Investors: Press Release
GeckoSystems Secures Manufacturing Quotes to Expand Elder Care Robot Trials
CONYERS, GA, May 10, 2010 -- GeckoSystems Intl. Corp. (PINKSHEETS: GCKO) -- -- announced today that they have taken another critical step to make their elder care capable personal robot, the CareBot™, available to the consumer market. They are in the process of negotiating initial contract manufacturing quotes on their primary robot controller board, the GeckoSPIO™.
GeckoSystems is a dynamic leader in the emerging Mobile Service Robot (MSR) industry revolutionizing their development and usage with their "Mobile Robot Solutions for Safety, Security, and Service™".
"Last week we visited Sparton Corporation's Electronic Manufacturing Services (EMS) in Brooksville, FL to better understand the reality of their ability to assist us as we initiate production of our key custom electronics, the GeckoSPIO™ robot controller board," reflected Martin Spencer, President/CEO, GeckoSystems.
Sparton EMS offers a new prototyping service for electronic assemblies that provides customers several benefits, including time and cost savings, with increased flexibility. Their services include a stand-alone, dedicated pilot line and engineering lab that offers a means of manufacturing and testing multiple aspects of a customer's existing or newly designed electronic assemblies before it is mass produced. Sparton's new capabilities are compatible with Proof-of-Concept (PoC) prototypes, where product design is still evolving, and Production-Ready (PR) prototypes, where final testing or certifications are the last step prior to full production.
"Sparton's new rapid prototyping service offers our customers direct access to production line equipment, manufacturing engineers, and manufacturing assets during the design cycle," said Gene Vigilante, director, Engineering Services, Sparton Corp. "The prototyping service doesn't timeshare with other production lines, but rather allows our customers access to a fully production-compatible line assembly, dedicated to PoC and PR prototypes, which significantly increases probability of first-time design success and shortens the product's time to market."
"After returning from my visit to Sparton Medical in Strongsville, OH, early February of this year, we realized their focus was on high end medical diagnostic equipment with relatively small batch sizes which enables them to readily produce our mobile service robots for professional healthcare. Since we consider Sparton to be a first tier contract manufacturer, we are now pleased to have toured their high volume manufacturing facility (100,000+ sq. ft.) in FL for production of our first consumer product, the CareBot. Sparton EMS is intimately connected to its Pacific Rim manufacturing plant in Vietnam. With low cost touch labor available to us in Asia by way of Sparton EMS, we are very excited about our recent review of their facility," reflected Mark Peele, Vice President, R&D, GeckoSystems.
"We took our key people on this trip and demonstrated one of our prototype personal companion robots, the CareBot(tm). We asked them to address the ramp up time and costs to produce 1,000 CareBots per month. Their general manager, Robert L. Grimm, II, indicated that they would be addressing those needed projections.
"Our ongoing world's first in home elder care robot trials have been proceeding since early December with several expected confirmations of genuine utility and some unexpected family benefits emerging. Given that we are anticipating pent up demand in the elder care marketplace, identifying manufacturers with this capability and confidence is of considerable importance to us.
"We now have quotes not only from Sparton-EMS, but also GRT Electronics. To our satisfaction, we learned that our in house estimates for the GeckoSPIO's manufacturer to be less than 10% off. In mid June we plan to visit another contract manufacturer more nationally centralized. We expect our focus on this kind of critical strategic business planning and execution to increase ROI for our shareholders," concluded Martin Spencer, President/CEO, GeckoSystems.
About Sparton Corporation:
Sparton Corporation now in its 110th year, is a provider of complex and sophisticated electromechanical devices with capabilities that include concept development, industrial design, design and manufacturing engineering, production, distribution, and field service to technology-driven companies in the medical device, defense & security systems, and electronic manufacturing services markets. Headquartered in Schaumburg, Ill., Sparton currently has four manufacturing locations worldwide. The Company's Web site may be accessed at http://www.sparton.com.