The following was on the AOL NEWS
Procter & Gamble Makes One of Its Largest Donations Ever
Date:
Tue, 26 Oct 1999 14:31:23 EDT
From:
AOLNews@aol.com
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Procter & Gamble Makes One of Its Largest Donations Ever
40 Patents Given to Milwaukee School of Engineering to Develop
and Commercialize Proprietary Technology
MILWAUKEE, Oct. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) today announced
one of its largest Corporate donations
ever: more than 40 U.S. and international patents -- and accompanying
intellectual property -- to the Milwaukee School
of Engineering (MSOE), a world leader in rapid prototyping systems. MSOE will
realize all future licensing revenue
from the patents. Commercialization of the donated technology could exceed $1
billion annually.
The patents make up P&G's proprietary "PHAST" (Prototype Hard And Soft Tooling)
technology, which radically reduces
the time it takes to design and develop molded parts across a wide variety of
fields. PHAST helps products go to
market sooner.
"A world-class technology such as PHAST needs a world-class leader in rapid
prototyping to develop it," said Gordon
Brunner, P&G chief technology officer. "MSOE is that leader."
According to MSOE President Hermann Viets, "PHAST technology will revolutionize
the tool and die industry. PHAST is a
great example of the technical and scientific innovation for which P&G is
known. With further development, this
technology can be applied to everything from cooking utensils to children's toys
to high-tech tennis shoe soles."
P&G engaged an independent expert to find a worthy recipient of the PHAST
technology. "MSOE was selected because it
is uniquely qualified to realize the PHAST technology's full potential," said
Brunner. "MSOE is the only university in
the world with machines that use each of the four leading types of rapid
prototyping techniques," he added. "Beyond
that, MSOE has a proven ability to bring technologies to the marketplace through
a consortium of companies for which
they've already developed products."
P&G ENVISIONS FUTURE DONATIONS
This donation to MSOE marks the beginning of a broad initiative by P&G to donate
technologies to universities and
research.
"P&G invests more than $1.7 billion in research and development each year,"
Brunner said. "This has led to an
abundance of proprietary technologies. Sometimes these do not fit into our
strategic plans. Donating these
commercially viable patents -- and the accompanying 'intellectual capital' -- to
leading universities and research
institutions will help us make important new connections. It will also extend
the value of the technology more
broadly to the world, so that more consumers can benefit much sooner," he said.
"Our goal is to link the best
technologies with the best partners for those technologies," Brunner added.
REVOLUTIONARY PROCESS
Rapid prototyping is a process that enables a three-dimensional product model to
be created quickly and automatically
from computer data. PHAST is a series of steps that accelerates standard rapid
prototyping processes and produces
mold inserts for prototypes more quickly, helping products get to market faster.
PHAST can make prototypes up to five times faster than other conventional mold
making techniques. For example,
prototype injection-mold tooling can be produced by PHAST in just one-and-a-half
to three weeks, compared to an
industry average of six to eight weeks when using conventional methods. PHAST is
particularly helpful because product
developers can get initial samples off a mold much faster than before. It
provides developers quick and inexpensive
working samples that can be tested with consumers, then revised as needed and
tested again quickly.
P&G has already gained important "hands on" experience with the PHAST process.
For example, while developing a new
Sunny Delight bottle, P&G technologists made molds using both conventional
techniques and PHAST simultaneously. This
demonstrated PHAST's capability of delivering comparable quality in far less
time.
In addition to being quick, PHAST technology is simple to use and doesn't
require computer systems or designs like
other rapid prototyping processes. Therefore, PHAST can be taught to workers
with basic tool-and-die skills, and it
can be used in low-tech companies or developing countries that produce patterns
by hand rather than computer.
"PHAST technology is innovative and versatile, and we expect widespread interest
from businesses in a variety of
industries, from aerospace to automotive, packaging to plastics," according to
Thomas Bray, MSOE dean of applied
research.
Bray said the P&G donation will enable MSOE to meet industry's competitive need
to produce better products more
quickly. "PHAST not only saves development time for a product's first
rendition, but every time that prototype needs
refinement."
MSOE
MSOE's Rapid Prototyping Center, which is part of the university's Applied
Technology Center, develops ground-breaking
new products for a client consortium which includes Ford Motor Co.,
Harley-Davidson, Kohler Co., SC Johnson, and
Gardner-Denver. The 25 companies in the consortium seek simple, timesaving
approaches to producing new products.
"Our Applied Technology Center -- which houses the Rapid Prototyping Center --
serves as a technology transfer
catalyst among our clients: Academia, business, industry and governmental
agencies," Bray said.
Established in 1903, Milwaukee School of Engineering is a private university
educating students in both technical and
non-technical areas in the disciplines of engineering, technology, management,
nursing, and communications.
P&G
P&G markets more than 300 brands to nearly five billion consumers in more than
140 countries. These brands include
Crest(R), Tide(R), Pantene(R), Pampers(R), Oil of Olay(R), Vicks(R) and
Pringles(R). P&G has operations in 70
countries and employs more than 110,000 people. In fiscal year 1998-99, P&G
sales were $38 billion.
P&G's superior products are based on superior technology. P&G's 1,500 M.D. and
Ph.D. scientists lead research and
development at 19 P&G technical centers around the world. In addition, P&G
works closely with hundreds of
universities and research and technology partners worldwide.
SOURCE The Procter & Gamble Company
CO: Procter & Gamble Company; Milwaukee School of Engineering
ST: Ohio, Wisconsin
IN: HOU CPR EDU
SU:
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Elaine Hunt wrote:
> Just reading Geoff Smith's report on 3D and saw a section on what he thinks
> 3d needs to do. I am sure this is a composite of what has been stated to
> him....but I am curious about what you think RP vendors need to be focused
> on for the next century. Like a political poll this is just individual
> opinions only......
>
> I think all the RP vendors should focus on the low end users in order to
> build a ladder down that will eventually lead to any and all potential
> users. If they have no desire to do this then they should focus on
> bringing down system costs. High end users are a short term market while,
> we low end users, have the potential to drive sales into the mom and pop
> shops. Today price really speaks regardless of the language.
>
> Elaine
>
> *******************************************************************
> Opinions, suggestions, and other controversial matter VOID where prohibited.
> ******************************************************************
> Elaine T. Hunt, Director elaine.hunt@ces.clemson.edu
> Clemson University Laboratory to Advance Industrial Prototyping
> 206 Fluor Daniel Bldg. Clemson, SC 29643-0925
> 864-656-0321 (voice) 864-656-4435 (fax)
> http://rafiki.vr.clemson.edu/credo/persall/persall.html
> http://www.vr.clemson.edu/rp/
> http://www.vr.clemson.edu/credo/rp.html
>
> For more information about the rp-ml, see http://ltk.hut.fi/rp-ml/
For more information about the rp-ml, see http://ltk.hut.fi/rp-ml/
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