Posted by Yehoram Uziel on April 15, 2000 at 10:38:44:
In Reply to: Yehoram? posted by Shawn on April 08, 2000 at 19:48:57:
Dear Shawn,
It is not common to publish the company's business plans. It is also unwise to make long term future projections. Our goal has been for years to create a business that sells value and time to market rather than DSPC machines or just prototypes.
A careful reading of our 10K and 10Q will help you further understand the company goals and direction. We plan to develop Parts Now as a brand for expediting time to market of products that are based on cast metal parts.
The path to such achievement requires to build reputation and competency in a market that both undergoes major structural changes, and is very conservative. We had to first demonstrate that we are able to cast complex metal parts faster than any other caster, and with very high quality. We had to demonstrate to our customers that it is economically desirable to pay premium for saving development time. We have pretty much established ourselves with several key customers as the fastest in the market, and as excellent service providers. We continue to take this message to additional programs and platforms carrying on referrals and company wide recommendations. Next we are demonstrating that with the right implementation of DSPC we can further make cast tooling and turn into manufacturing rapidly. This ability is very important because nobody's end goal is to just have a prototype. Our customers ultimate goal is production, and helping in getting the first article is insignificant unless it contributes to a quick launch of production. This penetration phase progresses slowly because most of the mass manufacturers resist change, and try to block any innovation that may or could take charge on their future business. Fortunately, the end users are pushing to expedite time to market, and we believe that this trend will force the mass producers to be more open.
In terms of growth plans, we plan to expand by franchising and by launching DSPC centers as joint ventures with selected mass manufacturers. The franchising will be with companies who are in the custom made or short production runs of cast parts or products based on cast parts. Their customer base will consist of a variety of industries, from aerospace and small series manufacturing OEM to makers of luxury vehicles or race cars. Joint venture will be with mass manufactures, mainly to expedite their time to market and specifically to produce their mass production tooling fast and effectively.
We have discussions with potential franchisees and potential joint ventures, however nothing is yet ready to be announced or launched. Our policy is to collaborate with these entities and create running business prior to moving equipment or making industry announcements.
I hope that this gives you a better view of our vision,
Yehoram