Moe Goes

Moe Finally Goes

Moe was finally released from the project. A new “engineer” was hired in his place named Don Tran. Don had arrived here from Vietnam two years previous to his hiring. He spoke moderate English, and had no experience with film processors. And, I really didn’t care. I continued working with Don and Flatley Dental for the next year, but I had lost hope long before. So it didn’t really matter what happened now. There was not one single person at Flatley Dental who had any idea what the developer was about, but they kept on as if they still wanted it to succeed.

I Find Out What Happened to Jeff
In April of 2003 I was asked to a meeting with Fred and Jude. I went over and met with them in the big leather/wood meeting room. Jude informed me that Jeff, the Japanese engineer that I had shown my lab and prototype to a year before, had been secretly, to me, working all this time on a new processor with essentially my design. With the exception of the dryer fan, mine has no moving parts. Jeff’s model worked entirely with pumps. Jude said that Jeff’s unit would be sold in Europe, mine in North America. In my experience, pump bearings burn out rapidly in a film processor due to extreme corrosion from the processing chemicals. Jude informed me that Jeff’s processor would cost $2,000 per unit for parts. Mine was $1,000. Jeff’s unit was a tiny bit smaller than mine, and would be called the Mini-Vision-DS2 (photo above). I was more numb than angry. I couldn’t believe that Flatley Dental was doing it to me again. I asked Jude, “Why would you sell a unit that couldn’t possibly be nearly as good as mine (no matter how Jeff designed his, I was completely confident that no one could beat my design) and that costs twice the price?” Jude answered, “Steve, this is my company, my decision to make. So do not ask.” I told Jude confidently, “It’s a mute point anyway, because Jeff’s unit will fail in two weeks”. Why did I know it would? Because my very first models in 1991 were made with pumps, and they failed rapidly. And, a large company came out with pumps in their processor, and those pumps failed rapidly, and the company lost a fortune on the project. If Jude would only have asked me, he could have saved a million dollars wasted on Jeff. I asked Jude to show me the Mini-Vision-DS. He took me to a room downstairs, and opened the door, and there it was. It looked almost exactly the same as, and it was about the same size as the Vision-DS2. The reaction tank doors, and the controller were all in the same place as my design. It should have been called the MiniHaHa. The internal parts were so jammed in that it was virtually un-fixable should a repair need arise; and, I’m certain the way it was designed, there would be plenty of those. There was no access to any part that might need repair. I measured the processor. It had the same footprint as mine, and it was one inch shorter, which gave it the “Mini” name. Shouldn’t the work “Mini” mean that it was a great deal smaller? The thing that really got me was that the Flatley Dental bosses had out and out lied to me on numerous occasions when I asked them what had happened to Jeff; very disappointing. I wrote an email to Fred:

Fred:
I need to know if JM considers the Mini-Vision-DS to be part of our (Flatley Dental/Blume) agreement. Please let me know.
Stv

His answer:

Steve,

No, JM does not consider the Mini-Vision-DS to be part of the agreement.

Fred

Even though Jeff’s unit used pumps, it still fell under the umbrella of my patent. I had patented a multiple-tank static film processor, which is what Jeff’s unit was. Flatley Dental was going to steal my intellectual property and sell it in Europe. That next week was the SCDA convention in Anaheim. I went to the Flatley Dental Inc. booth and saw my processor sitting on a pedestal next to Jeff’s. The two processors were, externally, nearly identical twins. Amazingly, the whole thing was a moot point. Jeff’s pumps burned out in two weeks, just like I predicted. Also, Victor informed me that Jeff could not write a program that allowed both reaction tanks to operate at the same time, a very complex task. I, of course, was proud of the fact the Vision-DS2 program worked perfectly, with both tanks operating at the same time. Jeff’s processor could not have even been placed in beta test-sites. And, Jude was going to sell in Europe? Jude never mentioned the Mini-Vision-DS again. Amazing that when I was working on my version, I was constantly reminded by Fred that “we were way over budget”. While I was working along on a pittance, and not being paid for nearly a year of work, Flatley Dental was paying Jeff about $1,000,000 for his design. I continued to work pro-bono as I still had hope that the processor would be successful with Flatley. Sometimes you feel like a sucker, and this is one of those times.

Don Tran Is Project Head, I Remain Invisible

Don Tran continued to head the project, but Moe came back into the scene, and was doing some “work”. Units were constructed at the assembly plant with no knowledgeable oversight. No changes that I had recommended were implemented. Flatley Dental . sold units with errors that I had pointed out still in place. They had no one that could support the units that they did sell. Everything went downhill.

In early 2005 I sent Jude this email:

Jude:

I am amazed to see that Moe is back on the Vision-DS2 job. I was told by Fred that he would not be working on the project. Moe is not capable of managing any part of this project. And, I don’t really know about Don Tran. He has been here only a few years from Vietnam. That does not sound too promising. I am certain that he does not have a resume that would make him qualified to run this project

Flatley Dental has put an incredible amount of money into the Vision-DS2. I really don’t understand your selection of personnel to run the project. I was talking to the programmer, and he was describing program changes that are being made without consultation with me. That program is running very smoothly and successfully. There are reasons that the program was designed the way it was. I spent many hundreds of hours testing and designing that program, and to have inexperienced personnel changing the program is just asking for problems, and more wasted money.

I was hoping that when I signed our new contract, things would change, and maybe, just maybe, we would have a successful project. I could have requested minimums, and added items to the contract that would have been beneficial for me. I did not, as I realize that you put a lot of money and effort into the Vision-DS2. But, the way it looks, things will continue the way they were for the last two years. We are now six months into the new contract, and, it would seem, it is still stuck in the mud. All problems are blamed on the processor design. The truth of the matter is, almost all problems could have been avoided if I had remained the project manager. Almost all problems have been a result of mismanagement and untrained and incapable technicians. If you need evidence, all you need do is check the instruction manual “written” by Moe. (rewritten?) It is below pathetic, an embarrassment to me, and it should be to you.

The Vision-DS is the best film processor in existence. The six beta-sites that I have put together have been running incredibly well. The offices have successfully processed hundreds of thousands of films. I have not had a single office loss. Two of the units are in Florida, as a test for me of how long distance units could be managed. I am batting 100%. As you said, your “techs” are batting 0%. That should tell you something.

You have stated to me several times that you have been told by many to drop the project. I agree with them. This will just be a continual headache for you, and very frustrating for me. You will lose more money, and remain stuck in the mud. And then you will drop it. If your project personnel remain the same, the prognosis is not even bleak. Why not just cut your losses.

Sincerely

Stephen T. Blume DDS

The Vision-DS Disappears From the Flatley Website
Fred informed me that a dryer overheated and burned out in Venezuela. I’m certain that the cause was the incorrect screws that manufacturing had been using to mount the dryer. There really is not much that can go wrong with a dryer coil. As I wasn’t there to make sure the assemblers were putting the parts together correctly, I’m certain they were making the same mistakes that I had tried to correct previously. Every few months I was called into a meeting at Flatley Dental , usually in the big red-leather/wood meeting room. Flatley Dental sales reps would denote problems that they were having. All I could do was shrug, give them any information that I could add, but I was so far out of the loop that my relationship with Flatley Dental was pretty much disconnected. What could I say about processors that were installed 10,000 miles away in Spanish speaking countries with no translation, with no tech support, and no assembly oversight? In the meantime, my beta site processors have been functioning beautifully. As of this writing, all six have been operating for over five years. Occasionally I send them a part, or film holder, but they get along extremely well with little oversight. To date my beta-site processors have processed hundreds of thousands of films. Included with the Vision-DS, my original processor, several million films have been successfully processed by Blume processors. So of that I am proud.

One night in February of 2006 I was browsing the internet, and I went to flatleydental.com to see if any changes had been made on the processor description. It was gone. There was no Vision-DS2 at all on their website. I had a feeling this was the end of the line with Flatley. I emailed Fred and asked him. He said yes, that Flatley would no longer be selling my processor. And that he was sorry they didn’t inform me before. Amazing that they didn’t; but, then again, not really. That’s how they operate. I actually felt a great deal of relief. The anger, frustration, and false hopes were finally over.

At about the same time I was developing my film processor, starting in 1991, digital x-rays were being manufactured and promoted by dental companies. Digital imaging involves a hard sensor placed in the patient’s mouth, with a wire going into a computer. The image appears in a few seconds on the computer screen. The advantages being speed, large images, and no developing procedures. Digital x-ray equipment are costly devices. The sensors alone run $6,000-$12,000, and several are needed for a moderately busy office. Plus the cost of the program, and support makes digital x-rays very expensive. The images are not as clear as film, and the sensors deteriorate with time. The best image is the first one. Because the sensors are hard and cannot bend around the contours of the mouth like film, they have to be 30% smaller than film which means that they immediately lose 30% of the information that film provides. However they have been promoted with millions of dollars in advertising in dental journals and at conventions. Ten times more money has been spent on advertising and promotion for digital x-ray equipment than any other device in the history of dentistry. As of this writing, about 25% of dentists use them, and in the next 5 to 10 years another 25% may follow suit. Which means that for the foreseeable future, half of all dentists in the United States will still be using film, which amounts to a still sizable market of about 80,000; easily large enough for the Vision-DS2 processor.