Cyclone Power Technologies, Inc. (fka CYPW)

[BuddyWhazhizname]

Hi Tom,

I think we're mostly in agreement about the design for production. I read somewhere, though, that this was the Gen-1 engine for beta testing and only 300 would be built for Phoenix (and some other un-named customers) while the Gen-2 was being engineered.

Here's the photo from their Facebook page: WHE engine parts

I've worked in machine shops and if a guy knows what he's doing, one person could build the 300 in a month with a CNC mill and lathe.

And I think we agree that watching the "partner" is going to be critical. Mr. Machine Shop has a million dollar incentive to drag out production as long as possible.

For instance, the cylinder barrels can be ordered as pre-honed stainless steel tubing cut to length from a company that supplies pneumatic cylinder builders. It would take their machine about a day to cut all the cylinders from the tubing they have in stock. Or our partner shop could machine and hone each cylinder from stainless pipe, one at a time and take 900 hours to do 900 pieces.

The engines don't need to be the polished all over, color anodized works of art that one sample is. That's something they'll have to watch, too. Machinists want to make everything perfect. The engine doesn't care if the outside isn't shiny. The customer won't pay any extra to make the outside shiny.

Now that I look a little closer, the 300 engine order says "over 24 months". That's not so good. 12.5 engines per month and $42K in sales.

Is their "Production Engineer" that Val Artman? I just read the press release about him. His background is electronics, not machining metal. (Strike 1) He's a quality manager, not a manufacturing guy. I've lived through ISO 9000 and Six Sigma. The paperwork he's going to make them do will weigh more than the 300 engines. (Strike 2) And his career was at GE. Might as well be GM. As Ross Perot used to say, "at EDS the first person that sees a snake kills it. At GM the first person who sees a snake forms a committee. The committee then holds meetings to decide to call in some experts on snakes. And so on." A guy used to the resources, policies and procedures of a multi-billion dollar company won't have a clue how to get things done in a mom-and-pop shop. (Strike 3)

Hmmmmmm....

OK, so on their webpage they list:

Karl Petersen Vice President of Product Development
Michael Hodgson Chief Engineer
Nelson Hoyos Director of Development for Cyclone Performance LLC, and team leader for Team Steam USA
Allan “Brownie” Brown Senior Engineer
Travis Love Operations Manager and Engineer
Koen Ambrose Project Engineer

That's a lot of engineers to have and then farm out engineering to OSU. Does anyone know what those people do?

Now these other engines they've designed. They say they intend to make money on royalties from other people building them. Are licenses for sale? I mean, half the comments on their Facebook page are "where can I buy one". OK, if an engine isn't perfect yet, why not sell a kit to hobbyists to play with? Get some revenue and some experience.

It's not like no other industry has turned their customers into guinea pigs, I mean "Beta Testers", to work the bugs out of products.