site is a production site. It works like an orchestra: everything is integrated and has to happen in sequence, or you can’t move on to the next portion of the job.

Lisa: And beyond productivity, I imagine that in difficult terrain, an equipment shutdown could be extremely unsafe for the operator.

Scott: Absolutely.

[20:04] How Customers and Partners Shaped the Product

Lisa: Bringing a product like this to market typically involves a lot of collaboration. Can you talk about the role customers, partners and internal teams played in shaping the VT RoT-lock?

Scott: Absolutely. The VT RoT-lock really came out of conversations with customers, distributors and our internal teams. Customer feedback helped validate the problems. I call it firing bullets before cannonballs: you can’t assume the first feedback loop is where you should put all your resources. So we ran many customer feedback loops, including with distributors who brought in secondhand and thirdhand feedback, and really peeled back the layers of the onion. We took what we learned from the application users, incorporated those details into the engineering of the product, and are now positioning it to support those market applications.

I could share some specific customer conversations and real-world stories beyond the job-site shutdowns I mentioned.

Lisa: That would be awesome.

Scott: A good example is being on job sites with construction equipment in high-reach demolition applications, where the high-flow auxiliary lines on excavators were having premature failures and leakage. Even leakage alone can shut down a job site, depending on the environmental impact. If they’re working on a bridge and oil leaks into a river, they literally have to move a barge to shore to make the repair and then move it back into position at the bridge work site.

When we’re exposed to real-world applications like that, it makes us step back and look at the issue differently. Was it an improper installation? In this instance, it wasn’t. It was simply how the equipment was being used. The vibration, the rotation, the pressure and the long duty cycles were acting on the coupler beyond its intended design use. That level of mechanical stress exceeded the design of the product. So we took those real-world examples and said, “We have to design something at another level to handle what real applications demand today.”

Lisa: And that’s not an uncommon use case.

[23:01] From Concept to Production

Lisa: All good things take time to come to fruition. How long was the process, from the initial idea and the gap you identified to now, when you’re very close to bringing this to market?

Scott: Engineers are always toying with ideas, and salespeople are always bouncing ideas around. From a concept standpoint, I’d say it’s been five years. We had the baseline product about three years ago, and we’ve done several revisions since, through a robust testing process and through reconciling the production of the product with its design, because those are two separate factors. I can design a solution, but can I scale production? Do I then have to go back and adapt the design to meet the use case while producing those parts efficiently at scale? We’ve gone through several renditions over the last three years to reach the final design, and we’ve now moved from prototypes into production.

[24:31] Partnerships vs. Transactional Relationships

Lisa: Moving beyond the VT RoT-lock: throughout your career, relationships have influenced your ability to grow the business and bring new solutions to market. What separates strong long-term partnerships from more transactional ones in this industry?

Scott: At a baseline, relationships have been central to everything I’ve done and everything we do as a team. Trust allows for open dialogue, and that’s what gave us those feedback loops. That’s one way strong partnerships differ from transactional ones. Strong relationships make it easier to take smart risks and bring meaningful innovation to market.

Strong partnerships are also built on shared goals. There’s a level of transparency, and there has to be long-term thinking. It has to go beyond what’s happening this month to what we’re going to do next year. Transactional relationships focus on price and availability, which absolutely are important, but partnerships focus on solving problems together over a longer period of time.

[25:57] How to Connect with Stucchi

Lisa: Absolutely, and that’s a perfect segue. This has been a great conversation, especially about how an innovation like the VT RoT-lock comes to life through both technical expertise and strong collaboration. Before we wrap up, where’s the best place for listeners to learn more about Stucchi or connect with you and your team?

Scott: The best place to start is our website, and we’re always open to direct conversations as well. The phone number is listed there. Whether it’s our sales team, our distributors or our engineers, our sales team is driven to engage by phone, not just by email, so we can get the full context. Our workflow is to have a conversation, not just answer an email. So it starts with the website, where there’s a sales email, but that should lead to a phone call. We want to be accessible and helpful.

Lisa: And how about finding you? Are you on LinkedIn?

Scott: I am on LinkedIn. That’s a bit of a trick question, because I assume people would just look up my name.

Lisa: Rolston, R-O-L-S-T-O-N. That might trip people up if they spell it wrong.

Scott: Yes.

[27:19] Mentors and Reflection

Lisa: Before we officially wrap up, I always like to end with a question of reflection. Since the show is about relationships driving results, is there a person in your life, early or later in your career, who has been instrumental in guiding you and influencing how you’ve achieved results?

Scott: I wouldn’t say it’s one individual. I was very fortunate to get into the industry right out of college, in my early 20s, so I was working with a peer group in their 40s and 50s: upper management, sales managers, VPs of sales, and owner-operators of manufacturers. That mentorship period, at least seven, eight or nine years, is really the foundation of everything. I learned from professionals with an enormous amount of tribal knowledge. Today we use a lot of data to make decisions, but that old-school way of absorbing and knowing had a big influence on me. I could name a half dozen people I consider mentors, all sales managers and owner-operators, and I still say hi to them at every trade show today.

Lisa: That’s awesome. I’m sure it’s a tight industry, no matter how big or small the company.

Scott: It is. It’s like a high school reunion at every big show.

Lisa: That sounds fun, I think.

[29:14] Closing

Lisa: If there’s one takeaway from today’s conversation, it’s this: the best industrial solutions are not developed in isolation. They’re built through real-world insight, collaboration and strong relationships across the entire value chain. Scott, thank you for joining us today, and to our listeners, thank you for spending time with us. I look forward to being in good company with you again next time.

Scott: Great. Thanks again, Lisa.

Announcer: Thanks for listening to In Good Company, where relationships drive results, with Lisa Kilrea. Be sure to follow or subscribe so you never miss an episode. Until next time, stay connected and keep building relationships that drive results.