*** I visited with Sergio Vitomir at Napier in Vancouver BC last Tuesday ***
Dear All:
Last week I ventured out west on business. This time I decided to fly Air Canada as I hadn't been on the large Airbus A340-300 aircraft before, though I have been on many other types of aircraft. Nice airplane and very smooth ride from Toronto to Vancouver.
I spent most of last week in Oregon and Washington, but last Tuesday afternoon I paid a visit to Napier's facility in Langley. No appointment - just turned up around 4 PM! I didn't have time to visit the corporate office in downtown Vancouver. In any case Sergio told me that Brad was in New Zealand last week so I didn't miss out. I also took a look at the former Napier location on 192nd St in Surrey (closer to downtown Vancouver). IMO the new location and building is far superior.
The new Napier facility is located at the Glouster Industrial Estates. This is an "Environmentally Friendly Business Park" and "Greater Vancouver's Best Land Value" (Ph. 604-732-0600). It's a brand new low rise 700 acre industrial park located about 50 km (30 miles) east of downtown Vancouver at exit 73 on the Trans Canadian Hwy (Hwy 1 at 264th St and Hwy 13 exit). The park is located just to the left of the highway (facing east) and is transected by 56th street which here is a recent extension and it didn't appear on my map. Some big names will be establishing a presence including General Motors (Lot #35) and it's the "future home" of John Deere-Hitachi Specialty Products (sign post announcing location of new site - just grass now). Some other companies on site include LIE Steel Fabricators, Pazmac Enterprises Ltd., Taiga Forest Products, Redwood Plastics and Ocean Spray. Rail access is planned for the northern side of the Park. There is a large format sign outside the main office for the complex that has a map of the overall estate with existing and proposed features and amenities. In all there must be 15-20 or so buildings already on site - of varying sizes - many with multiple occupants - with many more to come. A golf course is planned, but it may be already there - I didn't check.
It was a strange yet somewhat familiar feeling seeing the "Napier International Technologies" sign and to drive into the parking lot (on the right side of 56th St, 102-26620 56th Ave - coming off exit 73). There was a large truck with the Napier logo in the lot as well. Napier shares a two story building with another company - Gemco Construction Limited. Facing the building from 56th Street (looking south) Napier is on the left - Gemco on the right.
I went up to reception and introduced myself as an investor - and asked - if possible - that I would like to take a look around and meet with some people. The receptionist went into an office and closed the door. About a minute later Sergio appeared. I introduced myself and identified myself as "David in Ontario" from SI. He knew who I was [ of course :) ] and he was very happy to meet me and we went into his office. He's a young guy - early 30's I guess - very personable and pleasant. He has a white board on one wall with chemical notations and a large poster of the periodic table behind his desk (the periodic table organizes all the known elements into special groups, gives their atomic number, etc. Every chemistry classroom has one). He also has a computer on one side of his desk. Trade magazines and related publications are scattered about his office. There is another door leading into the lab.
After some chit chat we went into the lab and I knew exactly what I was looking at for the most part. The lab is not large and has benches along the walls, sinks, a fume hood, a central island bench, shelves and cupboards. Most of the interesting stuff was on the central island bench. For example, there was a group of 4" square metal plates covered in 'white paint' with 1"-1½" circular blisters in each quadrant. Sergio used a long metal spatula to pierce the (moist) blisters and lifted up the surface coating to reveal a perfectly clean metal surface. This is the first time that I had seen SV-35 in action - very impressive. Other "test" items that had been sent to Sergio included treated leather (difficulty problem Sergio said), pollution stained/scared bus windows from Europe.
There were also a few 4" square tiles that had a hard and very rough blue-gray stucco like material on them. The potential client had asked if Napier could develop a product to remove this "material" and that price was no object. This condition had also been mentioned by other clients - as an incentive I presume - to encourage Sergio to develop a product to remove a particular coating. I can't remember who these other 'price is no object' clients were. So what was this stucco-like material? Just the surface coating for the landing deck of US aircraft carriers! Developing a solution to remove this coating was challenging Sergio said. However, he may be making progress as I saw an 10" square area that was covered in small bits of this coating. Each summer a US naval vessel visits Vancouver on a good will visit. However, this summer 'that vessel' may be a carrier. If so you'll know why!! Where I come from this is known as having some "pull".
I am not a chemist, but I did understand a few things he told me. He also showed me a container of some orange coloured 'glop' that had a weird viscosity/surface tension properties or so it seemed when Sergio shook the container. This 'product' was the creation of a company in Michigan (from the label) that had tried to develop something similar to SV35 - and failed - as they all do.
I also gained the impression from Sergio that if he couldn't synthesize a new product to remove a particular coating after 30 days of development and testing that he was disgusted with himself!
The lab leads into the production area - not that large - probably 100' by 40' from memory. They are still setting up here. Sergio did show me the latest ICI order that consisted of a number of palettes, with one stacked on top of the other (about 10 feet high) with 1 gallon containers (estimate) of product (can't recall what it was).
The vats where the SV35 products are made are green-coloured (from memory) and constructed from a special plastic. An alternative would be a glass vat. The vats are about 6'-7' high and about 10' in diameter. There is a hole at the top through which the ingredients are placed and where an industrial mixer with a single (special) stainless steel arm with a flat disk at the base (with blades) is placed. Once the mixing process gets underway the SV-35 solution turns into something like the consistency of warm chocolate (Sergio's analogy) for those who have seen chocolate being made. This chocolate-like viscosity doesn't occur when the product is synthesized in small quantities in the lab. There was no production the afternoon that I visited and Sergio did say that the mixing machines were noisy. He said that as soon as the product is made it's produced it's shipped out very quickly.
Other comments…
If possible Brad prefers for people to phone ahead to make an appointment. This then allows Sergio time to plan for the visit and to set up some demonstrations. He did say that Merrill Lynch had been through and were very pleased with what they saw. Now I have been through and I am also very pleased with what I saw :)
I read the recent News about the Scandinavian connection. I can say that they are trying to gain permission for Sergio to visit an oil platform later this year off the coast of Norway.
Sergio mentioned that one of the most important things for him this year is to take a holiday - a must do. We also talked about the necessity of taking time off to refresh and renew which I see as part of the work cycle. Working day after day without time off only leads to staleness and fatigue and besides I get my best 'brain storms' away from the office. We also spoke of the long hours that scientists put into their work. Because we love what we do the long hours aren't viewed in a negative way at all.
He also mentioned that he posted to SI a few times last year and that 'someone' had posted to say they didn't believe him because he posted in the early hours of the morning. AL - that was you!! Just look at my posts - they can appear at anytime of the day or night. I only go to bed when I'm tired.
I should have know this, but SV are Sergio's initials and the '35' refers either to the page number in his notes that signified something special or similar. That's where the SV35 comes from. He is thinking of changing the SV35 name for the product line as SV35 is 'silly'. I told him not to worry about it as this is how these things happen.
Furthermore, Napier have had some trouble from people snooping around trying to find out what they can - especially from people looking at the empty chemical drums that lie out back - awaiting pick up. Sergio is very protective of 'his baby' and he was somewhat reserved with what he was able to tell me - as he should be. What great chef will give away the secrets for his famous recipes? However, I see no risk from potential competitors discovering the secrets of the manufacturing process. What I would do in this case is put some 'dummy' drums out back with labels that have nothing to do with the manufacture of the product line, but would appear to be plausible. Obviously there is a lot more to the overall manufacturing process than meets the eye, but it would be fun to play this little game with the 'industrial spies'.
Having now seen the laboratory and production area and spoken to Sergio I can see how they were so overwhelmed by the unexpected worldwide interest in their product line and the strong demand from potential and existing clients. Looking back over the last year the company has come a long way and I look forward to developments over the next 12 months. New patents are in the works, new partnerships as well, Sergio said that an expansion is already needed at Langley (they hope to gain some of their neighbours space), interest is worldwide, visitors to Langley are numerous and Sergio also said that they will be hiring more staff as he really does need the assistance and they need to further boost production.
Sergio is very busy - all of the time. They get daily enquiry's from all over the world. They also receive items from people requesting if there is anything available that can remove a particular surface coating and if not could one be developed.
In all a very impressive visit. Thanks to Sergio for his time and willingness to show me around without an appointment. I kept saying during my visit that I should leave as I could see how busy he was. He said 'No' I want to show you something else.
IMO - all remains well with The Little One - just a matter of time now. All that remains are for the numbers to make their way into the audited quarterlies as I have referred to in posts earlier this year. I just wish I had the $$ to set up a private placement. Drat!!
David :)
Ps. I may be in Vancouver again in a couple of months. Brad and Jason - you're next :))
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