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Sonny's G5 / Hydrospray Cobra

sprocket

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Since Sonny's has sold tthe In Bay equipment does that mean that the people that bought this equipment are SOL or does Sonny's have to take care of these units? Thank God I did not buy one. Does this happen often?
 

rph9168

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I believe Oasis will take over the Cobra and will service it.
 

mac

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Sprocket, this happens fairly often in our so called industry. That and variations on it. For instance when times were booming (pre Obama time) most manufactures would let anyone be a distributor. Does the name Barry Boyd ring a bell. As a result you had guys come in to an area, sell a few machines, and then vanish, leaving a new owner with no local service or parts supplier.
 

rph9168

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I would first go to the source where you purchased the machine. If you originally bought it from them I would call them first. If the source is no longer around I would call Oasis.
 

mac

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Buzzie8, we'll know later on if there's any issues. To me this begs the question: Why would any business sell a division if they thought it was long term profitable? I mean they probably had a few bucks tied up in developing a Ryko knockoff. Oasis hasn't been a major player so I doubt they came up with megabucks in a down economy for a major investment. My guess, and I'm only guessing since neither party asked me for any guidance in this, is that Sonnys let it go without a BIG deposit. Maybe some royalties down the road type of thing.Should be interesting to watch.
 

robert roman

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Unlike automobile manufacturing industry, carwash is cottage-size with no federal regulations requiring equipment makers to provide original parts for ten years.

Sonny’s decision to exit the in-bay segment was mostly likely driven by a desire to dump a revenue dog and avoid competing against itself.

The why is conveyor sales are still in a slump and Sonny’s has been making a big move to push in-bay to mini-tunnel conversions.

On the other side, Oasis probably expects to benefit from obtaining in-bay friction technology for a relatively low price and without spending a lot on R & D.

What will be interesting is not how Oasis will do with friction but whether it will be able weather the storm of the weak market with less demand.

In-bay makers have shown a lot of resilience, but I don’t believe there is enough demand to keep the current field afloat without further fallout.
 

Back4More

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I believe Oasis only took over the I5 cloth rollover, which is a really nice unit.

Ron
 

briteauto

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Hydro Spray has the i5 on their website also. Are they just distributing it?
 

DiamondWash

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I thought HydroSpray was the "Original" designer of that Touch free system (Cobra) and then Sonny's acquired it and now is selling it off to Oasis.
 

mac

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Hmmmm, interesting comments.
"Sonny’s decision to exit the in-bay segment was mostly likely driven by a desire to dump a revenue dog and avoid competing against itself"
Robert just how do you dump a revenue dog in a very slow economy? Do you think they got out of it with what they put into R&D? Other manufacturers don't have an issue with competiting with itself. Just a difference in philosophy? I would love to dump the revenue dogs that I've had the fortune to be involved with.
 

robert roman

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When a product grows into a cash cow, firms will milk it and look for ways to extend the product’s life cycle - add new features or technology, target other segments, etc.

Whereas a product that is a dog either hasn’t grown or it’s matured and sales decline.

Regardless of the economy, firms cut losses and dump dogs all the time just as they will sell a profitable product because it may no longer fit in with the firm’s overall strategy.

So, we speculate because of the secrets that surround companies.

For example, there is new in-bay technology coming around the bend that I believe is going to make many current in-bay systems obsolete.

So, a company such as Sonny’s, first and foremost a conveyor maker, would evaluate the position of its in-bay product in value chain structure and value network.

If the company can’t figure a way to sustain comparative advantage by means of cost, differentiate or niche strategy, it may decide to exit.
 

mac

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Here's my .02 worth. The machines that I've seen being sold in Florida were sold with Sonnys financing. One was to a terrible operator with shi**y credit. Maybe trying to compete with buyer financing made it too hard to do. So Robert, I'll bite. Can you give a hint as to the new inbay technology?
 

robert roman

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Certainly,

The touch-less in-bay system I refer to is an industrial robot operating on 6-axis - the point that something such as a tool rotates around.

According to the inventor Tom Petit, “The 360-I in-bay allows us to wash 30 cars an hour unattended and it uses 25 to 30 percent less water and electricity. Several patents are pending.”

I have a client with a conveyor that installed a prototype of the robot and it cleans a vehicle within a length of just four feet.
 

briteauto

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According to the inventor Tom Petit, “The 360-I in-bay allows us to wash 30 cars an hour unattended and it uses 25 to 30 percent less water and electricity. Several patents are pending.”
I have no doubt someone has the ability to design a touchfree IBA that can process 30 cars an hour - and perhaps someday that will go even higher. In the touchfree environment, however, dwell time is of utmost importance - right up there with water temperature, water hardness, properly titrated chemicals, hp impingement etc.

Safe and satisfactory touchfree cleaning is difficult enough, I would be hesitant to give up chemical contact time on the car.

Mike
 

rph9168

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Looks a lot like a Vector. That wash took a little over 2 minutes without tri- foam or sealant. No way that wash can do 30 in an hour.
 

robert roman

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You can see several pictures of my client’s conveyor that contained the prototype by visiting my home page at;

http://www.carwashplan.com/

You can see the prototype in action by visiting this link;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlhiTvDQKMc

The claims come from the “manufacturer.” However, I believe 60 divided by 2 equals 30.

The prototype in the conveyor has been washing cars for almost three years.

Since the conveyor site produces 100K washes at over $10 a car, I would say the pudding is the proof.
 

mac

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I've always been fascinated by the programs like Modern Marvels that show manufacturing or processing lines in a factory. They show objects flying by in a blur with machines doing things to them in millisecons, with complete accuracy, for very long times. I always wondered why that technology wasn't used in our world.
 
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