In a competition between four USU Eastern students on Friday afternoon based on the presentation of a business model and idea for a new business or technological development, one man stood out: Jeff Curtis.
Curtis met before a judging committee at the Jennifer Leavitt Student Center where he laid out plans for a project which could be a boon to auto repair shops around the country to a committee judging the 2015 Business and Technology Innovation Competition. His idea? To create and manufacture a new attachment for transmission jacks that will steady transmissions as they are removed or placed in vehicles.
“Present transmission jacks are not adaptable to taking 300 lb. transmissions out of vehicles today,” he told the judges. “They are flat and most of the transmissions now are curved or have various kinds of shapes.”
Work is a struggle
Curtis told the judges that in most cases auto technicians struggle with transmission removal because of that. He said at the least it takes more time to remove because they must find something to stabilize the transmission on the top of the jack and at the most it is a safety hazard, because if they are unstable they could fall off and hurt someone.
His solution?
Develop interchangeable tops for jacks that are made for the different kind of transmissions that are put in vehicles. He felt with what he had seen in the auto business that about 10 to 15 different models of such interchangeable tops would do the trick.
Curtis had also done research on the project. Presently he is building models out of wood that will be used to fit to the transmissions in present day cars. He has already started to explore the possibility of having the devices made out of composite materials or metal.
The judges’ main question was about the cost of such devices and what such a product might do on the market.
“The average transmission jack costs about $1,200,” he said. “I would think we could make and sell these adapters for around $200 each.”
That would be about a $2,000 investment for a shop but as Curtis pointed out the units would pay for themselves by saving about 45 minutes per transmission job. At a typical rate of $90 an hour, that would be quite a chunk of change in time savings over a number of transmission jobs in a year.
“It would more than pay for itself in a very short time,” he said.
Another presenter, Dylan Beck of Moab has already begun a drone business where he takes video of people having fun around the Moab area and then he sells them a video of the action. He proposed to the judges that he could also put together a virtual reality tour of areas in the Moab area, where people could see what the activities were like from their own home before ever visiting the area.
Alex Coulson presented a project he called Auto-Window in which through a kind of pocket door system, windows could be covered with opaque or darker panes and even a total blackout wall when it was needed.
Erich Wright proposed to open a service in the Price area that would help residents who couldn’t do some things for themselves, such as shopping and delivering groceries.
For his concept and work on it Curtis received a $750 scholarship and a $150 cash prize. Beck came in second in the voting and won a $250 scholarship for his efforts and idea, as well as a cash prize of $100.
The other two presenters each were given $50 for their ideas and presentations.