October 14, 2023 • 35 mins
Ron chats about everything OPUS with Hugh Atkins of OPUS IVS.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ron and Aian. It's the original LT one two port motor.
This was the Kakamami Nightmare. Kakammi being the technical operative
board that GM, decided to take the distributor from up
top of the engine where it was accessible and mounted
on the forward part of the engine right underneath the
water pump. Can get it, Can get it, the Car Doctor.
(00:21):
Stick your head under the left side of the dashboard
or left side of the cluster. You're going to see
a gang of relays. May in a way. They don't
make tracers anywhere.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Welcome to the radio home of Ron and Aim the
Car Doctor. Since nineteen ninety one, this is where car
owners the world overturned to for their definitive opinion on
automotive repair. If your mechanics giving you a busy signal,
pick up the phone and call in.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
The garage doors are open, but I am here to
take your calls at eight five five five six, ninety
nine hundred and now he.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Running.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Hey, how was your weekend automobiles? Mine is great. Thanks
for joining me here this hour. You know I had
this twenty ten Honda Accord. I wanted to talk to
you about in the shop this week and we were doing.
I had to do a forward catalytic converter and it'd
set a P zero four thirty efficiency fault. And that's
the forward cat on the radiator side on this particular
Honda Accord. And in doing so I had to you know,
(01:21):
I replaced at one hundred and ninety thousand miles. We
also did you know air fuel ratio sensor and oxygen sensor,
you know, pre and post cat sensors. And I couldn't
get the air fuel sensor correct. It was like nobody
could look it up. And I was a little frustrated
and I reached out to the guys over at Opus IVS.
(01:41):
I went to tech Support. I know it sounds crazy
for a part, but I wanted to know, could somebody
tell me something with regard to you know, had they
seen this before, because it seems like nobody could look
it up correctly. And I digg just that I was
able to put. I was able to get a hold
of support and speak to them, and it was interesting
(02:04):
because what I saw them do was put. They said
to me, hey, Ron, take your Opus, you know, the
Opus scan tool, and you know what I'm getting ahead
of myself. Let me introduce our guests this hour because
I'd like to bring him in and talk to him
with regard to this, because I know he's itching to
get in on this conversation. We have Hugh Atkins with
us from Opus IVS. Opus. Hugh, you have to be
(02:27):
one of the other brothers. So how are you today?
Welcome back. I'm sort of getting ahead of the curve.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
You know.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
I meant to tell you this story in pre show
and I never got around to it. But so I
had this Honda accord and this shows the reach of
what Opus IVS can do, right, you know, Hugh. I
had this Honda accord that I couldn't get the correct
air fuel sensor. So after I exhausted all the parts
houses and the dealer and everybody, nobody could tell me
(02:55):
it was. There seems to be some confusion over California
or federal emissions. So I called tech support. I put
in a hotline case and they called me back and
they said, can you show us what the sensor looks like?
And I went, well, how can I do that? You're
on the phone and you know my scan tools plugged in,
but I can't. They said, no, no, no, you know, I
keep forgetting the tool has a camera built in it, Hugh, right,
(03:19):
and they actually they're logged into Now this is crazy,
all right, This is like a zoom conference call with
your scan tool. They're logged into the tool. I take it.
I put the camera over the end of the connector.
I said, I have this, and they were actually able
to send me a picture after doing some research on
their side, No, you need this, and I was able
(03:40):
to take that. Send it, send it, Send it to
my parts guys, along with what they thought was the
right part number. They looked it up and whilah, I
got the correct sensor. Now when was the last time
you used a scan tool to look up apart? Is
that crazy or what? Right?
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Yeah, it's it's good. It's also good to be they
can virtually be there right right. You can say do
you see what I'm talking about? You don't have to
describe it and believe it or not. Describing something to
somebody over the phone accurately isn't as easy as it sounds, right,
I mean you can say, yeah, it looks it really
(04:14):
looks hot, but what do you mean that works hot? Well?
Here take a look. That says a thousand words.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Right, Well, and the neat thing is with Opus. I
forget the text name I got, but he was a
Honda Tech. He'd seen it before, and you know, he
had run into this and evidently it's a difference between
an eight cavity air fuel ratio sensor and a five
cavity air fuel ratio sensor five wire or eight wire,
and it's the difference between federal and California and then
(04:41):
California and ultra emissions and all these crazy possibilities of
what it could be. And it got me to thinking,
which is why you're here today, Hugh. You know, what
was it like in the beginning? Because the Opus scan
tool didn't always have a camera in it, right, it
didn't always you know, hey, point and click, Hey look
(05:02):
at this. You know, here's the here's here, here's.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
A yeah we've got Can you tell us about the beginning?
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Yeah, can you tell us about the beginning? If we
were looking at family pictures of the opus family, like,
where did it? Where did it begin? Because it's a
neat idea and it really works well.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
I have a Drew tech background, and of course we
came together with Autologic and Autological has been around since
the early two thousands. Also but I'll say it from
a Drew Tech background because it's for me. It's a
little more colorful. Right. So Drew Tech made made a
J twenty five thirty four devices so you can download
the OEM application for diagnostics and reprogram you can use
(05:40):
it yourself. Users would call in every now and say, hey,
I'm having a hard time navigating their Chrysler site. We
would help them with that, or help them choose a
calibration or whatever. Right, it's not really vehicle repair, but
it's J twenty five thirty four support. And we had
a lot of requests about hey, can you program this me.
(06:00):
We have been working with Autologic actually we were selling
them devices because their world was changing. They had a
need to be using OE tools as opposed to their own.
And so we said, hey, why don't we You know,
you guys do services, We do reprogramming, We make the equipment,
we use the support for it, but we don't do
reprogramming services. You want to get together do that. They
(06:23):
couldn't do that at that time, but we decided, hey,
why don't we make a kit, and so we made
something called the Wrap Kit. Now you have on the
drive pro, you have the remote assist program application on
the right.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Right, there's a wrap there's a wrap box built into
that tool. As I understand it, there is right, there is.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Our first one was a lot more primitive than that
sexy stone thing.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
It was kind of like the right brothers. It was
a two wing airplane compared to today's jets.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
That yeah, it's a huge, huge kit. Looks like a
ruggedized suitcase. And it had a tablet on top, you know,
and you know it had the same benefits where hey,
when it's time to you know, update say forward, we're
the ones to do that, not the local technician. And
when it's comes when it comes time to go get
(07:13):
the subscription again, we do that, not the technician. And
this is important because technician is really busy. He keeps
you know, he's entertaining the customers whether they're coming or
coming back. He's got to keep the mechanics busy. He's
in parts ordering. He's a pretty popular guy. So if
he goes, you know, if he quits working so he
can update forward, well I don't mean anything derogatory toward
(07:35):
forward there, but if he starts updating OE applications, he's
probably that the shop is missing out. In other areas,
but there was a big market for to have programming
done for them, and we started making what we started
trying to do it out of our technical support and
our technical support guys, we're trying to work with other
(07:58):
people's computer. Okay, that doesn't work. You all of a
sudden start, you know, fixing their Java updating Windows.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Right, and that becomes a real problem. And when you're
especially when you're doing software updating to a vehicle computer,
there's there's standards for safety to ensure that the program
is going to go through, to ensure that you're not
going to you know, pooch the computer that it no
longer you know, in the middle of in the middle
of doing a program, Windows update comes on. That's a problem,
(08:26):
or it can be, depending upon the vehicle and the manufacturer.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
Right, right, Yeah, that the computer has to be able
to pay attention to that task for a little while.
Most of the applications allow the calibration, that is, the
program you're installing to come down to the computer fully
and then it'll dispend it, right, It'll it'll actually send
the program to the module.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
Right, So you knew that, So you knew that the
other so you knew that it wouldn't work with Windows
updates and things like that, so you refined it, right,
you took it to the next level. You went away
from the wrap box. Did you work on the wrap
box US first? Because at some point you knew that
the wrap box alone by itself wasn't enough and it
had to become a scan tool. Where was you know,
where was that evolution over the last twenty years.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
Well, that part that that was really a coming together
with three companies. There was drew Tech, Autologic and fire
Site and they needed a they need a platform to
run with right and prior to the drive pro and natively,
Autologic used the blue Box and Farsat had another tablet
(09:30):
all set up and both those tools were kind of
running along in the tooth and they didn't have J
twenty five thirty four built in them. You could run
the far Site tablet with with a device, but we
thought wouldn't be great if we had a scan tool
h J twenty five thirty four device inside, we can
(09:50):
run it for them, you know, we could we could
manage that environment so that we didn't become the customer's
I I consultant, right, and the Blue Box was getting
pretty old. So that's when we developed the the Pro
(10:11):
and we also needed it.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
I'm sorry, I was gonna say that's when you put
together the wrap, the drive pro and everything all in one.
It was like one stop shopping, right.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
And we needed what we always needed. We knew this
because Farsight kind of sprung from Autologic, and Farsite wanted
Autologic to euros. In the United States, we have a
lot more vehicle types in that that are very popular.
Domestic Asians are huge, so they broke off to do that,
and so it was obvious that we because they needed
(10:40):
it so much, we needed a diagnostic application that would
be a professional diagnostic application, and we couldn't rent one
from someone else, right, So we found up purchasing a
company called Auto Ingenuity. They had a nice PC based
scan tool, they have a good development group, and hey,
isn't that great. So we've up putting all all of
(11:01):
that together, and that's what the drive throw is.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
So you've really got you've really got three companies or
three separate devices or concepts in one box, so to speak.
From the sounds of it, we do.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
Yeah, and the drive post made so that you know,
the customer obviously can use it as a professional scand tool.
But then we can use the OE applications using the
J twenty five thirty four device on board as well
as the memory to hold those applications, and we can
do work for them, or like in a reprogramming case,
(11:36):
you can that once the digestician says, hey, this vehicle
needs to be reprogrammed, he can hand that kit to
a non technical person and.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
They can take care of from there and they can
just kind of walk through it. Hey, you sit on
the phone, Sit tight. Let me pull over, take a pause.
When we come back, I want to go a little
bit more in depth of talk a little bit about
J twenty five thirty four and WRAP capabilities. I'm Ron
an Ending and the Card Doctor. I'm here with Hugh
Atkins of Opus IVS. We'll both return right after this.
Speaker 4 (11:59):
Don't go well, you have done.
Speaker 5 (12:09):
What's more fun than listening to Ron and Ady and
the Car Doctor and getting that car fixed? Right A
five five five six zero nine nine zero zero.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Give Ron a call now back to Ron. Welcome back, listeners.
Ron and Aye in the Car Doctor are here today
with Hugh Atkins of Opus OPA's IVS. H and we
pulled away from take the pause we were talking, you know,
to summarize real quick how how Opus came to be
Right in the beginning, you know it was to be.
It was the structure of three companies coming together, three concepts,
a programming box, a scanbox, some tech support, and all
(12:40):
these different concepts became the current scan tool right, Opus
IVS the drive pro isn't that? Is that a fair statement?
Speaker 3 (12:48):
It is? It is, and it was. It wasn't easy
because we had done J twenty five thirty four devices
and that's a component in there. Oh, we hadn't made
whole computers.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
So when we got when you say J twenty five
thirty four in English, break it down, what does that mean?
Because the listeners hear that, and the shops out there
they hear that, and some of them know, some of
them don't. What is J twenty five thirty four that
we throw around?
Speaker 3 (13:14):
So casually it's just a communication. You know, I wish
it had had an easier name, like Sally or Bill
or something. It's all it is is a language that
the OE application. Once that's on your PC and you
have say Toyota application on there, it speaks J twenty
five thirty four language to our box and it'll say,
(13:34):
you know, let's say you're you're doing a bi directional
control to roll down the window right, and it'll say, hey,
talk to the body computer and I show ninety one
forty one language, and then it does what it really
has to do. Our device, the J twenty five thirty
four device, is know all the languages.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
And it's it's basically the interpreter. It's the translator.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
Yes, it is. In fact, I talk about I explain
it all you know. Ignicians will ask me about it,
and I'll say, this is kind of like if you
went to China. If I went to China, I don't
speak Chinese, I would have to have a translator. And
if that guy selling coke over there speaks Mandarin, but
my translator doesn't speak Mandarin, well he's not going to
(14:17):
tell me he doesn't, and I'm probably not going to
get that coke right. But if you have a good translator,
it speaks to everybody.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
And if you have a bad translator, you get Pepsi.
So nothing against the folks at PEPSI. Actually I actually
do like Pepsi, but that's another story. So we've got
a device built into the tool that will allow it
to speak to car computers and vehicle computers to do
software updates and such. And then then the rat Box
(14:45):
came along. The rat Box is a different than JAY
twenty five thirty four. What's the story behind that?
Speaker 3 (14:51):
No, it was kind of like the original. It came
a little bit beforehand, and it was kind of it
was made for programming only, not for diagnosed. You couldn't
see through it or anything like that, but we couldn't
team viewer into it. The wrap box is like a
ruggedied suitcase with a latwork with a tablet on it.
The tablets have the OE applications on it. It has
(15:14):
a cellular card, a J twenty five to thirty four device,
a card act and it have a battery maintainer. And
that way, it was a kit, so we knew the
customer had everything they needed and we can team viewer
in press the buttons and it would be done the
right way. And when I say the right way, it
has the computer with the application on it right by
(15:35):
the vehicle, connected with a cord to that vehicle. And
that's the way the only AM applications were intended to
be used. And that's the way they're most effective.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
So what you've done is you've standardized, to sum it up,
how a repair shop other than a dealer can program
and access the ability to download and update software and
computers if they're replacing a computer, to put fresh software in,
if there is a calibration update or a software update.
(16:04):
You've now made it possible for anyone in a repair
shop as long as they have electricity and a connection
to you using a wrap box or a drive pro
as it's now in a drive pro do software.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
What we did, we made it easier, is what we did,
and a little bit faster it could by outsourcing some
of the IT stuff. So SAE when they made J
twenty five thirty four kind of did what you're talking about, right,
But then they're the ones who were the authors of
that language, and Mike Drew was a part of that.
But what we did with a rap kit has made
(16:36):
it a lot more accessible Now it didn't take so
much technician time. Now they could hand that kid to
someone who's non technical and they could handle it from
there and we would team viewer in do the hard stuff.
All we're really asking of them to do key cycles
when required and to make sure powers on the vehicle.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
And you know, the really neat thing about WRAP and
J twenty five and the way you've done this and
brought it all to the table is you've standardized everything.
You know, I used to I used to use a
Ford IDs I then I would then I would use
my GM scan tools to do my GM and then
I would use my Chrysler to do Chrysler. And every
every company does it a little different. It's you know,
(17:18):
the learning curve is always there. And Toyota was different
than than the other three, and then Honda was something
else entirely. And you know, you would just go through
the list of procedures and they all got to the
same result. They all updated software. But what what WRAP?
And you know J twenty five thirty four and the
way everything's combined. You standardized everything. You put it all
in one box and it works in the same procedure. Plus,
(17:39):
not to mention, somebody else is doing it on the
other end, so you know they've got the ability to
do it. For me, I just hook up and walk away.
Now I can watch the process. But it does make
life easier in the repair shop. Hey, hughes sit tight
when we when we come back. I want to know
how all of this ties into the body shops because
(17:59):
they've got to huge need for this, and I know
you guys are getting there, so sit tight on wanting.
Nanni in the Car Doctor with Hugh Atkins of Opus.
We'll both return right after this.
Speaker 4 (18:06):
Don't go.
Speaker 5 (18:31):
Ron's in the own the Auto Zone studio and he'll
be back right after this. Who's gonna Jody, Welcome back
to the Auto Zone Studio.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Here's Ron. Welcome back. It's Ron. Annie in the Car Doctor.
I'm here at this hour with Hugh Atkins Opus Opus
iv S. Well, actually I was here. I was here
for the first half with Hugh and returning this into
the Opus IVS hour here you're there. Hugh loves to talk.
He's real good at this, but he's also got a
lot of information. Listen. I think it's I think it's
a good interview. Let's let it roll. You know, we
(19:12):
were talking in the first half here of how Opus
came to be in this It's such a revolutionary idea
to be able to go right in with a you know,
a tech line, a Honda guy working on a Honda,
a Ford guy working on a Ford. You know, what
are we looking at? And have the ability to not
just scan and analyze data, but you've also given repair
(19:34):
shops the ability to you know, program and calibrate and
verify things. And then every once in a while, you know,
I've had the experience where something won't work via Opus
software and it doesn't and then you you guys have
a really neat trick you'll pull out of your out
of your back pocket where you'll download manufacturer software onto
(19:59):
the tool, right and and and that's it, And I
should say it a different way. You know, it's not
that the Opus software doesn't work. We're just not sure
if it doesn't work because it's why the car is broken,
or if there's a conflict somewhere with that software. And
then we have a you know, we have another we
can put Honda software in for a Honda and if
(20:21):
it doesn't work there, well, then some of our testing
will take us quicker to the to the source of
the problem. Right, But talk about that for a minute.
You if you can, you you guys can actually put
the same software that the dealer has on this tool
and the shop can use it for that repair in
that moment.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
Correct, That's exactly what we do. You know that there
is nothing like having the OE two. You always want
a good scancel, right if it's your first go to
it's it's what tells you about the vehicle. But when
you but if you really need the best there is,
it's going to be the application written by the people
who made that vehicle, right and also wrote the software
(21:01):
at least describe the software to be written for that
vehicle by their supplier. And there really is no better.
There's not only time to backwards engineer. You know, when
something's first on the road. There's no such thing as
a pattern failure, yet they're there. There's just no pattern
in NINOS data. And you do have to have that
(21:23):
kind of technology built, you know, from the manufacturer because
the other scan tool, the third what i'll call scan
tool makers out there haven't had time to backwards engineer them.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
So what happens, you know, we get to that point
where okay, it's supposed to bi directional control and put
the window up and down in this Honda, and it doesn't.
And the tech can then turn to the hotline source
and they'll do what they'll they'll try it right. And
I've had this experience where I'll say, you know, I've
tested this, and I've tested this, and I'm at the
(21:54):
point where I need to be able to either run
it through the computer by scan tool and I can't
get that to work, or I'm going to guess and
put a motor in it. I don't want to do
that because it's a three hundred dollars guess and then
they'll come along and put Honda software on that tool, right,
But I never see it happen. It's done behind the scenes.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
Yeah, it is. I mean, what you need to make
sure that that whole system when I see a system, computer, Java,
OE application, all those types of things need to be correct, right,
and that's why we have that environment as our own,
and that's what we can maintain it so it does
you know, you don't accidentally install something else and then
throw it out of whack. I'll just say, right, so,
(22:33):
having that OE application is hugely important. It allows you
to program. It also allows you all the diagnostics that
the dealers have, which is quite a bit.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
And you've got a dealer guy kind of pushing the
buttons and that's the other thing. You know, You've got
dealer guys that have the hand experience, the Ford experience,
of GM experience and so forth. So you know they're
actually you know, you guys are doing more than just scanning.
You're actually educating the industry and how things work and procedure.
Do you ever think about that? Is that an intention
(23:03):
or is that just an accidental product? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (23:07):
I use it myself, you know, my my if my
car has an issue, that's where I go to get
it and I get to actually feel at firsthand. I
can you know, I can get a handle on their versatility,
like you were saying. You know, I had somebody who says, hey,
do you have a Ford ballance power balance on that
on that machine? And you know, it turns out no,
(23:29):
I didn't. And I asked one of these guys, the
IVF sixty guys, and they said, oh, but we can
do this. We can do this, we can do this,
we can do this. We can still fix that vehicle.
And it's their versatility, their method, their experience, it's all
there on tap.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Now the next evolution. So I just got to ask
you this question. So I've been thinking of this a
whole hour here. When you started with Opus, right, how
many people were at the company.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
I think there are twenty three?
Speaker 1 (23:58):
How many is there now?
Speaker 3 (24:00):
That was true tech? Oh geez, if you were to
guess three, three fifty or.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
So, wow, And that's over the list. When was when
was the biggest growth the list?
Speaker 3 (24:13):
Five years years probably as we were all coming together,
so that would be like seventeen eighteen nineteen. We started
growing and we started realizing we had to grow. You know,
like I said, REFT used to be our tech support
guys team veering into someone else's computer, and that does
a word. It turns out you have to have the
back end support that you have to Our guys have
(24:35):
to have a computer. The customer has to have a
computer with an environment that we know what we're getting into.
They have to have our reference materials. They can't be
hand to putting in the vent. They've got to be
you know, they can't be writing up the billing and
stuff like that. They need to be doing what they
do best, and we have to have a back end
to support that. And then we had to grow so
(24:57):
we could meet the time zones.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
So that's where the drive so came in and just
it was the standard tablet computer that everybody had in
the shop and it just made everything we're talking about
here practical and easy. So where you know where it did?
Where did the body shops come into this, Because now
you're into the body shops, right and what are you
doing for them?
Speaker 3 (25:19):
We are and the body shops are really interesting, you know,
we talked about it a little bit last time. Where
the body shops collision shops are very different. They're insurance paid,
which has a huge difference. They are very production. Like
in vehicle repair shop, you have one man, one car
one day. That's the way it works. Coalition shops have
(25:39):
the estimator and then it goes over to the next
station where they write up insurance work. It goes to
the next station where they are going to order the
parts so they have all the right parts because they
can't have a bunch of half half put together cars everywhere,
and then on a room for that. Then it's going
to go into what I'll call disassembly, and there's a
(25:59):
lot of it, and you have to be up on
that and you have to be ready for them for
them to take a car out of sequence and send
it to get a an OE scan and send that
vehicle out to the dealer. Oh my gosh, that that's
super slow for them. But with something like a drive
pro we call it right safe. We can just team
viewer in while the vehicles at that station do the
(26:21):
OE scan and it goes on to the next one
and that that that that's and that's just one fastic.
Like I said earlier, they they that the car might
be two days old. And there's a lot of stories
like that. You hear them all the time. People dry
it off the lot, not used to the car and
this happens. Well, you know, you have to use OE
(26:43):
software because scan tools haven't backwards engineered the newer functions
or the newer the newer subsystem, so you have to
use OE tools. Then there's also you know, our hardware
like the card act for example, there's a Kardac inside
the drive thro and also the.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Tell I know what a kard Act is, but tell
the audience what a Kardak is you.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
Well, that's the J twenty five thirty four device that's
a translator. So it's to go between between the compute
that let's say, the Toyota application and the actual Toyota
vehicle that you're talking to. Right, it translates all those
commands properly, and it used to be when you know,
we didn't see vehicles in vehicle repair until after the
warranty period let's call it five, three or five years,
(27:30):
while Collision sees it right away. So you absolutely have
to have the heart, the software and the firmware and
as well as the hardware and the card act up
for like that year for the absolute new vehicles. Otherwise,
you know, these customers aren't able to get their cars
back into long be an awful thing. But we we
(27:52):
see them over and over and over, which is really
really good. And we have what we take the technician,
the technician that we have that that you're normally talking to,
we have another set that's just a Collision and they're familiar,
super familiar with ad ASS and they know that their
environment which is not very technician rich, it's almost all mechanics,
(28:14):
but they're explaining the stuff a lot more and there
is no such thing as a pattern failure. Like I
was saying, we've actually told Oe's before, hey, we're seeing
a lot of this in this vehicle, and they've written
service boll based on what we've told them on our feedback,
which we're kind of proud of.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
Any idea on how many tech calls, hotline calls they
take in a day.
Speaker 3 (28:37):
Oh mind, you know, I don't know. I know we
can reprogram. We can probably program like eight hundred in
a day.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
I might be wrong there. I might be wrong there.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
But that's still a lot when you consider it is
a lot when you consider how many dealers are out
there doing that. You know, when when you consider how
many dealers are out there programming on their uh, you know,
it's it's still a huge number.
Speaker 6 (29:04):
Here.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
I'm gonna pull over when I come back. I want
to know when they put the camera in the tool
because because I bet you the camera in the tool
kind of made it easier for you guys when you're
dealing with the body shop. So sit tight. I'm here
with Hugh Atkins of Opus IVS. We're just kind of
chatting about Opus scan tool and the technology and what
it brings to the marketplace. I'm running any in the
car doctor, I'll be back right after this. No go away, Hey, Hey, hey,
(29:30):
we're back, wanting any in the card doctor. I'm here
today with Hugh Atkins of Opus IVS. Hugh, when we
pulled away for that pause, we were talking. We were
getting deep into Opus and its capability and as recovering
the history and current capabilities of the tool. And then
we started talking body shops. And then I asked that
faithful question, where did the camera come into the tool?
Because I've got to thinking body shop world. Oh yeah,
(29:53):
the fenders bent in this direction, look right, and we
can we can now show the bend the broken harness.
You know, whose idea was it? Where did the camera
come from? And then does it help the body shops?
Speaker 3 (30:05):
It has to write it helps body and vehicle repair shops.
And it is huge in body shops because they're setting
up like the eight s targets for example, and you're
working with people who aren't technicians ther mechanics, and they
don't do this every day. And certainly you know that
they go through one car after another, but not all
fours one day in all GMS and X. So yeah,
(30:26):
that camera is really important. And when the drive Pro
was originally designed, designed by I think basically three people.
There was Brian Herron and then there was Andrew Bentley
and then also Kevin Fitzpatrick. And you know, Kevin has
a you know, a long you know, he really was
(30:47):
Autologic USA, and he knows what his technicians need and
he knows, he knows, he knows what they need in
order to do a good job efficiently. And between those
three that was that that was putting the camera in
And I'm I gotta think it would be probably him
and him or Bryan.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
You know, you just said the magic word. I think
it just struck me Opus to you know when you
first think about it, the Opus scan tool. It's not
really a scan tool, right, I mean it is, but
it's just a yeah, it's sort of a platform. It's
sort of an existence of you know, here's the capability
and what it can do. It can scan, it can program,
(31:28):
it can get us into OE software, it can problem solve,
but it's doing it. And you said the word efficiently, right.
I think if a repair shop out there was thinking
about this because obviously this isn't for the do it
yourself for in the weekend warrior. And you know the
purpose of our conversation today is we wanted to let
the repair shops know what's out there, but also to
let the listeners in general know that, you know, to
(31:49):
look for a shop that has this ability. It ends
the conversation of hey can you work on my car?
Do you have the right software. If you have one
of these, you've got the right software. It's as simple
as that.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
It's kind of like time sharing these guys time right,
if it's bringing OE tools and services with them, okay,
but it's also about uh time sharing these guys who
are very highly talented and experienced, and I mean think
how hard it is too because they used to only
be in New York, right. New York has a lot
of people, so you got them to choose from. But
you have to have a guy who has experience, knows
(32:22):
the OE subsystems, right, you have you got to be
familiar with the cars and their breaking systems and blah
blah blah. For that that that OE. You have to
have your source of service information. You have to have
your knowledge and experience and you and you also have
to be able to talk to a customer as if
they were one and finding that magic combination. You know,
(32:43):
you can't go around and out tech the other tech
that's not nice. You have to you have that's a
pretty special guy. And when you find them, you have
to take care of them. And in order to scale
the different time zones, I mean, we've had to go
all over the place.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (32:59):
You know. We we have Michigan, we have South North Carolina,
we have Comack, New York, and also California. And I'm
glad we're able to find the guys that we do
because they've been.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
Excellent, right yeah.
Speaker 3 (33:12):
I can support them well with a back end system yep.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
Yeah, and you guys you give them the ability to
do that.
Speaker 3 (33:19):
Here.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
It's been an absolute pleasure today, sir. I'm sure there's
more conversations in our future because I'm sure Opus is
going to continue to evolve and define the industry. If
a listener is out there, repair shop is out there,
they want more information. What's the website?
Speaker 3 (33:33):
The website is www opusivs dot com.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
Perfect cool beings here. We'll talk again, sir. Thanks for
the time. We appreciate it. You have a great rest
of the weekend, you too, Thanks a lot.
Speaker 3 (33:44):
I appreciate it all. It's a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
You're very welcome, sir. Be well, I'm running any of
the car doctor. I'll be back right after this.
Speaker 6 (33:49):
Don't go away.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
Hey, hey, well, the heck an of needing the card doctor.
I want to once again thank our special guest this hour,
Hugh Atkins of Opus IVS and all his information. He
is a fountain of information. There's a lot of stuff
in his head about just you know, beyond even the
development of the scan tool and where Opus came from,
and you know what it's doing to the industry. There's
there's a guy that's been in the industry thirty five
(34:23):
plus years. I think he once said to me, So
there's an awful lot of stuff there and just a
pleasure to sit down and talk with someone like that.
I hope you got something out of it. You know,
understand that Opus IVS is here to help fix cars.
That's what it does. And it's the idea of putting
somebody at your elbow to give you good diagnostic information
and the ability to go in and scan with OE
(34:44):
level scan tool technology because sometimes that's flat out what
you need. Maybe not every time, but you do need it.
There's gonna be those moments where nothing's gonna work better
than an OE scan tool, and that's what Opus does.
I can always tell you that, you know some of
these stories that you hear from the bay, well they're
not story is they're real. These are the things that
happened to me in the Bay, and some of the
things I have to go through to solve the problems
(35:05):
of today's cars, and I'm looking forward to to tomorrow's cars,
so we'll be here to do that till the next
time I'm run an ad in the card, I can
reminding each and every one of you. Good mechanics aren't expensive,
They're priceless.
Speaker 4 (35:16):
See
Ron and Aian. It's the original LT one two port motor.
This was the Kakamami Nightmare. Kakammi being the technical operative
board that GM, decided to take the distributor from up
top of the engine where it was accessible and mounted
on the forward part of the engine right underneath the
water pump. Can get it, Can get it, the Car Doctor.
(00:21):
Stick your head under the left side of the dashboard
or left side of the cluster. You're going to see
a gang of relays. May in a way. They don't
make tracers anywhere.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Welcome to the radio home of Ron and Aim the
Car Doctor. Since nineteen ninety one, this is where car
owners the world overturned to for their definitive opinion on
automotive repair. If your mechanics giving you a busy signal,
pick up the phone and call in.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
The garage doors are open, but I am here to
take your calls at eight five five five six, ninety
nine hundred and now he.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Running.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Hey, how was your weekend automobiles? Mine is great. Thanks
for joining me here this hour. You know I had
this twenty ten Honda Accord. I wanted to talk to
you about in the shop this week and we were doing.
I had to do a forward catalytic converter and it'd
set a P zero four thirty efficiency fault. And that's
the forward cat on the radiator side on this particular
Honda Accord. And in doing so I had to you know,
(01:21):
I replaced at one hundred and ninety thousand miles. We
also did you know air fuel ratio sensor and oxygen sensor,
you know, pre and post cat sensors. And I couldn't
get the air fuel sensor correct. It was like nobody
could look it up. And I was a little frustrated
and I reached out to the guys over at Opus IVS.
(01:41):
I went to tech Support. I know it sounds crazy
for a part, but I wanted to know, could somebody
tell me something with regard to you know, had they
seen this before, because it seems like nobody could look
it up correctly. And I digg just that I was
able to put. I was able to get a hold
of support and speak to them, and it was interesting
(02:04):
because what I saw them do was put. They said
to me, hey, Ron, take your Opus, you know, the
Opus scan tool, and you know what I'm getting ahead
of myself. Let me introduce our guests this hour because
I'd like to bring him in and talk to him
with regard to this, because I know he's itching to
get in on this conversation. We have Hugh Atkins with
us from Opus IVS. Opus. Hugh, you have to be
(02:27):
one of the other brothers. So how are you today?
Welcome back. I'm sort of getting ahead of the curve.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
You know.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
I meant to tell you this story in pre show
and I never got around to it. But so I
had this Honda accord and this shows the reach of
what Opus IVS can do, right, you know, Hugh. I
had this Honda accord that I couldn't get the correct
air fuel sensor. So after I exhausted all the parts
houses and the dealer and everybody, nobody could tell me
(02:55):
it was. There seems to be some confusion over California
or federal emissions. So I called tech support. I put
in a hotline case and they called me back and
they said, can you show us what the sensor looks like?
And I went, well, how can I do that? You're
on the phone and you know my scan tools plugged in,
but I can't. They said, no, no, no, you know, I
keep forgetting the tool has a camera built in it, Hugh, right,
(03:19):
and they actually they're logged into Now this is crazy,
all right, This is like a zoom conference call with
your scan tool. They're logged into the tool. I take it.
I put the camera over the end of the connector.
I said, I have this, and they were actually able
to send me a picture after doing some research on
their side, No, you need this, and I was able
(03:40):
to take that. Send it, send it, Send it to
my parts guys, along with what they thought was the
right part number. They looked it up and whilah, I
got the correct sensor. Now when was the last time
you used a scan tool to look up apart? Is
that crazy or what? Right?
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Yeah, it's it's good. It's also good to be they
can virtually be there right right. You can say do
you see what I'm talking about? You don't have to
describe it and believe it or not. Describing something to
somebody over the phone accurately isn't as easy as it sounds, right,
I mean you can say, yeah, it looks it really
(04:14):
looks hot, but what do you mean that works hot? Well?
Here take a look. That says a thousand words.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Right, Well, and the neat thing is with Opus. I
forget the text name I got, but he was a
Honda Tech. He'd seen it before, and you know, he
had run into this and evidently it's a difference between
an eight cavity air fuel ratio sensor and a five
cavity air fuel ratio sensor five wire or eight wire,
and it's the difference between federal and California and then
(04:41):
California and ultra emissions and all these crazy possibilities of
what it could be. And it got me to thinking,
which is why you're here today, Hugh. You know, what
was it like in the beginning? Because the Opus scan
tool didn't always have a camera in it, right, it
didn't always you know, hey, point and click, Hey look
(05:02):
at this. You know, here's the here's here, here's.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
A yeah we've got Can you tell us about the beginning?
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Yeah, can you tell us about the beginning? If we
were looking at family pictures of the opus family, like,
where did it? Where did it begin? Because it's a
neat idea and it really works well.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
I have a Drew tech background, and of course we
came together with Autologic and Autological has been around since
the early two thousands. Also but I'll say it from
a Drew Tech background because it's for me. It's a
little more colorful. Right. So Drew Tech made made a
J twenty five thirty four devices so you can download
the OEM application for diagnostics and reprogram you can use
(05:40):
it yourself. Users would call in every now and say, hey,
I'm having a hard time navigating their Chrysler site. We
would help them with that, or help them choose a
calibration or whatever. Right, it's not really vehicle repair, but
it's J twenty five thirty four support. And we had
a lot of requests about hey, can you program this me.
(06:00):
We have been working with Autologic actually we were selling
them devices because their world was changing. They had a
need to be using OE tools as opposed to their own.
And so we said, hey, why don't we You know,
you guys do services, We do reprogramming, We make the equipment,
we use the support for it, but we don't do
reprogramming services. You want to get together do that. They
(06:23):
couldn't do that at that time, but we decided, hey,
why don't we make a kit, and so we made
something called the Wrap Kit. Now you have on the
drive pro, you have the remote assist program application on
the right.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Right, there's a wrap there's a wrap box built into
that tool. As I understand it, there is right, there is.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Our first one was a lot more primitive than that
sexy stone thing.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
It was kind of like the right brothers. It was
a two wing airplane compared to today's jets.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
That yeah, it's a huge, huge kit. Looks like a
ruggedized suitcase. And it had a tablet on top, you know,
and you know it had the same benefits where hey,
when it's time to you know, update say forward, we're
the ones to do that, not the local technician. And
when it's comes when it comes time to go get
(07:13):
the subscription again, we do that, not the technician. And
this is important because technician is really busy. He keeps
you know, he's entertaining the customers whether they're coming or
coming back. He's got to keep the mechanics busy. He's
in parts ordering. He's a pretty popular guy. So if
he goes, you know, if he quits working so he
can update forward, well I don't mean anything derogatory toward
(07:35):
forward there, but if he starts updating OE applications, he's
probably that the shop is missing out. In other areas,
but there was a big market for to have programming
done for them, and we started making what we started
trying to do it out of our technical support and
our technical support guys, we're trying to work with other
(07:58):
people's computer. Okay, that doesn't work. You all of a
sudden start, you know, fixing their Java updating Windows.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Right, and that becomes a real problem. And when you're
especially when you're doing software updating to a vehicle computer,
there's there's standards for safety to ensure that the program
is going to go through, to ensure that you're not
going to you know, pooch the computer that it no
longer you know, in the middle of in the middle
of doing a program, Windows update comes on. That's a problem,
(08:26):
or it can be, depending upon the vehicle and the manufacturer.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
Right, right, Yeah, that the computer has to be able
to pay attention to that task for a little while.
Most of the applications allow the calibration, that is, the
program you're installing to come down to the computer fully
and then it'll dispend it, right, It'll it'll actually send
the program to the module.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
Right, So you knew that, So you knew that the
other so you knew that it wouldn't work with Windows
updates and things like that, so you refined it, right,
you took it to the next level. You went away
from the wrap box. Did you work on the wrap
box US first? Because at some point you knew that
the wrap box alone by itself wasn't enough and it
had to become a scan tool. Where was you know,
where was that evolution over the last twenty years.
Speaker 3 (09:09):
Well, that part that that was really a coming together
with three companies. There was drew Tech, Autologic and fire
Site and they needed a they need a platform to
run with right and prior to the drive pro and natively,
Autologic used the blue Box and Farsat had another tablet
(09:30):
all set up and both those tools were kind of
running along in the tooth and they didn't have J
twenty five thirty four built in them. You could run
the far Site tablet with with a device, but we
thought wouldn't be great if we had a scan tool
h J twenty five thirty four device inside, we can
(09:50):
run it for them, you know, we could we could
manage that environment so that we didn't become the customer's
I I consultant, right, and the Blue Box was getting
pretty old. So that's when we developed the the Pro
(10:11):
and we also needed it.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
I'm sorry, I was gonna say that's when you put
together the wrap, the drive pro and everything all in one.
It was like one stop shopping, right.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
And we needed what we always needed. We knew this
because Farsight kind of sprung from Autologic, and Farsite wanted
Autologic to euros. In the United States, we have a
lot more vehicle types in that that are very popular.
Domestic Asians are huge, so they broke off to do that,
and so it was obvious that we because they needed
(10:40):
it so much, we needed a diagnostic application that would
be a professional diagnostic application, and we couldn't rent one
from someone else, right, So we found up purchasing a
company called Auto Ingenuity. They had a nice PC based
scan tool, they have a good development group, and hey,
isn't that great. So we've up putting all all of
(11:01):
that together, and that's what the drive throw is.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
So you've really got you've really got three companies or
three separate devices or concepts in one box, so to speak.
From the sounds of it, we do.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
Yeah, and the drive post made so that you know,
the customer obviously can use it as a professional scand tool.
But then we can use the OE applications using the
J twenty five thirty four device on board as well
as the memory to hold those applications, and we can
do work for them, or like in a reprogramming case,
(11:36):
you can that once the digestician says, hey, this vehicle
needs to be reprogrammed, he can hand that kit to
a non technical person and.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
They can take care of from there and they can
just kind of walk through it. Hey, you sit on
the phone, Sit tight. Let me pull over, take a pause.
When we come back, I want to go a little
bit more in depth of talk a little bit about
J twenty five thirty four and WRAP capabilities. I'm Ron
an Ending and the Card Doctor. I'm here with Hugh
Atkins of Opus IVS. We'll both return right after this.
Speaker 4 (11:59):
Don't go well, you have done.
Speaker 5 (12:09):
What's more fun than listening to Ron and Ady and
the Car Doctor and getting that car fixed? Right A
five five five six zero nine nine zero zero.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Give Ron a call now back to Ron. Welcome back, listeners.
Ron and Aye in the Car Doctor are here today
with Hugh Atkins of Opus OPA's IVS. H and we
pulled away from take the pause we were talking, you know,
to summarize real quick how how Opus came to be
Right in the beginning, you know it was to be.
It was the structure of three companies coming together, three concepts,
a programming box, a scanbox, some tech support, and all
(12:40):
these different concepts became the current scan tool right, Opus
IVS the drive pro isn't that? Is that a fair statement?
Speaker 3 (12:48):
It is? It is, and it was. It wasn't easy
because we had done J twenty five thirty four devices
and that's a component in there. Oh, we hadn't made
whole computers.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
So when we got when you say J twenty five
thirty four in English, break it down, what does that mean?
Because the listeners hear that, and the shops out there
they hear that, and some of them know, some of
them don't. What is J twenty five thirty four that
we throw around?
Speaker 3 (13:14):
So casually it's just a communication. You know, I wish
it had had an easier name, like Sally or Bill
or something. It's all it is is a language that
the OE application. Once that's on your PC and you
have say Toyota application on there, it speaks J twenty
five thirty four language to our box and it'll say,
(13:34):
you know, let's say you're you're doing a bi directional
control to roll down the window right, and it'll say, hey,
talk to the body computer and I show ninety one
forty one language, and then it does what it really
has to do. Our device, the J twenty five thirty
four device, is know all the languages.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
And it's it's basically the interpreter. It's the translator.
Speaker 3 (13:55):
Yes, it is. In fact, I talk about I explain
it all you know. Ignicians will ask me about it,
and I'll say, this is kind of like if you
went to China. If I went to China, I don't
speak Chinese, I would have to have a translator. And
if that guy selling coke over there speaks Mandarin, but
my translator doesn't speak Mandarin, well he's not going to
(14:17):
tell me he doesn't, and I'm probably not going to
get that coke right. But if you have a good translator,
it speaks to everybody.
Speaker 1 (14:24):
And if you have a bad translator, you get Pepsi.
So nothing against the folks at PEPSI. Actually I actually
do like Pepsi, but that's another story. So we've got
a device built into the tool that will allow it
to speak to car computers and vehicle computers to do
software updates and such. And then then the rat Box
(14:45):
came along. The rat Box is a different than JAY
twenty five thirty four. What's the story behind that?
Speaker 3 (14:51):
No, it was kind of like the original. It came
a little bit beforehand, and it was kind of it
was made for programming only, not for diagnosed. You couldn't
see through it or anything like that, but we couldn't
team viewer into it. The wrap box is like a
ruggedied suitcase with a latwork with a tablet on it.
The tablets have the OE applications on it. It has
(15:14):
a cellular card, a J twenty five to thirty four device,
a card act and it have a battery maintainer. And
that way, it was a kit, so we knew the
customer had everything they needed and we can team viewer
in press the buttons and it would be done the
right way. And when I say the right way, it
has the computer with the application on it right by
(15:35):
the vehicle, connected with a cord to that vehicle. And
that's the way the only AM applications were intended to
be used. And that's the way they're most effective.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
So what you've done is you've standardized, to sum it up,
how a repair shop other than a dealer can program
and access the ability to download and update software and
computers if they're replacing a computer, to put fresh software in,
if there is a calibration update or a software update.
(16:04):
You've now made it possible for anyone in a repair
shop as long as they have electricity and a connection
to you using a wrap box or a drive pro
as it's now in a drive pro do software.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
What we did, we made it easier, is what we did,
and a little bit faster it could by outsourcing some
of the IT stuff. So SAE when they made J
twenty five thirty four kind of did what you're talking about, right,
But then they're the ones who were the authors of
that language, and Mike Drew was a part of that.
But what we did with a rap kit has made
(16:36):
it a lot more accessible Now it didn't take so
much technician time. Now they could hand that kid to
someone who's non technical and they could handle it from
there and we would team viewer in do the hard stuff.
All we're really asking of them to do key cycles
when required and to make sure powers on the vehicle.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
And you know, the really neat thing about WRAP and
J twenty five and the way you've done this and
brought it all to the table is you've standardized everything.
You know, I used to I used to use a
Ford IDs I then I would then I would use
my GM scan tools to do my GM and then
I would use my Chrysler to do Chrysler. And every
every company does it a little different. It's you know,
(17:18):
the learning curve is always there. And Toyota was different
than than the other three, and then Honda was something
else entirely. And you know, you would just go through
the list of procedures and they all got to the
same result. They all updated software. But what what WRAP?
And you know J twenty five thirty four and the
way everything's combined. You standardized everything. You put it all
in one box and it works in the same procedure. Plus,
(17:39):
not to mention, somebody else is doing it on the
other end, so you know they've got the ability to
do it. For me, I just hook up and walk away.
Now I can watch the process. But it does make
life easier in the repair shop. Hey, hughes sit tight
when we when we come back. I want to know
how all of this ties into the body shops because
(17:59):
they've got to huge need for this, and I know
you guys are getting there, so sit tight on wanting.
Nanni in the Car Doctor with Hugh Atkins of Opus.
We'll both return right after this.
Speaker 4 (18:06):
Don't go.
Speaker 5 (18:31):
Ron's in the own the Auto Zone studio and he'll
be back right after this. Who's gonna Jody, Welcome back
to the Auto Zone Studio.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Here's Ron. Welcome back. It's Ron. Annie in the Car Doctor.
I'm here at this hour with Hugh Atkins Opus Opus
iv S. Well, actually I was here. I was here
for the first half with Hugh and returning this into
the Opus IVS hour here you're there. Hugh loves to talk.
He's real good at this, but he's also got a
lot of information. Listen. I think it's I think it's
a good interview. Let's let it roll. You know, we
(19:12):
were talking in the first half here of how Opus
came to be in this It's such a revolutionary idea
to be able to go right in with a you know,
a tech line, a Honda guy working on a Honda,
a Ford guy working on a Ford. You know, what
are we looking at? And have the ability to not
just scan and analyze data, but you've also given repair
(19:34):
shops the ability to you know, program and calibrate and
verify things. And then every once in a while, you know,
I've had the experience where something won't work via Opus
software and it doesn't and then you you guys have
a really neat trick you'll pull out of your out
of your back pocket where you'll download manufacturer software onto
(19:59):
the tool, right and and and that's it, And I
should say it a different way. You know, it's not
that the Opus software doesn't work. We're just not sure
if it doesn't work because it's why the car is broken,
or if there's a conflict somewhere with that software. And
then we have a you know, we have another we
can put Honda software in for a Honda and if
(20:21):
it doesn't work there, well, then some of our testing
will take us quicker to the to the source of
the problem. Right, But talk about that for a minute.
You if you can, you you guys can actually put
the same software that the dealer has on this tool
and the shop can use it for that repair in
that moment.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
Correct, That's exactly what we do. You know that there
is nothing like having the OE two. You always want
a good scancel, right if it's your first go to
it's it's what tells you about the vehicle. But when
you but if you really need the best there is,
it's going to be the application written by the people
who made that vehicle, right and also wrote the software
(21:01):
at least describe the software to be written for that
vehicle by their supplier. And there really is no better.
There's not only time to backwards engineer. You know, when
something's first on the road. There's no such thing as
a pattern failure, yet they're there. There's just no pattern
in NINOS data. And you do have to have that
(21:23):
kind of technology built, you know, from the manufacturer because
the other scan tool, the third what i'll call scan
tool makers out there haven't had time to backwards engineer them.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
So what happens, you know, we get to that point
where okay, it's supposed to bi directional control and put
the window up and down in this Honda, and it doesn't.
And the tech can then turn to the hotline source
and they'll do what they'll they'll try it right. And
I've had this experience where I'll say, you know, I've
tested this, and I've tested this, and I'm at the
(21:54):
point where I need to be able to either run
it through the computer by scan tool and I can't
get that to work, or I'm going to guess and
put a motor in it. I don't want to do
that because it's a three hundred dollars guess and then
they'll come along and put Honda software on that tool, right,
But I never see it happen. It's done behind the scenes.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
Yeah, it is. I mean, what you need to make
sure that that whole system when I see a system, computer, Java,
OE application, all those types of things need to be correct, right,
and that's why we have that environment as our own,
and that's what we can maintain it so it does
you know, you don't accidentally install something else and then
throw it out of whack. I'll just say, right, so,
(22:33):
having that OE application is hugely important. It allows you
to program. It also allows you all the diagnostics that
the dealers have, which is quite a bit.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
And you've got a dealer guy kind of pushing the
buttons and that's the other thing. You know, You've got
dealer guys that have the hand experience, the Ford experience,
of GM experience and so forth. So you know they're
actually you know, you guys are doing more than just scanning.
You're actually educating the industry and how things work and procedure.
Do you ever think about that? Is that an intention
(23:03):
or is that just an accidental product? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (23:07):
I use it myself, you know, my my if my
car has an issue, that's where I go to get
it and I get to actually feel at firsthand. I
can you know, I can get a handle on their versatility,
like you were saying. You know, I had somebody who says, hey,
do you have a Ford ballance power balance on that
on that machine? And you know, it turns out no,
(23:29):
I didn't. And I asked one of these guys, the
IVF sixty guys, and they said, oh, but we can
do this. We can do this, we can do this,
we can do this. We can still fix that vehicle.
And it's their versatility, their method, their experience, it's all
there on tap.
Speaker 1 (23:46):
Now the next evolution. So I just got to ask
you this question. So I've been thinking of this a
whole hour here. When you started with Opus, right, how
many people were at the company.
Speaker 3 (23:57):
I think there are twenty three?
Speaker 1 (23:58):
How many is there now?
Speaker 3 (24:00):
That was true tech? Oh geez, if you were to
guess three, three fifty or.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
So, wow, And that's over the list. When was when
was the biggest growth the list?
Speaker 3 (24:13):
Five years years probably as we were all coming together,
so that would be like seventeen eighteen nineteen. We started
growing and we started realizing we had to grow. You know,
like I said, REFT used to be our tech support
guys team veering into someone else's computer, and that does
a word. It turns out you have to have the
back end support that you have to Our guys have
(24:35):
to have a computer. The customer has to have a
computer with an environment that we know what we're getting into.
They have to have our reference materials. They can't be
hand to putting in the vent. They've got to be
you know, they can't be writing up the billing and
stuff like that. They need to be doing what they
do best, and we have to have a back end
to support that. And then we had to grow so
(24:57):
we could meet the time zones.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
So that's where the drive so came in and just
it was the standard tablet computer that everybody had in
the shop and it just made everything we're talking about
here practical and easy. So where you know where it did?
Where did the body shops come into this, Because now
you're into the body shops, right and what are you
doing for them?
Speaker 3 (25:19):
We are and the body shops are really interesting, you know,
we talked about it a little bit last time. Where
the body shops collision shops are very different. They're insurance paid,
which has a huge difference. They are very production. Like
in vehicle repair shop, you have one man, one car
one day. That's the way it works. Coalition shops have
(25:39):
the estimator and then it goes over to the next
station where they write up insurance work. It goes to
the next station where they are going to order the
parts so they have all the right parts because they
can't have a bunch of half half put together cars everywhere,
and then on a room for that. Then it's going
to go into what I'll call disassembly, and there's a
(25:59):
lot of it, and you have to be up on
that and you have to be ready for them for
them to take a car out of sequence and send
it to get a an OE scan and send that
vehicle out to the dealer. Oh my gosh, that that's
super slow for them. But with something like a drive
pro we call it right safe. We can just team
viewer in while the vehicles at that station do the
(26:21):
OE scan and it goes on to the next one
and that that that that's and that's just one fastic.
Like I said earlier, they they that the car might
be two days old. And there's a lot of stories
like that. You hear them all the time. People dry
it off the lot, not used to the car and
this happens. Well, you know, you have to use OE
(26:43):
software because scan tools haven't backwards engineered the newer functions
or the newer the newer subsystem, so you have to
use OE tools. Then there's also you know, our hardware
like the card act for example, there's a Kardac inside
the drive thro and also the.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Tell I know what a kard Act is, but tell
the audience what a Kardak is you.
Speaker 3 (27:07):
Well, that's the J twenty five thirty four device that's
a translator. So it's to go between between the compute
that let's say, the Toyota application and the actual Toyota
vehicle that you're talking to. Right, it translates all those
commands properly, and it used to be when you know,
we didn't see vehicles in vehicle repair until after the
warranty period let's call it five, three or five years,
(27:30):
while Collision sees it right away. So you absolutely have
to have the heart, the software and the firmware and
as well as the hardware and the card act up
for like that year for the absolute new vehicles. Otherwise,
you know, these customers aren't able to get their cars
back into long be an awful thing. But we we
(27:52):
see them over and over and over, which is really
really good. And we have what we take the technician,
the technician that we have that that you're normally talking to,
we have another set that's just a Collision and they're familiar,
super familiar with ad ASS and they know that their
environment which is not very technician rich, it's almost all mechanics,
(28:14):
but they're explaining the stuff a lot more and there
is no such thing as a pattern failure. Like I
was saying, we've actually told Oe's before, hey, we're seeing
a lot of this in this vehicle, and they've written
service boll based on what we've told them on our feedback,
which we're kind of proud of.
Speaker 1 (28:31):
Any idea on how many tech calls, hotline calls they
take in a day.
Speaker 3 (28:37):
Oh mind, you know, I don't know. I know we
can reprogram. We can probably program like eight hundred in
a day.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
I might be wrong there. I might be wrong there.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
But that's still a lot when you consider it is
a lot when you consider how many dealers are out
there doing that. You know, when when you consider how
many dealers are out there programming on their uh, you know,
it's it's still a huge number.
Speaker 6 (29:04):
Here.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
I'm gonna pull over when I come back. I want
to know when they put the camera in the tool
because because I bet you the camera in the tool
kind of made it easier for you guys when you're
dealing with the body shop. So sit tight. I'm here
with Hugh Atkins of Opus IVS. We're just kind of
chatting about Opus scan tool and the technology and what
it brings to the marketplace. I'm running any in the
car doctor, I'll be back right after this. No go away, Hey, Hey, hey,
(29:30):
we're back, wanting any in the card doctor. I'm here
today with Hugh Atkins of Opus IVS. Hugh, when we
pulled away for that pause, we were talking. We were
getting deep into Opus and its capability and as recovering
the history and current capabilities of the tool. And then
we started talking body shops. And then I asked that
faithful question, where did the camera come into the tool?
Because I've got to thinking body shop world. Oh yeah,
(29:53):
the fenders bent in this direction, look right, and we
can we can now show the bend the broken harness.
You know, whose idea was it? Where did the camera
come from? And then does it help the body shops?
Speaker 3 (30:05):
It has to write it helps body and vehicle repair shops.
And it is huge in body shops because they're setting
up like the eight s targets for example, and you're
working with people who aren't technicians ther mechanics, and they
don't do this every day. And certainly you know that
they go through one car after another, but not all
fours one day in all GMS and X. So yeah,
(30:26):
that camera is really important. And when the drive Pro
was originally designed, designed by I think basically three people.
There was Brian Herron and then there was Andrew Bentley
and then also Kevin Fitzpatrick. And you know, Kevin has
a you know, a long you know, he really was
(30:47):
Autologic USA, and he knows what his technicians need and
he knows, he knows, he knows what they need in
order to do a good job efficiently. And between those
three that was that that was putting the camera in
And I'm I gotta think it would be probably him
and him or Bryan.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
You know, you just said the magic word. I think
it just struck me Opus to you know when you
first think about it, the Opus scan tool. It's not
really a scan tool, right, I mean it is, but
it's just a yeah, it's sort of a platform. It's
sort of an existence of you know, here's the capability
and what it can do. It can scan, it can program,
(31:28):
it can get us into OE software, it can problem solve,
but it's doing it. And you said the word efficiently, right.
I think if a repair shop out there was thinking
about this because obviously this isn't for the do it
yourself for in the weekend warrior. And you know the
purpose of our conversation today is we wanted to let
the repair shops know what's out there, but also to
let the listeners in general know that, you know, to
(31:49):
look for a shop that has this ability. It ends
the conversation of hey can you work on my car?
Do you have the right software. If you have one
of these, you've got the right software. It's as simple
as that.
Speaker 3 (32:00):
It's kind of like time sharing these guys time right,
if it's bringing OE tools and services with them, okay,
but it's also about uh time sharing these guys who
are very highly talented and experienced, and I mean think
how hard it is too because they used to only
be in New York, right. New York has a lot
of people, so you got them to choose from. But
you have to have a guy who has experience, knows
(32:22):
the OE subsystems, right, you have you got to be
familiar with the cars and their breaking systems and blah
blah blah. For that that that OE. You have to
have your source of service information. You have to have
your knowledge and experience and you and you also have
to be able to talk to a customer as if
they were one and finding that magic combination. You know,
(32:43):
you can't go around and out tech the other tech
that's not nice. You have to you have that's a
pretty special guy. And when you find them, you have
to take care of them. And in order to scale
the different time zones, I mean, we've had to go
all over the place.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (32:59):
You know. We we have Michigan, we have South North Carolina,
we have Comack, New York, and also California. And I'm
glad we're able to find the guys that we do
because they've been.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
Excellent, right yeah.
Speaker 3 (33:12):
I can support them well with a back end system yep.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
Yeah, and you guys you give them the ability to
do that.
Speaker 3 (33:19):
Here.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
It's been an absolute pleasure today, sir. I'm sure there's
more conversations in our future because I'm sure Opus is
going to continue to evolve and define the industry. If
a listener is out there, repair shop is out there,
they want more information. What's the website?
Speaker 3 (33:33):
The website is www opusivs dot com.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
Perfect cool beings here. We'll talk again, sir. Thanks for
the time. We appreciate it. You have a great rest
of the weekend, you too, Thanks a lot.
Speaker 3 (33:44):
I appreciate it all. It's a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
You're very welcome, sir. Be well, I'm running any of
the car doctor. I'll be back right after this.
Speaker 6 (33:49):
Don't go away.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
Hey, hey, well, the heck an of needing the card doctor.
I want to once again thank our special guest this hour,
Hugh Atkins of Opus IVS and all his information. He
is a fountain of information. There's a lot of stuff
in his head about just you know, beyond even the
development of the scan tool and where Opus came from,
and you know what it's doing to the industry. There's
there's a guy that's been in the industry thirty five
(34:23):
plus years. I think he once said to me, So
there's an awful lot of stuff there and just a
pleasure to sit down and talk with someone like that.
I hope you got something out of it. You know,
understand that Opus IVS is here to help fix cars.
That's what it does. And it's the idea of putting
somebody at your elbow to give you good diagnostic information
and the ability to go in and scan with OE
(34:44):
level scan tool technology because sometimes that's flat out what
you need. Maybe not every time, but you do need it.
There's gonna be those moments where nothing's gonna work better
than an OE scan tool, and that's what Opus does.
I can always tell you that, you know some of
these stories that you hear from the bay, well they're
not story is they're real. These are the things that
happened to me in the Bay, and some of the
things I have to go through to solve the problems
(35:05):
of today's cars, and I'm looking forward to to tomorrow's cars,
so we'll be here to do that till the next
time I'm run an ad in the card, I can
reminding each and every one of you. Good mechanics aren't expensive,
They're priceless.
Speaker 4 (35:16):
See
Host
Ron Ananian
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