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into acquiring a system of their own just to be able to compete. <br />Several years ago, EPS sold just a few Scene Machines a month. Today, <br />EPS ships nearly one Scene Machine per day. Thus far, EPS has shipped <br />approximately 1,500 machines. The US market, however, will absorb a <br />minimum of 10,000 and a maximum of 20,000 Scene Machines. There are <br />now enough successfully operating Scene Machines systems throughout the <br />country to push reluctant buyers into making a purchase in the near <br />future. In addition, there is now a growing trend in the portrait <br />industry toward producing portraits with a contemporary background that <br />can only be easily created with a Scene Machine. EPS can take the <br />majority of credit for starting this nationwide trend. Every Scene <br />Machine sale generates a long term relationship with the owner that in <br />turn results in the sale of numerous other related products. The one <br />hour portrait industry will continue to rapidly expand. There are two <br />kinds of one hour portrait studios... small operations located as a sub <br />business in an already established one hour amateur processing lab and <br />stand alone operations that do nothing other than take portraits and <br />process their own work on location. EPS president, Dr. Henry Oles, is <br />a co-owner of one the most advanced one hour stand alone portrait <br />operations in existence. It is known as Portraits Now. Portraits Now <br />has three stores in operation in major shopping malls in Ottawa Canada. <br />Two of the stores are now franchised. Portraits Now plans to expand <br />throughout Canada and intends to open operations in the United States. <br />EPS is the prime equipment supplier of Portraits Now including both all <br />studio equipment and lab equipment. <br />EPS expects to develop very significant growth in the area of <br />specialized quick service professional processing equipment. EPS <br />predicts that many professional photographers will eventually return to <br />producing much of their own color work. At one time, all photographers <br />processed their own work. However, starting approximately 30 years <br />ago, large regional processing labs began to handle much of the work <br />produced by professional photographers. These labs, however, are very <br />slow. Photographers have to wait one to five weeks to get their <br />completed work. The development of the one hour lab industry with its <br />associated one hour portrait studios is, pushing photographers to <br />reconsider the processing of their own work in order to compete. In <br />addition, the equipment today is much more automated and simple for the <br />photographer to use. EPS is in the best position to sell to both <br />groups, the one hour processing lab that has a studio and wishes to <br />install specialized equipment to handle the portrait work and to the <br />traditional professional photographer who wishes to compete with the <br />one hour lab studio such as Portraits Now. Essentially, EPS is <br />assisting two competing groups within the photographic profession and <br />serving both groups with their equipment needs. Each processing system <br />will sell for between $17,000 and $100,000. As such, the potential for <br />sales growth in this area is almost astronomical. EPS expects this <br />area to develop rapidly over the next several years. The principal <br />hindrance to growth in this area is a lack of adequate work space. <br />E. and F. COMPETITION