New wash technology off to slow start.Jyrki Koro has discovered that breaking new ground in any technological field can be a tough slog. Earlier this year, Koro and his specialized engineering and consulting firm Noun 1. consulting firm - a firm of experts providing professional advice to an organization for a fee consulting company business firm, firm, house - the members of a business organization that owns or operates one or more establishments; "he worked for a , Truck Wash Technologies Inc., was lauded as a Northern Ontario Northern Ontario is the part of the province of Ontario which lies north of Lake Huron (including Georgian Bay), the French River and Lake Nipissing. Northern Ontario has a land area of 802,000 km² (310,000 mi²) and constitutes 87% of the land area of Ontario, although it entrepreneurial poster boy, receiving an honourable mention at the Ontario Global Traders Awards. The pioneering Sault resident had designed, sold and commissioned an automated commercial truck wash facility in Torino, Italy, one of Europe's largest multi-modal centres. Through business connections, he had secured capital from an Italian investors group and built a prototype facility capable of washing 30 trucks an hour, which was commissioned in October 2003. He thought the phone would be ringing off the hook with opportunities pouring in. Instead he encountered only frustration. Conflicts with his European partners over marketing strategy and a lack of co-operation has left Koro scoping out North America North America, third largest continent (1990 est. pop. 365,000,000), c.9,400,000 sq mi (24,346,000 sq km), the northern of the two continents of the Western Hemisphere. for investors to build a second plant. "That was the original intent, but easier said than done," says Koro, 40. "We're still a small company, not established. We've got an uphill battle Uphill Battle was an metalcore band with elements of grindcore and noisecore. The group was based out of Santa Barbara, California, USA. History Uphill Battle got some recognition releasing their self-titled record on Relapse Records. ." Since establishing Truck Wash Technologies in 1999, Koro has devoted his full energy into studying and designing commercial truck wash systems. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] After previously working as a control systems designer for an Ann Arbor Ann Arbor, city (1990 pop. 109,592), seat of Washtenaw co., S Mich., on the Huron River; inc. 1851. It is a research and educational center, with a large number of government and industrial research and development firms, many in high-technology fields such as , Michigan-based vehicle wash manufacturer, Koro saw inadequacies in their fleet-based systems, which they were selling on the commercial market with limited success. He set out on his own to design a better one; a system more suited to washing large commercial vehicles using more environmentally friendly Environmentally friendly, also referred to as nature friendly, is a term used to refer to goods and services considered to inflict minimal harm on the environment.[1] practices. What he came up with was the Cadillac of automated truck washes. Among the features are variable sprays which can adapt to the height of any vehicle, and drivers can customize their wash through point-of-sale terminals similar to automated car washes. The system uses recycled water at a rate of about 1,200 gallons per minute in the main wash. Dirt and other contaminants are screened out. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "We've got a fantastic system with cool technologies," says Koro, but at $2.5 million to $3 million a pop to build one of these facilities, eager investors who haven't seen the system in action aren't necessarily rushing in. "It's a huge investment and it's a risk. We've created a new market. "Building a truck wash at a truck stop is no guarantee you're going to be successful." Commercial truck washing is a complex feat. Unlike standard car washes, tractor trailers come in all shapes, sizes and configurations. For Koro's turnkey systems A complete system of hardware and software delivered to the customer ready-to-run. In other words, just "turn the key" and go.  A Turnkey Video System to be profitable, an operator needs high volume traffic--about 2,000 washes per month--for a reasonable return on investment. Unfortunately, Northern Ontario does not provide the revenue base for that scale of operation. "I would like to build a full-blown facility in Sault Ste. Marie Sault Sainte Marie — pronounced "Soo Saint Marie" (IPA /su seɪnt məˈɹi/) — is the name of two cities on the Saint Marys River, which forms part of the boundary between the United States and Canada. , but I can't scale it down for commercial purposes." Some luke-warm prospects from France and the U.S. have surfaced through his Web site, but Koro is banking his faith on finalizing an alliance with an undis-closed Canadian car wash manufacturer. He intends to share some technologies and know-how in the hopes of developing new equipment to compete in more attainable markets like municipal bus-washing applications or customizing technology for small trucking companies. "Eventually, this technology will become more relevant and we're looking at filling that gap." www.truckwashtechnologies.com By IAN ROSS Ian Ross is the name of:
Northern Ontario Business Northern Ontario Business is a Canadian magazine, which publishes monthly in Greater Sudbury, Ontario. The magazine covers business news and issues in Northern Ontario. |
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