Oil filters poised for a big change

I recently took five gallons of used motor oil and four dirty oil filters to my local auto parts store for recycling. The oil was transported in plastic jugs that once held iced tea, laundry detergent and antifreeze. I carried the oil filters in plastic bags.

Dumping old oil into huge steel receptacles and draining the old filters is messy and unpleasant. You might ask, "Well, why not just get your oil changed at a Jiffy Lube or at a new-car dealership?" The oil and filters came from my small fleet of classic cars. Express oil-change businesses don't stock filters for long-out-of-production Triumph sports cars, and no one but me works on my cars.

After you've dumped used oil, the auto parts store requires you to take the empty containers with you. Because those containers are coated with oil, they can't go into the recycling bin, so they end up in the landfill. While wiping oil from my hands, I thought: There has to be a better way. Turns out there might be something coming that changes everything about the way motor oil and filters -- the latter considered an environmental hazard by the EPA -- are handled.

This is a story about two companies you've likely never heard of -- Hubb Filters Inc. and Motormindz Inc. It shines a light on how a part of Detroit works that you don't often hear about: how a person or a company brings an innovation to market. It's usually a long and expensive process that ends in frustration, futility and failure -- and that's before the lawyers get involved.

About the two companies: Hubb Filters has developed a superefficient oil filter that is designed to be cleaned and reused. It would replace today's oil filter, which is much the same as it was 75 years ago. An oil filter has a paper element housed in a metal container. Hubb claims because its reusable stainless steel filter captures debris as small as 5 microns, improves oil flow and lengthens the life of motor oil, oil change intervals can be extended, saving money for vehicle owners, placing less used oil in the environment and eliminating the used oil filter problem.

Hubb is off to a good start, having signed seven companies that operate vehicle fleets. The next goal: Scale up sales.

And that's where Motormindz comes in. The outfit is a Detroit creation that is like a real-life version of the "Shark Tank" TV show, but specializing in the auto industry. Last year, Motormindz' 70 or so executives evaluated products from around 450 companies and inventors and picked 15 to work with.

"We get input from the industry, from the investment community and our advisers and partners around where the most critical challenges in automotive are for the next five years," Motormindz CEO Jeff Van Dongen said. "And we focus our assessment process and search in those areas."

Motormindz' roster is stocked with product development, engineering and marketing veterans. They include Bruce Coventry, a retired manufacturing and engineering executive who had stints at each of the Detroit 3; Jim O'Sullivan, former CEO of Mazda's North American Operations; and John Felice, former Ford Motor Co. U.S. sales and marketing chief. Together, the Motormindz crew has centuries of experience developing and marketing vehicles, products and services.

Motormindz is working on a marketing plan for Hubb. If Hubb lands a huge fleet order that requires tens of thousands of filters and the special equipment to clean the filters, Hubb has to be able deliver the products on time and provide training and service.

"We've seen this a couple of times on our startups, the ones that are really successful," Van Dongen said of Hubb: "They have really, really smart technology, but coupled with longevity in the automotive domain and understanding the product development and sales and marketing process."

Access to automakers is one of the biggest advantages Motormindz brings to a startup. Automakers generally don't deal directly with inventors and startups for a number of reasons. An inventor or new company could have a product that's already in development at an automaker. That could lead to lawsuits if a car company rejects an idea, but then brings to market something similar.

Motormindz, because of its deep bench of experienced product development and marketing experts, acts as a sort of filter for automakers and suppliers.

"We're basically doing the operational assessment," Van Dongen said. "We determine if the technology is viable within automotive. Is the technology sound? Does the product scale? What is the process for that product to scale? What does the competitive landscape look like?"

If Motormindz asks for a meeting with an automaker, for example to discuss a startup's new product, the call is likely to get answered. Inventors and startups may not ever get in front of the right people at an automaker to deliver their pitches.

"To get a meeting to even talk about their technology is a 12-month process. It's a tough industry to navigate," Van Dongen said.

To help Hubb understand how to break into the auto industry, the startup hired Ford veteran Al Kammerer, whose last assignment before retiring in 2008 was leading Jaguar Land Rover product development.

After scrutinizing Hubb's technology, Kammerer was convinced the company had an environmentally friendly product that could save fleet operators a lot of money. The filters fit existing engines, so automakers don't have to redesign the oil filter mount. Instead of changing oil at specified mileage intervals, the Hubb system uses analysis of oil samples from engines to determine when it's time for new oil. On a fleet of 2,200 vehicles, Hubb estimates an operator can reduce oil-related maintenance costs by about 40 percent.

With electrified vehicles coming to market, you might wonder if Hubb's filter is too late. But hybrid vehicles use oil filters, and larger vehicles, such as pickups and SUVs, are not losing their internal combustion engines anytime soon.

Saving fleet operators money and keeping automotive waste out of the environment sounds like a winning combination. I can envision an automaker equipping its vehicles with Hubb filters or ones like it that can be swapped for clean filters at dealerships during oil changes. It'll be fascinating to see if Motormindz and Hubb can deliver.