The Ground Floor: Cedar Rapids 'car guys' invent recyclable oil drain pan

Two “car guys” from Cedar Rapids are confident their low-tech product will lead to high-level success.

John Henecke, 50, and Shawn Gallagher, 51, owners of J & S Products, have teamed up to develop an oil drain pan that is made out of cardboard and completely recyclable. Speed-E-Pan started as a napkin sketch in 2007, and the product is now gaining more traction in the marketplace.

The boxes fold together within minutes. Inside, a two-ply puncture-resistant bladder prevents leaks. Each box holds eight quarts of used motor oil.

Henecke came up with the idea when he was still racing cars at Hawkeye Downs Speedway, and while Gallagher was on his team. Both changed oil in vehicles often and had dealt with the frustrations of finding containers and dealing with spills.

“I was sitting in the kitchen one morning, staring at an empty box of Franzia wine,” Henecke said. “I got to looking at that package, thinking that's pretty ingenious. What if you could reverse-engineer that and make the actual package the product?”

Together, with help from the design team at then-U.S. Corrugated in Cedar Rapids, they developed a prototype of Speed-E-Pan and applied for a patent. Before they had sold any, they showed off the product at the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) trade show in 2008. The event is the largest after-market automotive show in the country.

“We had our cardboard box among rocket engines,” Gallagher said.

During the four-day show, a well-dressed man stopped by and inquired about Speed-E-Pan a few different times. Eventually, he told Henecke and Gallagher he was an engineer with Ford Motor Company.

“I've been coming here for years, and this is the best product I've seen here,” the man told them.

Validation in hand, the pair returned home and developed tooling to make the product in Henecke's garage. They started a website and were granted a patent last year. They've sold about 1,000 Speed-E-Pans so far.

Currently, Henecke and Gallagher are in discussions with a “major small-engine manufacturer in the Midwest” about a smaller version of the Speed-E-Pan for lawn and garden equipment. Within the last two weeks, they finished a smaller prototype that holds 3 ½ quarts of used oil, and they hope to start selling it later this spring.

“We believe the market for lawn and garden equipment is even larger than the automotive market,” Gallagher said. “Nobody takes their lawn mower to Jiffy Lube.”

AT A GLANCE

Owners: John Henecke and Shawn Gallagher

Company: J & S Products

Phone: (319) 294-9817

Website: speed-e-pan.com