RE: (ET) Elec-Trak co-op/partnership??

["Pestka, Dennis J" <Dennis Pestka mkg com>]

Tim and all Elec-Trak enthusiasts;

I also talked with Bill this morning and even though he has decided to get
out of the Elec-Trak business he is not prepared to discuss price yet. I
also got the feeling that he's really struggling with this decision. He has
been supporting this thing for over 20 years. 
He told me he still had some commitments that he needed to complete and
thought he may have a better feel about the price in about a month or two.

Does anyone have a feel, or has he given anyone an indication on how much
money he is talking about ? I may be interested in this but depending on 
the
price it could be a moot point.

I had talked with Bill in the past about handling the documentation portion
of his business. He had no way to copy large size drawings which people
requested, nor was he interested in setting up a web site, scanning and
creating digital documentation. I have access to large copiers, scanners,
and large scale CAD plotters.
I have a background in Engineering, including Cost Engineering, Design, and
Drafting using AutoCad 2000. 
At that time he had no interest in turning that loose. 
I also expressed interest in his parts business if he ever decided to
suspend it.

As far as the parts business I have a fairly new building on my property
that I could possibly allocate about 1500 sq. ft of space for a parts
inventory. He felt that this would be sufficient.

The one thing that I do not have is the expertise in trouble shooting these
machines.
The problem is, I doubt if anyone will be able to fill his shoes in that
department.

I also must agree that pulling all this together on a cooperative basis is
going to be difficult at best. Geographically we seem to be spread pretty
thin.
If this becomes a possibility I may be interested.

Let's keep up the good discussion and see what happens.


Dennis




-----Original Message-----
From: Brenda Harrison & Tim Krokowski [mailto:krowharr bcpl net]
Sent: Monday, October 09, 2000 12:44 PM
To: Elec-Trak cosmos5 phy tufts edu
Subject: Re: (ET) Elec-Trak co-op/partnership??


Hi Tim,
        Distribution for a reasonable price is my biggest problem to
overcome.
Are you including warehousing of spares, tracking current inventory, et
cetera?  I'm not picking on you, I'm curious how it would be done.  I have
troubleshooting experience with electronics and electromechanical
components but not on the Elec-trak's.  I would think with the manual from
Tech Services "we" could handle at least 75% of most problems.  There are
some real guru's amongst the list.  Bill Gunn already has most of the
infrastructure in place.  I need to talk to him to see how a transfer would
work.

Tim Krokowski

At 01:12 PM 10/9/00 -0400, you wrote:
>I have no expertese in elec traks and know little about electronics, but I
>would be interested in a partnership.  I'm not stupid (some may differ) so
>with time, I could build up an expertise.  Also it would depend on the
>inital startup costs (of course). 
> My back ground is in computer programming and would be willing to setup a
>website for parts ordering and could handle distrubition (I am located in
>lower Michigan (Ann Arbor area)), I just couldn't handle the trouble
>shooting end.
>
>Any others out there willing to do a partership?
>
>>Return-Path: <owner-elec-trak cosmos5 phy tufts edu>
>>X-Authentication-Warning: cosmos5.phy.tufts.edu: majordom set sender to
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>>Date: Mon, 09 Oct 2000 11:53:30 -0400
>>To: Elec-Trak cosmos5 phy tufts edu
>>From: Brenda Harrison & Tim Krokowski <krowharr bcpl net>
>>Subject: (ET) Elec-Trak co-op to continue Bill Gunn's business?
>>Sender: owner-elec-trak cosmos5 phy tufts edu
>>
>>Greetings list members,
>>
>>      I don't know how hard it would be to do but if there isn't one
individual
>>interested in taking on the Elec-Trak portion of Bill's business maybe 
>>the
>>list as a whole could take it over.  Create a corporation and sell shares
>>to raise capital.  Or pay in advance "X" amount of money on account for
>>future parts you would purchase and use that money to buy Bill's old
>>inventory.
>>
>>      I know this is probably silly of me to propose but without parts 
>> and
>>support Elec- traks are dead.  It's just a matter of time.
>>
>>      Can anyone give Tech services phone # (again)?  I can't find it in
past
>>emails and my manuals not here and I want to see how much Bill wants to
>>take over the business.
>>
>>Tim Krokowski
>>Maryland
>>E-20
>>cordless pushmower
>>waterwheels & hydroelectric
>>active/passive solar house
>>
>
>
>