Green Car Journal Article - January 1999
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Green Car JournalTM is the world's leading industry newsletter in the environmental automobile field. It is published monthly by the Green Car Group and maintains a subscriber base in 17 countries. Business and subscription offices are located at 1241 Johnson Ave., Suite 356, San Luis Obispo, California 93401 USA
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PROFILE
Ray Geddes: A Former Ford Exec's Unique Achievement
Making the transition to the neophyte advanced transportation industry from the structured framework of an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) is no easy thing. Among the disconnects: Automakers work in mass production scale, while electric and alternative fuel component manufacturers must produce their wares on an exponentially smaller scale during these early days of commercialization.
Those who spend their careers rising through the ranks of the OEMs aren't likely to amass the unique skills appropriate for the limited production world of electric, hybrid, or fuel cell vehicles. Yet, to a great degree, these are the very people needed to lead the growth of this industry.
A good example of a pioneer who has successfully made the transition is Ray Geddes, chairman and chief executive officer of Unique Mobility (Golden, Colo). Geddes, who spent his OEM career at Ford and served as the automaker's GT and Sports Car manager in the 1960's and 1970's, specialized in developing niche vehicles like the original Shelby Cobra, the Shelby Mustangs, the Fort GT, and the Pantera.
"During those years I was able to work with outside people like Carroll Shelby to build the vehicles and get them raced, and then to set up marketing and distribution arrangements within the Ford system to get them on the market and in the hands of customers," Geddes tells GCJ. Going outside the system to build and market these low volume vehicles "gave me a background that's hard to get in the automobile industry," he adds.
Geddes applied these specialized skills in 1982 when he became involved with Unique Mobility, which was striving to build a battery electric car. "I had some insight into the total automotive industry as well as a small company like Unique," Geddes shares. "And that's proven very valuable in trying to prepare our company now to enter this new technology of battery, fuel cell, and hybrid electric vehicles.
"What we've been able to do is put in place not only the technical resources to develop advanced powertrain systems," says Geddes, "but also the manufacturing resources to produce them once they're developed." This is something not easily done by large OEMs, or large OEM suppliers accustomed to dealing in mass production programs. "It's much more like what we used to do with the racing and high performance programs," he says.
After developing electric propulsion systems for the past 15 years, Unique has just built a new factory to manufacture motors, with its first product destined for powering wheelchairs by Invacare Corp., a firm that produces 40,000 electric wheelchairs annually. Unique also acquired a gear company in 1997, providing the ability to now design and manufacture gears compatible with the motors they've developed. The company has additionally acquired an electronics company that makes printed circuit boards, wiring harnesses, and motor controllers.
"We've been able to put together this integrated manufacturing resource so we can go to a customer now and offer a complete system," says Geddes. This includes "motors, gears, electronics, and control, in the kinds of quantities that the alternative propulsion industry is going to require, at least for the next few years. These are quantities of hundreds and thousands, rather than hundreds of thousands and millions," he points out.
The many relationships that Geddes developed during his years at Ford have proved helpful at Unique, and he continues to work with a number of automakers, primarily General Motors and Ford in Detroit, and BMW in Munich.
"We've been able to again take advantage of the resources that some of the larger companies have and add to them the technology and know-how that we bring to the equation, at least at the product development stage," says Geddes, adding that this has benefited both sides.
Unique was commissioned by Taiwanese scooter manufacturer Kwang Yang Motor Co. Ltd. (KYMCO) to develop an electric drive system, and the two firms followed by forming the joint venture firm Taiwan UQM Electric Company to produce the hardware (GCJ Dec.1996, page 136). Production of the first pilot run of electric scooter drive systems commenced this quarter. KYMCO is scheduled to launch into full production with their electric scooter this year.
In its transition from product development to manufacturing, Unique Mobility will have increased its sales from approximately $3 million to $20 million this fiscal year, "and that's growing rapidly," says Geddes. Unique Mobility is traded on the American, Pacific, Frankfurt, and Berlin stock exchanges under the symbol UQM.
Unique Mobility, 425 Corporate Circle, Golden Colo 80401; phone 303.278.2002, fax 303.278.7007 |
