Ann: Company Announcment re Half Year to Dec 2012, page-14

re: Ann: Company Announcment re Half Year to ... Biggest battle in Australia for garbage trucks is that the buyer for the bulk of new garbage trucks are a very few in number large waste companies ( they sub contract to councils) who are going to drive a bargain price if you want your product on their trucks. Of course they may want your product and the benefits on their trucks to save money and all the other factors of noise and pollution are very much "soft" marketing as they aren't required by law.

The link to permodrive is relevant as they put all the numbers and the break up of the garbage truck market out there years ago and since then the number of players have shrunk. As garbage trucks are a specific vehicle and unlike many years ago where they had engines replaced etc now with leasing they have a lifespan and any new equipment on them needs to pay it's way in that lifespan. In mining they remove the high value mining specific brakes and place them on the replacement vehicle that has worked so well with landcruisers as they haven't changed the mechanicals of their base vehicle so the one brake unit may outlive several vehicles it is placed on. Ie they don't sell off mine vehicles with the brake system on them at end of life.

This is where the thompson product reference becomes relevant as they have a innovative product that mines ,cars , industry and pump engine makes want but they came up against the economics issue of so many different brands and attachments and no9 standards the cost of supplying into the retrofit market wasn't possible. With such long lived lifecycles on old pumps they were getting only a small penetration into the market.

Patents are always interesting as we all think there is a desperate need for the new technology to be implemented but so often we see it actually fully developed and penetrates the market many years later. Yes companies can update and modify their patents to extend their life but that requires development. Honestly a small company has bucklys chance of defending it's patents against a deep pocketed major so you need to find a strong partner to ensure no one infringes and you have the firepower when they do.

Let me just say that if you had a garbage truck, any stop go delivery vehicle or a city bus with permodrive and ABV brakes you would have a economical , quiet and enviro friendly vehicle of world standard. You have the instant acceleration, regenerative braking, quiet braking, safe parking brake and the efficiency gains would be large and kill the Parker product. Now you just have to offer the support Parker can manage and the network it has in place with arms in everything from aerospace, heavy equipment to anything hydraulic.
ABW and Parker are complimentary products not competitive ones as they do different things so a comment about cost of Parker against ABW is pointless.

Australia has great links via BHP and CRA with mines but outside of they we are in the wilderness and really are going to find it tough to penetrate othe rmarkets just like permodrive and thompson have found with world leading products