Full-spectrum stored energy equipment supplier Oakridge
Global Energy Solutions is one of the upcoming leaders when it comes to
manufacturing on-shore. It’s a trend that has picked up considerable steam in
recent years, as more and more companies look at the significant benefits
on-shoring provides, such as proximity to end markets, improved process
security, and the rapidly diminishing labor cost gap when compared to
off-shoring. OGES is based in Florida’s Space Coast, a region just north of the
Treasure Coast around Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force
Station. This is the now densely packed region which historically was the home
to NASA-launched manned spaceflights and has long been a key location for USAF
unmanned military and civilian rocket launches, as well as (more recently)
numerous aerospace companies and UAV technology developers.
Oakridge Global Energy Solutions prides itself on offering a
full range of high-quality, American-made energy storage solutions; solutions
which run the gamut from specially designed pressure tolerant cells and the
Liberty Series of starter motor batteries for light vehicles and watercraft, to
the extended duration battery systems of the company’s Patriot Series for
various military and civilian remotely operated vehicles. The company also has
a ProSeries line of heavy duty battery systems for task-oriented vehicles like
NEV (neighborhood electric vehicle) platforms and golf carts. The ProSeries
line of specially formulated high energy lithium-ion battery solutions, in
particular, showcases the company’s proprietary user interface and battery
management system combo, known as the Range Commander, superbly well. The Range
Commander system enables remote real-time performance monitoring of the
lab-tested, field-proven ProSeries via any internet-connected device, including
smartphones and tablets. This feature set is of particular interest to
investors, as it highlights the engineering prowess and user-oriented design
insightfulness OGES has become known for.
The ProSeries is aimed squarely at a core global NEV market
that was worth around $1.8 billion just two years ago and which has been
growing by leaps and bounds, with Research and Markets recently projecting a
6.6 percent CAGR through 2020, as consumers from across a wide variety of usage
types continue to flock to golf carts and light electric vehicles like NEVs due
to their tighter functional efficiency, cost metrics, and lower environmental
impact. Initially slated for 40Ah, 60Ah, 100Ah and 160Ah configurations, the
ProSeries is also destined to see 200Ah and 240Ah incarnations sometime next
year, and the company has rigorously tested these systems for the equivalent of
five and a half years of continuous daily cycling (over 2,000 charge/discharge cycles).
Another major area of development for OGES is on-site
stationary power, with the recent announcement of the latest installment in the
company’s Freedom Series of stationary power storage product, the Freedom IV,
having been announced in late September this year. Designed to allow homes, as
well as a wide range of business types, the freedom to cost-effectively migrate
away from sometimes unreliable backup generators powered by diesel or gasoline,
OGES’ Freedom IV system offers a safety net ranging from 6.5kWh hours to over
35kWh. Manufactured right here in America, these babies are slated to start
shipping late this year (December), and much like Tesla’s (NASDAQ: TSLA)
Powerwall, are engineered in such a way that they can be easily daisy-chained
to scale up storage capacity. The Freedom IV systems can also be easily
interfaced with standalone alternative energy sources such as wind or solar,
making the units especially appealing for off-grid applications, or remote
sites. Moreover, these clean, lithium-ion battery based backup systems can be
programmed to charge during off-peak intervals when grid-supplied electricity
is cheapest, offering customers a way to easily bypass the centralized,
utility-centric pricing model for energy.
OGES has a deep bench of engineering talent at its disposal
and demand for its products has been solid, leading the company to recently
announce its plans to expand an already impressive domestic manufacturing
footprint by nearly 450 percent. Fast on the heels of an announcement back in
September that the company has secured a long-term supply agreement with one of
the top manufacturers of lithium-ion battery assembly hardware, this latest
announcement about expanding the company’s production capacity – just the
latest in a long series of moves by OGES as part of its $270 million investment
in its Brevard County operations – has garnered much support and attention
within the state of Florida.
CEO of the Space Coast Economic Development Commission, as
well as the Mayor of Palm Bay and multiple local business leaders, were on hand
earlier this month at a major press conference held at the company’s new Palm
Bay HQ, where the Governor of Florida, Rick Scott, awarded OGES the coveted
Governor’s Business Ambassador Medal for its contributions to the region’s
economy, shortly after having toured the new 68,718 square foot facility. Set
to create another 1,000 good, high-paying manufacturing jobs in the region,
OGES’ plant expansion is a bold move that signifies to markets how serious the
company is about its strategy to not only deliver new, innovative stored energy
products/solutions, but build out an industrial-scale domestic manufacturing
architecture that can service the full gamut of lithium-ion form factors and
applications currently being targeted by the company.
The government market and civilian UAV space are both hot
properties for OGES, with the company’s APQP (advanced product quality planning)
development methodologies making its extremely robust systems ideal for the
former, as well as top-shelf for the latter. The extremely reliable precision
manufactured cells and battery systems produced by OGES, as well as its single
point of contact/full service solution approach to design, have already won the
company many admirers within government markets. Having designed and tested
systems that can perform in some of the harshest, most demanding applications
and environments known to man, including operating at 10,000 PSI, at extreme
temperatures and under continuous, harsh shocks and vibrations, OGES is
supremely confident about its ability to continue to woo government clients
when it comes to applications like extended-duration military UUV’s (unmanned
underwater vehicles) and the like. Let’s face it, when it comes to extended
missions in harsh environments, a reliable, high-performance power source is
paramount. And it is equally important for government entities to be able to
source those power systems from domestic U.S. manufacturers with Six
Sigma-grade development processes, and which can be relied upon for ensuring
that platform security targets are achievable.
It’s easy to understand why the Governor is so excited about
the company’s decision to expand here in the U.S. alongside other Space Coast
companies like UAS (unmanned aircraft system) engineering and ISR
(intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) flight systems outfit, L2
Aerospace, and OGES is firmly committed to continuing to build up its domestic
manufacturing capacity in response to growing demand, even though the company
could just as easily set up shop overseas. Oakridge Global Energy Solutions is
one of a handful of well-positioned American manufacturers destined to make big
waves in the rapidly emerging world of UAV/UUV and other unmanned systems, and
its presence in Florida’s Space Coast region speaks volumes to savvy investors
who understand the inside baseball of the unmanned systems industry. More
importantly, the same features and capabilities that make the company’s battery
systems a no-brainer when it comes to government markets, also makes the
products a real winner for civilian consumer applications, and it is just a
matter of time before OGES fully realizes the fruits of its ongoing
manufacturing and corporate expansion initiatives.
The company’s Patriot Series of products for radio
controlled vehicles likes drones, multi-rotor copters, as well as UAV/UUV and
land-based platforms, with their long-lasting power supply capabilities enabled
by OGES’ proprietary chemistry formulation (set to debut next year in 2500mAh,
5000mAh and 10000mAh versions), will no doubt be snapped up by R/C battery
demand from throughout the civilian and government markets. This is an extremely
important area of the company’s operations for investors to keep a close eye on
and the superior performance characteristics of the OGES Patriot Series, which
does not exhibit the puffing and swelling, or poor lifecycle performance too
often routinely associated with foreign manufactured batteries in this segment,
are significant advantages that will continue to spell big business for this
still relatively small, share price-accessible ($300 million market cap)
company.
Top of the line cells, batteries and power systems,
manufactured in the U.S. by a company which is one of the most compelling
leaders today when it comes to manufacturing on-shoring, is a pretty good sales
pitch for future shareholder returns, and OGES is an attractive property that
investors really need to be paying significantly more attention to. But if you
read nothing but the main stream finance press, you might get the impression
that $219 per share Tesla – recently described by renowned hedge fund manager,
Jim Chanos, founder and president of Kynikos Associates, as an overpriced car
company – was the only player in the game today.
Take a closer look, visit www.oakg.net
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