UVeye, a supplier of automated vehicle inspection systems, has named three individuals to senior sales management positions.

Michael Kirk, Scott Williams and Jim Boehnlein join the company as it plans to open U.S. production and warehouse facilities next year.

Kirk joins UVeye as national accounts director, Williams will serve as Midwest regional sales director and Boehnlein will be director of the Northeast and Mideast regions.

Kirk is based near Lexington, Ky., and was a senior national accounts manager with DealerSocket. His previous management positions were at DriveCentric and various new-car dealerships.

Williams is based in Ohio was fixed operations director for Mentor Imports in Mentor, Ohio and previously worked for Mitsubishi Motors North America in California as a district parts and service manager.

Boehnlein, also based in Ohio, previously held business development and account management positions with InteractiveTel in Houston and OEConnection in Richfield, Ohio. His dealership sales management experience includes work at Nick Mayer Lincoln in Westlake, Ohio; Liberty Auto Group in the Cleveland area, and Pete Baur Buick in Strongsville, Ohio.

“These three executives bring a tremendous amount of automotive sales and marketing experience to UVeye's management team,” Glenn Hemminger, UVeye’s managing director for North American operations, said in a news release. “They will play key roles in the rapid expansion of our business with dealers, used-car auctions and fleets throughout North America in 2021.”

Regarding the company’s plans to open production and warehouse facilities in the U.S. next year, sites under consideration include locations in Michigan, Ohio and Texas, as well as several locations in the Southeast. The company’s current offices are in Cleveland; Stamford, Conn.; and Tel Aviv, Israel.

UVeye's vehicle-inspection systems are equipped with high-speed cameras and artificial-intelligence technology to check for sheet metal damage, underbody component problems and tire wear. The company says automakers use UVeye systems to improve manufacturing quality. Security professionals use it to detect bombs, weapons and other onboard-vehicle threats, according to the company.

The company also noted that various used-vehicle auctions plan to use UVeye inspection equipment. V.I.P. Auctions near Atlanta was the first U.S. auction to use UVeye technology to evaluate tires and critical underbody components. Auction group USS recently installed UVeye systems at its facilities in Japan. USS operates 19 sites, handling more than 3 million vehicle sales per year.

“UVeye systems utilize a unique combination of proprietary algorithms, cloud architecture, artificial intelligence, machine learning and sensor fusion technologies to help standardize and speed up most previously manual inspection processes,” Hemminger said. “Our automated, contact-free systems are dramatically changing how auto dealers, major fleet operators and used-vehicle auctions inspect vehicles.”

UVeye products include a 360-degree exterior inspection system equipped with high-speed cameras to identify paint and sheet-metal defects, component damage, missing parts and other quality-related issues; an underbody scanning system that captures problems such as frame damage and fluid leaks, as well as brake and exhaust system issues; and camera-based technology that automatically identifies tire specifications and checks for quality issues, including tread wear and sidewall flaws.