NeoMedia Technologies, Inc (NEOM)

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DD Naplesnews.com NMPR article discussing name change

http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2006/aug/23/auto_body_business_expands_its_focus/?business

Auto body business expands its focus
NeoMedia’s Micropaint division now will be known as Auto Xperience and will serve individual car owners

By Riddhi Trivedi-St. Clair

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

NeoMedia’s car paint and repair business is changing its name and with it, expanding its horizons.

The Micropaint division now will be known as Auto Xperience, said Paul Grzebielucha, vice president and general manager of the Micropaint division, now called Auto Experience.

The current plant site near Southwest Florida International Airport will be used as a pilot retail center.

Until now, the division’s primary focus has been services for car rental companies and other business clients. Now, the company will go into the retail business and serve individual car owners.

“Through Auto Xperience we are really trying to provide the whole experience, auto rejuvenation, micro paint, macro paint,” Grzebielucha said. “What this is going to be is the next step of our journey.”

The journey almost immediately goes to increased revenue. The company will add a couple of technicians to the staff to begin with and hope to hire several more if the response is good.

Right now, the company services about 180 to 200 cars a month with a $40,000 output, Grzebielucha said, but by putting an assembly line in place and keeping longer hours — from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. — staff hopes to double the output in short order.

In the long run, NeoMedia wants to do much more than that — to the tune of a half-million dollars.

“When we go into the local market we are really testing how our products work on the retail side,” said Chuck Jensen, president and CEO of NeoMedia. “We have tested how they work on the wholesale side, like rental companies.”

The goal isn’t to be a retail center under NeoMedia but rather to do a “test drive” for the products and create a market for other companies interested in setting up similar operations across the country and it is hoped worldwide.

A plant like the one in Fort Myers could handle 70 percent of all automotive body repair work for retail customers, Jensen said, and the company hopes to bring potential customers through and show them that.

He is hoping when people see how well the products work and how efficient the Auto Xperience system is, they will want to license the technology.

Auto Xperience has the advantage of speed, Grzebielucha said.

The industry average for small jobs is 5 to 7 days and 9 days for large jobs. The company’s average is a day for small jobs and two for larger ones.

Most of what’s done is cosmetic repair. So the target customers are baby boomers and people in the 30-to-60 age group who are concerned about the appearance of their car and have discretionary income, said Joe Jensen, director of marketing.

“It is not the necessities of life,” Joe Jensen said.

“People who go to car washes are our target,” Grzebielucha said. “People who love their car and care about how it looks.”

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For more information, go to www.autoxperience.com

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