Issue 21 - July, 2007

Introduction

Advanced Gauging Technologies (A.G.T.) was founded in 1997 by the father and son team of Ron and Scott Cook. Their goal was to bring isotope thickness gauging into the 21st century. In the nine years since the first AGT400 system startup, A.G.T. has already sold more than 150 gauging systems – strong evidence that customers feel we have delivered tomorrow's gauging system today. In addition to our own gauges, we perform regular service on more than 250 of our competitors' gauges throughout North America.

The Gauging Times™ is a quarterly newsletter designed to keep current and future customers up-to-date with the latest thickness gauging technology and features, along with services we offer. In each issue we'll share some of our system's unique capabilities, in addition to personal profiles, technical tips and glimpses of our future product development.

Beat the Boss Challenge

Recently we were all sitting around having lunch when the topic of who could beat Challenge whom in a foot race came up. A good bit of trash talking took place between Dan and Scott (who fancies himself quite the athlete despite that ever increasing age thing). As you can guess, a race was set up between the two to commence a few days later. The distance was decided, 200 meters, and a date was set, Friday, April 13. The day broke with a cool brisk wind blowing and the competitors arrived for work, dressed for the competition.

Scott, who was born in Quincy, Massachusetts in 1964, moved to Ohio at the age of three. It was there that he began his fascination with electronics. As a young troublemaker, his dad, Ron, gave him his old Army Training Manuals on Electronics to keep the boy occupied. Scott read all 10,000 pages of the manuals from cover to cover. Quite the geek, he was designing and building his own electronic circuit boards by the age of 14. Shortly after this, around the time he started high school, he began working part-time, and has been known as a workaholic ever since. By 16, his interest and knowledge in cars earned him a position as a sales clerk for Nationwise Auto Parts. By 18 he was promoted to Co-assistant Manager, then by 19 he was an Assistant Manager. At 20 he was an Assistant Buyer, and by 22 he was promoted to Buyer. His quick ascent in the corporate world didn't go unnoticed and he was soon recruited and re-recruited by major automotive and hardware corporations, leading him from Ohio, to Kansas, all the way out to Colorado, and over to Pennsylvania (where he would meet his girlfriend, Tracy).

A short time after leaving Pennsylvania in 1996, Scott started working with his dad in his parents' business. Many of you may remember the early days of CORON Electronics. During his first service visit, to the Feralloy Corporation in Granite City, Illinois, Scott became intrigued with the gauging technology and the potential for improvement he saw. This, and the enjoyment of working with his father, led to the creation of Advanced Gauging Technologies in 1997. Together, they worked to develop the AGT400 Thickness Gauge & S.P.C. Reporting System, which is still the industry standard to this day.

A few years later, Scott started modifying the 2000 Bonneville SSEi he used to use for gauge service calls until it ran a 10.71 second quarter mile. Perhaps it was his desire to improve our response time on service calls? Regardless, this racing hobby led to the formation of INTENSE-Racing in 2001. Specializing in late-model GM FWD vehicles, INTENSE has customers from Australia to Canada running INTENSE engine and transaxle components in their street cars, race cars and even their race boats! The 3800 FWD quarter mile record has been held by INTENSE powered cars for the majority of the last four years, with a best to date of 9.22 @ 154 MPH! Check out Scott's alter-ego at www.INTENSE-Racing.com.

Scott's hobbies seem to always be fueled by the thrill of competition. Through the years he has excelled at many things, such as Tae Kwon Do (seven years of study achieving the rank of second degree red belt), kickboxing, drag racing and powerlifting. He competed in drug-tested powerlifting for eleven years, achieving official lifts of: 530 pound squat, 410 pound bench press and 562 pound dead lift. He set several powerlifting records himself, as well as coached a team of other record setters. Today, at the age of 42, he still lifts weights, throws a few punches and kicks, and most recently, completed his first 'metric 100' (64 miles in just under four hours) on a road bike. His latest passion is tournament poker, which he discovered two years ago. He really enjoys all aspects of the game and knows that competing at the top level will require a very high degree of skill (as well as some good luck). Scott attended Camp Hellmuth last fall, and believes his game is improving with every tournament he enters. Never lacking in confidence, he is convinced that he will become a factor in some major poker tournaments within the next few years.

On the personal side, Scott and his girlfriend Tracy started dating in 1996 when they met in Pennsylvania. They've been living together in Westerville, Ohio for the last ten years, and may even consider marriage in another decade or two! Her passion for cars (Tracy has a 2000 Trans Am, a 2002 Grand Prix GTX, and a 2006 GMC Sierra (her favorite)) is only surpassed by her passion for animals. They, along with Scott's daughter, Richelle, have horses, rabbits, dogs, birds, iguanas, a gecko, saltwater fish, starfish, an anemone, freshwater fish, pond fish, turtles and frogs.