Longtime brand, distribution,
service network
re-established

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (Oct. 5, 2007) — Cartek Group Inc., which revived the Bear brand tire servicing equipment line in North America two years ago, now has re-established a distribution and service network coast to coast.
Once a familiar sight in garages across the country, the Bear line had been in limbo for about five years starting in 1999 when SPX Corp. exited the garage equipment business and sold the line to Cartek, which up to that point had been the Latin American distributor for Bear products.
Because of licensing restrictions, though, Cartek was not allowed to sell the product line in North America for five years. It did, however, move its operations to the Bear engineering and manufacturing plant in Kalamazoo, where it continued to make Bear alignment equipment and sell it overseas.
In 2005 Cartek re-launched the Bear product line—which dates back to 1917—in the U.S. and Canada with two primary families of alignment equipment: Smart Machine Logic (SML) conventional wireless alignment systems; and Bear Robotics, an automatic wheel alignment system with what the company called heightened accuracy and enhanced speed.
To argue its case with potential customers, Cartek is offering a five-year warranty on the SML line, covering all internal components.
The SML line offers dealers one system that can handle cars and trucks alike, according to Eric Rohs, director of marketing. SML can be interfaced with a dealer’s existing computer system or delivered as a complete, stand-alone system, he said.
Cartek recently launched a compact version of the SML system, in either six or eight camera configurations and capable of operating either wired or wireless. In addition, Cartek offers as an option anti-vibration software that allows alignments to be carrried out with the vehicle running.

The Bear Robotics line, which is based on technology used by vehicle makers on their assembly lines, can cut the time needed for an alignment in half, Mr. Rohs claimed, but can cost up to twice as much as a standard SML line. As such, the Robotics line is suited for dealerships with high volumes, he said.
In addition to alignment equipment for both passenger and commercial vehicles, Cartek offers a range of Bear-branded garage equipment, including two- and four-post lifts, tire changers, wheel balancers, brake lathes and engine diagnostics.
Cartek fabricates and assembles its alignment and engine diagnosis equipment at its headquarters facility in Kalamazoo and has contract manufacturers for the rest of the products in its portfolio.
The Bear brand of garage equipment dates back to the development of the mechanical aligner (toe-in bar gauge), according to Cartek. Other firsts the company claims are: camber-caster alignment gauge (1919); electromechanical aligner (1950); and PC-based aligner (1988).