Intertek is Made in Cortland

Matt Brooks: [00:00:00] Matt Brooks here on X101 Always Classic in for another edition of Made in Cortland. And today we are exploring Intertek. And with me in this edition, I got Lincoln Billings, director of Operations at Intertek Cortland, and Ryan, a technical lead at Intertek Cortland. First off, thank you for joining me today on this edition of Made in Cortland.

Lincoln Billings: Thanks. Thanks for having us, Matt. Glad to be here.

Matt Brooks: Now, first off, Lincoln, can you tell me how did Intertek get started specifically here in Cortland ?

Lincoln Billings: Absolutely. And to take a step back first, looking at the broader view of Intertek. We’re a global presence. We have a thousand laboratories in over a hundred different countries.

Um, we’re a global provider for quality assurance to a multitude of industries globally. As for Intertek Cortland, the history actually stems back to, to Thomas Edison, a fact that most, most people probably don’t recognize today. While he’s most well known for the light bulb, one of the innovations that really laid the groundwork for Intertek was,

Him bringing electricity safely to the consumer’s home. [00:01:00] Now, as electrical products became more widely used, he recognized the need to, to provide electricity in a safe manner to ensure that those products that brought the electricity to the home were safe. This vision, vision led to the creation of electrical testing laboratories.

ETL, The ETL Mark is a trusted symbol that remains on products all across. All across the globe. And if you actually, if you look at the back of the product, you know, in a retail store, something you buy off Amazon and you see that ETL mark, you know, it’s been tested and certified by Intertek.

Matt Brooks: Wow. And that’s I mean, if you think about it, if you start looking, those are on a range of products.

Can you tell me about some of the products that go through the testing process in Cortland ?

Lincoln Billings: Absolutely. Every year, Cortland evaluates, thousands of products, and it’s not just the, you know, the volume, it’s, but it is complexity. We’re looking at products every day, everything from consumer [00:02:00] electronics to industrial equipment, uh, renewable energy systems, and emerging smart technologies.

Many of today’s products integrate software, wireless communications such as Bluetooth and wifi, they’re in renewable energy. It makes all of that complexity, makes our role that much more critical to industry and to consumers.

Matt Brooks: And, such a responsibility to make sure that these products are tested and they’re safe.

That requires probably a, a lot of people to get the job done. How many, uh, people are employed at the Cortland location and what kind of positions are there ?

Lincoln Billings: Sure. Today we employ about 280. Comprised of, uh, engineers, technicians, sales representatives, quality accreditation and field specialists, business development, customer support, mostly operational administrative staff.

Together, these teams work together to ensure that projects and product move through the lab efficiently. And through the testing certification [00:03:00] process, ultimately providing market access to the manufacturers.

Matt Brooks: And we’ve come a long way since the light bulb. What I mean, from your knowledge, what does the future look like as everything just keeps getting more electronic, more smart, and just more advanced ?

Lincoln Billings: That’s a great question. Every day is extremely dynamic. No two days are the same. The future looks even more dynamic. We’re seeing growth and explosive activity around smart appliances, products that have wifi and Bluetooth technology, electric vehicle infrastructure, renewable energy, energy systems, uh, automation and robotics.

All of this complexity drives demand for deeper technical expertise in cybersecurity functional safety software. Electrical, mechanical battery system, system level testing, you name it. Cortland currently is positioned to expand those capabilities in all those areas in order to keep pace with innovation in industry.

Matt Brooks: Wow. And as you’re [00:04:00] keeping pace with the industries that, I mean, depend on having safe, electronic and smart devices available, uh, can you tell me about the importance of ETL ?

Lincoln Billings: Yeah, the ETL mark is really all about trust again retailers rely on it to ensure that the products they put on their shelves available to consumers is tested, um, to the, to the respective safety and quality standards.

It tells regulators, as I mentioned, retailers, even consumers, that a product has been tested independently and it’s recognized to be, uh, acceptable to the, I’ll say, to the safety relevant safety standards and manufacturers. Um, product, product programs included. Um, for manufacturers, for industry, the ETL certification is often the key to entering US Canadian markets.

So many actually require for sale in the US and Canada.

Matt Brooks: So that’s, that’s something that you, if you don’t see, that may not, maybe not even. Use the product or [00:05:00] avoid the product. If you don’t see that ETL logo on it,

Lincoln Billings: if you don’t see a safety mark, don’t buy it.

Matt Brooks: Now we, we’ve been talking about how things have just gotten so fast technologically and the needs have changed and things are, we are looking towards the future for, but can you take a step back and how the needs of Intertek changed over the past five or 10 years ?

Lincoln Billings: Absolutely. Five, 10 years ago, many devices were more just electrical or mechanical in nature, and today. They, they employ software, as I mentioned, wireless connectivity, Bluetooth battery and energy storage, even AI driving different controls and decision making processes within the product and, and the broader system that they support for consumers.

All of this has required us to invest heavily in, in, into our labs for new test equipment, new tools, and of course, new staff training and, and expertise. All of this really required Intertek to become more consultative in nature in order to [00:06:00] partner with our customers and industry to help them through the design cycle of products coming to market.

Matt Brooks: Now, before we, uh, get to Ryan, who again is the technical lead at Intertek Cortland, uh, I wanna go back to being in Cortland, I mean Intertek expanded to Cortland. What unique qualities does this area have that keep you in the area ? It’s like you’re a global operation and what’s gonna say that you don’t move ?

Lincoln Billings: Yeah, absolutely. One of the original reasons. Actually, a couple of reasons that we, we came to Cortland to begin with was for the local work ethic and for, um, reasonable operating costs. Um, one of the things that Cortland is known for across industry is being the cornerstone for the US operations, both historically and operationally as the largest,

Electrical laboratory in the U.S. Um, it is foundational from which many of the labs were developed and expanded globally and regionally. What makes Cortland truly unique is [00:07:00] the breath of expertise and capabilities all inhouse in one location. It represents almost every industry that we operate in.

And including different service offerings within the ETL business line. So that creates an incredibly dynamic and diverse work environment as well as, you know, nature of customers and visitors that, that come to the location to do business.

Matt Brooks: And well, speaking about an incredibly dynamic work environment.

One of those employees in there is Ryan. Ryan, can you tell me how long you’ve been at Intertek and what specifically do you do ?

Ryan: Yeah, I’ve been at Intertek for almost 13 years now. All in the Cortland Laboratory. Uh, I’m a technical lead for Cortland performance testing teams, specifically that’s lighting, acoustical, and military and aerospace testing.

Matt Brooks: That’s a pretty wide field right there. Uh, and what do you appreciate about having Intertek in Cortland ?

Ryan: Cortland’s a great spot central to a lot of strong technical schools. It makes it easier for people to come here and start their careers. [00:08:00] Uh, I had to do that 13 years ago. Uh, it’s, it’s a nice area with a good mix of things to do and a strong local talent pool.

Matt Brooks: Now it’s, it’s 2026, and just by what you’ve described your job, you have a lot of different industries that you test products, equipment for, if you had to give advice to those who are interested in getting in your field, what would that be ?

Ryan: Yeah. You have to be passionate. Uh, it’s important to be passionate about what you do every single day, and the more you put in, the more you’ll get out of it, and you can be successful in whatever your role is at Intertek.

Matt Brooks: And speaking of roles in your role, what are some products or items that you test and maybe something that people might not expect your role have to pay attention to ?

Ryan: Yeah, so not only do we need to be the experts in standards and testing, but we also need to be experts in design. Um. We validate a company’s product, and in order to do that successfully, we need to know how it’s designed, and then from [00:09:00] there we can reverse engineer the product and understand why we’re seeing certain results in our laboratory.

Matt Brooks: Yeah, it’s amazing all the work that Intertek does to make sure that these products that. End up on consumer shelves are safe all the way around in that they are designed for the purpose and need and, and doing so in a safe way. Now, I, I gotta thank you again, both Lincoln and Ryan for stopping in today talking about Intertek all the work that you do, which is so much, and, uh, kind of exploring what Intertek here in Cortland does in the area.

Lincoln Billings: Matt, thank you it’s been a pleasure.

Matt Brooks: It’s been another edition of Made in Cortland here on X101. I’m Matt Brooks.