Parts Town Unlimited — the parent firm of OEM foodservice equipment parts, residential appliance and HVAC repair parts distributor Parts Town — has a new leader for its Red Lightning division that advances field innovations that support service technicians.

Parts Town Unlimited shared May 14 that Sam Brewer has been hired as “Building the Field of Dreams” — aka Vice President of Field Innovation — to enhance Red Lightning’s innovation efforts in this area.

Brewer joins Red Lightning with a background in innovation across leadership roles at Chick-fil-A and Miso Robotics, including experience leveraging AI tools to support technician’s specific needs – a mission that will be continued and accelerated at Parts Town, the distributor said in a news release. Brewer will lead the Red Lightning team as it continues to build on Parts Town’s investment in new field innovation tools for technicians, dispatchers and parts procurement specialists.

“Sam’s unwavering commitment to supporting service technicians will enable Red Lightning to continue enhancing its position as an industry-leading resource to service companies across their entire operation,” said Emanuela Delgado, Red Lightning’s SVP of The Revolution (aka Growth & Innovation). “By continuing to invest in our field service innovations, Red Lightning will play a critical role in increasing first-time fix rates and getting parts faster, enabling greater efficiencies and cost savings for service companies.”

Most recently, Parts Town’s Red Lightning unit released PartPredictor, a digital tool that utilizes the power of real-world data from millions of successful technician repairs and AI to identify the OEM parts most frequently used to fix equipment. In November 2023, Red Lightning unveiled its Same Day Delivery offering.

“Service technicians are the unsung heroes who help keep critical equipment up and running and Red Lightning is proud to offer field solutions that make their jobs easier with improved efficiency and accuracy” Brewer added. “I am thrilled to be joining an organization that shares my core values and passion for innovation that will advance the work of our invaluable technicians in the field.”

In 2023, Parts Town’s annual revenue jumped by more than 25% to $2.3 billion.