AOVMtetB TlOiNClOGr raocMM

Performance of

50 Completed

ATP Proj ects

Status Report-Number 3

NIST #SP 950-3

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^O^^ >nal institute of Standards and Technology ^ %vt(«^. €6^ ology Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce

ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM

I

ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM

Performance of

50 Completed

ATP Projects

status Report Number 3

NISTSP 950-3

August 2005

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Carlos GutieiTez, Secretary August 2005

TECHNOLOGY ADMINISTRATION

Michelle O'Neill, Acting Under Secretaiy for Technology

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY

William Jeffrey, Director

ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM

Marc Stanley, Director

NisrNational Institute of Standards and Technology • Technology Administration • U.S. Deportment of Commerce
Certain commercial entities, equipment, or materials may be identified in this document in order

to describe an experimental procedure or concept adequately. Such identification is not intended

to imply recommendation or endorsement by the National Institute of Standards and

Technology, nor is it intended to imply that the entities, materials, or equipment are necessarily

the best available for the purpose.

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY

Advanced Technology Program, Economic Assessment Office

NIST Special Publication

U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

WASHINGTON, D.C.

For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office

Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov — Phone: (202) 512-1800 — Fax: (202) 512-2250

Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402-0001
ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM

Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v INTRODUCTION vii

CHAPTER 1: OVERVIEW

Part 1: Project Characteristics 3 Part 2: Gains in Technical Knowledge 7

Part 3: Dissemination of Knowledge 9

Part 4: Commercialization of the New Technology 15

Part 5: Overall Project Performance 19

CHAPTER 2: ADVANCED MATERIALS AND CHEMICALS

The Budd Company, Design Center 29

Caterpillar Incoiporated 35

Eb"''"' "^'^n"'"!' .-.ilf^'; '"'"•,r'"'0''nlinn 41

e:

'- s. \ 47

E. .jjiXii Lciuoi aion a

I . '. iT . Joint \ ^-ti' , 55

Geneiai Licxuic L v./iiipaii^ i'r.'f. '77tr^r..;7../...i...........r...:....: 61

Honeywell (fonnerly AlliedSignal, Inc.) 65

Honeywell Inc., Technology Center 69

Nanophase Technologies Corporation 75

Norton Diamond Film 79

Praxair Surface Technologies. Inc 83

Strongwell Coiporation 89

CHAPTER 3: BIOTECHNOLOGY

Genzyme Corporation (fomierly GelTex Pharmaceuticals, Inc.) 97

Hvscn. Tpc 101

N. ...I. \ .. :. :. .. . '..

:. 107

NanoLicn. Ina 1 13

Third Wave Technologies, Inc 117

CHAPTER 4: ELECTRONICS, COMPUTER HARDWARE, AND COMMUNICATIONS

ColorLink, Inc 125

Dipi'nl Optics C; • 131

_ 137

Eaai'^ -I a V. 1 1 1 vi^.i .ca , ; i i_.tiiX;j.aa_a 143

Elsicon (fomierly Alliant Techsystems, Inc. and Hercules) 149
Information Storage Industry Consortium (INSIC)

(fomieriy National Storage Industi7 Consortium [NSIC]) 155

Laser Power Corporation 161

M -hn'''--

' \ 167

MiLjon Upucs, Inc. ..: .:. : 171

Physical Optics Corporation 175

X-Ray Optical Systems, Inc 181

CHAPTER 5; INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

3M Company Health Information Systems 1 87

Accenture (formerly Andersen Consulting) 191

American Healthware Systems 197

Hynomics (formerK HyBrithms Coiporation. formerly Sa^ent Corporation) 201

Kv,- * 207

KOOD I OlliVo ... 213

K .; \' - [

i ('1 i i/gence, Inc 219

MeUiabm (formerK Iterated Systems, Inc.) 223

PPD Infonnatics, a Division of Pharmaceutical Product Development. Inc. (formerly Belmont Research, Inc.) 229

Reasoning Systems, Inc 235

Surgency (fomieriy Benchmarking Partners) 241

TopicalNet, Inc. (formerly Continuum Software, Inc.) 247

TopicalNet, Inc. (fomieriy Continuum Software. Inc.) 253

CHAPTER 6: MANUFACTURING

Calmac Manufacturing Corporation 261

Coming Tropel (formerly Tropel Corporation) 265

Dana Corporation 271

General Electric Corporate Research & Development 275

Ingersoll Milling Machine Company 279

M&M Precision Systems Corporation 285

Perceptron (formerly Autospect, Inc.) 289

Philips Laboratories 295

Sheffield Automation (formerly Giddings & Lewis) 301

CHAPTER 7: APPENDICES

Appendix A: Development of New Knowledge and Early Commercial

Products and Processes 309

Appendix B: Reasons for Terminating ATP Projects 317

Appendix C: Composite Performance Rating System (CPRS) Star Ratings

First 100 Completed Projects 319

iv J
Acknowledgements

We are pleased to announce the completion of the next chapter in ATP's portfolio of status reports

for completed projects. This compilation consists of the second batch of 50 "mini case studies"

written to investigate the results and impacts of ATP's investment in innovative technologies. The

goal of each status report is to provide the reader with a basic understanding of the technology,

while also identifying any economic benefits that may have resulted from the ATP-funded

project.

This process is a daunting one, requiring the efforts of many both inside and outside of ATP. The

majority of the project was made possible by the former and current members of the status report team: Tony Colandrea, Stefanie Cox, David Dashefsky, Kirsten Matsumoto, Nashira Nicholson,

Rick Rodman, and Amol Singla. We would especially like to thank ATP Division Directors Linda

Beth Schilling (Chemistry and Life Sciences Office) and Elissa Sobolewski (Information

Technology and Electronics Office), ATP Deputy Director Lorel Wisniewski, and Rosalie Ruegg

(Managing Director, TIA Consulting, Inc.), for their contributions to this project. Much

appreciation also goes to the hard work of the others involved in preparing the status reports:

project managers, reviewers, copy editors, and company representatives.

But these efforts aren't without rewards. As the portfolio of ATP status reports grows, we gain

insight as to the role ATP plays in bridging the funding gap. We are confident this showcase of

the second batch of 50 completed projects will help build on our understanding of ATP-funded

innovations across many technology areas. We hope that you learn as much about the process of

early-stage technology development, commercialization, and outcomes for the economy as we

have in preparing these status reports.

Sincerely,

Lee Bowes, Economist

Stephanie Shipp, Director,

Economic Assessment Office

Advanced Technology Program

V
iIIIIiiII
Introduction

Industry has proposed 6,924 projects to the ATP since 1990, of which 768, or 11 percent,

have been selected by the ATP for funding. The number of participants for these funded

projects totaled 1,511, with approximately an equal number of subcontractors. This study

focuses on the second group of 50^ projects that were completed and provides combined

statistics for all 100 completed projects studied to date.

ATP: A Partnership with Industry

The ATP attracts challenging, visionary projects with the potential to develop the technological

foundations of new and improved products, processes, and even industries. The ATP partners with

industry on this research, fostering collaborative efforts and sharing costs to bring down high technical

risks and accelerate technology development and application. These are projects that industry in many

cases will not undertake without ATP support, or will not develop in a timely manner when timing is critical in the highly competitive global market. The program funds only research, not product

development. The ATP is managed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, an agency of the Commerce Department's Technology Administration.

ATP awards are made on the basis of a rigorous competitive review, which considers the scientific and

technical merit of each proposal and its potential benefits to the U.S. economy. The ATP issues a

proposal preparation kit that presents and explains the selection criteria to prospective applicants and

provides guidance on preparing proposals.^ U.S. businesses conceive, plan, propose, and lead the

projects. Government scientists and engineers who are expert in the relevant technology fields review all proposals for their technical merit. Business, industry, and economic experts review the proposals to judge their potential to deliver broadly based economic benefits to the nation —including large benefits

extending beyond the innovator (the award recipient).

The ATP delivers benefits to the nation along two pathways: 1 ) a direct path by which the U.S. award

recipient or innovator directly pursues commercialization of the newly developed technologies; and 2) an

indirect path which relies on knowledge transfer from the innovator to others who in turn may use the

knowledge for economic benefit. Either path may yield spillover benefits. The ATP looks to the direct path as a way to accelerate application of the technology by U.S. businesses. It looks to the indirect path as a means of achieving additional benefits, or benefits even if the award recipient fails to continue. The

ATP's two-path approach to realizing national benefits offers advantages: one path may provide an avenue for benefits when the other does not, and both paths together may yield larger, accelerated

benefits as compared to having a single route to impact.

Project Evaluation

The ATP, like other federal programs, is required by law to report on its performance.^ The ATP

established its evaluation program soon after it began, even before evaluation was widely required by

Congress. The Economic Assessment Office (EAO) of ATP plans and coordinates the evaluation of funded projects. It is assisted in this effort by leading university and consulting economists and others

experienced in evaluation.

Performance is measured against the program's legislated mission. Emphasis is placed on attempting to measure benefits that accrue not only to the direct award recipients, but also to a wider population, i.e., spillover benefits. This emphasis reflects the fact the public funding covers part of the costs of these

projects, and, therefore, a relevant question is how the broader public benefits from the expenditure.
This report constitutes one element of the EAO's nnulti-faceted evaluation plan: status reports. The purpose of

status reports is to provide an interim assessment of the status of ATP-funded projects several years after they are completed. Although the ultimate success of the ATP depends on the long-run impacts of the entire portfolio of ATP

projects, the performance-to-date of this partial portfolio provides some initial answers. This study contains an

evaluation of 100 completed projects: the results of the 50 projects from the Status Report - Number 2, and the

results and status reports of a second batch of 50 projects. These reports address the questions of: what has the

public investment of $206 million in the 100 projects produced several years after completion of the research, and

what is the outlook for continued progress?

Study Approach

From the moment that ATP funded its first group of 1 1 projects in the 1990 competition, program administrators, the

administration, Congress, technology policymai<ers, industry, and others in this country and abroad were keenly

interested in the outcome. But technology development and commercialization are lengthy processes, and it takes

time to produce results. As more ATP-funded projects are completed and move into the post-project period, sufficient time has elapsed for knowledge to be disseminated and progress to be made towards commercial goals. Thus, it is now possible to compile more complete aggregate portfolio statistics and analyze these statistics with regard to implications for overall program success.

At the core of this study are 50 mini-case studies covering each of the completed projects. Each of these briefly tells the project story, recounting its goals and challenges, describing the innovators and their respective roles, and

assessing progress to date and the future outlook. Photographs illustrate many of the projects.

Although the particulars vary for each project, certain types of data are systematically collected for all of them.

Consistent with ATP's mission, the evaluation focuses on collecting data related to the following dimensions of

performance:

('fnowledge creation and dissemination, which is assessed using the following criteria: recognition by

other organizations of a project's technical accomplishments; numbers of patents filed and granted;

citations of patents by others; publications and presentations; collaborative relationships; and knowledge

embodied in and disseminated through new products and processes.

• Commercialization progress, which is gauged in terms of the attraction of additional capital for continued

pursuit of project goals, including resources provided by collaborative partners; entry into the market with

products and services; employment changes at the small companies leading projects and other indicators

of their growth; awards bestowed by other organizations for business accomplishments of project leaders; and the analyst's assessment of future outlook for the technology based on all the other information.

The approach is to provide, in an overview chapter, the aggregate statistics of interest across a set of 100 projects,

such as the total number of patents and the percentage of projects whose technologies have been commercialized.

In addition, the aggregate statistics are combined to produce composite project metrics for overall performance.

The composite performance scores allow one to see at a glance the robustness of a project's progress towards its goals. Underlying the simple scores is a wealth of data.

Sources of Information

Data for the projects were collected from many sources: ATP project records; telephone interviews with company

representatives; interviews with ATP project managers; company websites; the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office; in-depth project studies conducted by other analysts; academic, trade and business literature; news reports; filings at the Securities and Exchange Commission; and business research services, such as Dun and Bradstreet,

Hoover's Online, Industry Network, and CorpTech. Each one of the individual project write-ups was reviewed for accuracy by the project's lead company and ATP staff.

Study Limitations and Future Directions

Since developments continue to unfold for most of these projects, the output measures for the cases may have

changed significantly since the data were collected. The cases provide a snapshot of progress several years after the completion of the ATP-funded projects.

via
Although undertaken at different calendar dates, the reports are written within about the same interval of time after ATP funding ended. Yet, different points in each technology's life cycle may be captured, depending on the

technology area. Information technology projects, for example, may be expected to be further along than advanced

materials and chemical projects. Examined at a later time, there may be less (or more) difference in the

accomplishments among projects in different technology areas.

This study tracks outputs leading to knowledge dissemination but it does not assess the actual commercialization

efforts by others who acquire the knowledge. The tracking of commercialization efforts is limited to the direct path of impact (i.e., commercialization by the award recipients or innovators).

"Completed" and "Terminated" Projects Defined

Projects do not necessarily finish in the order funded. For one thing, they have different lengths, ranging from

approximately two years to no more than five years. For another, they are required to file a final report with the ATP

and have financial and other paperwork completed before project closeout. The financial closeout is done through

the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) Grants Office, which notifies the ATP that it considers

the project completed. This study assesses the first 100 projects the Grants Office declared "completed."

Although most ATP projects reach completion, some are stopped short and are classified as "terminated." Some of these were announced as award winners but never officially started. Other projects got off the ground but were

closed for various reasons with a substantial amount of the technical work still unfinished. These terminated

projects are assessed according to the principal reasons they stopped before completion. They are treated in Appendix B. While the terminated projects are generally regarded as unsuccessful, some produced potentially useful outputs.

Report Organization

Chapter 1 provides a summary overview of the performance of the 100 completed projects as a group. It identifies some major outputs that appear useful as indicators of the degree of project success, and it uses these outputs in a

prototype project performance rating system. A preview also notes some of the broad-based benefits that this portfolio of projects is producing and likely to produce. For additional background, the make-up of the portfolio of projects in terms of technologies, organizational structure, company size, and other features is provided.

The individual project reports of a second group of 50 are presented in Chapters 2 through 6, and highlight major

accomplishments and the outlook for continued progress. A detailed account of the project under review is given,

with attention to technical and commercial goals and achievements, information about technology diffusion, and

views about the role played by ATP funding. A performance rating is assigned to each project based on a four-star scoring system. The rating depends on the accomplishments of the project in creating and disseminating new

scientific and technical knowledge and in making progress toward generating commercial benefits, as well as the

outlook for continued progress.

Three appendices provide supporting information. Appendix A provides a listing of technical and commercial

achievements of each completed project. Appendix B provides a discussion of the terminated projects throughout

ATP's existence. Appendix C provides a list of the first 100 completed projects and the respective composite

performance ratings. The list is sorted in descending order of performance rating, then by company name.

1 . For an overview of the first 50 completed projects, see Performance of 50 Completed Projects, Status Report—Number 2, 2001. This study can be found on ATP's website (www.atp.nist.gov).

2. The current edition of the l<it and other program materials may be obtained on ATP's website (www.atp.nist.gov), by e-mail (atp@nist.gov), by phone (1-800-ATP-Fund or 1-800-287-3863), or by mail (ATP, NIST, 100 Bureau Drive, Stop 4701,

Gaithersburg, MD 20899-4701).

3. The Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) is a legislative framework for requiring federal agencies to set

strategic goals, measure performance, and report on the degree to which goals are met. An overview of the GPRA is provided in Appendix 1 of the General Accounting Office Executive Guide, Effectively Implementing the Government

Performance and Results Act, GAO, Washington, D.C., GGD-96-1 18, 1996

IX
IIIIII%IIIiIII
OVERVIEW OF COMPLETED PROJECTS

PART 1

Project Characteristics

This report provides an overview of the first 1 00 ATP-funded projects to reach completion. These

projects reflect an investment of more than $408 million that was shared about equally by ATP and

industry.

Of the initial 100 projects, 60 were led by small businesses that submitted single-company-applicant

proposals to ATP. Eighty-two involved collaborative relationships with other firms, universities, or both.

Slightly more than 75 percent were funded in ATP's General Competitions.

In terms of classification by type, 30 percent of the technologies were "Electronics, Computer

Hardware, or Communications. " "Manufacturing, " "Advanced Materials and Chemicals, " and

"Information Technology" each accounted for about 20 percent, and "Biotechnology" projects

constituted the remaining.

Single Applicants and Joint Ventures or 1 8 percent, and 4 of the joint ventures, or 25 percent.

Medium-sized companies led only seven single-applicant

"Single-applicant projects," which make up 84 percent of P^°j®^t^ ^'^^ ventureXonsortia led four of the

the total included in this report, are those proposed by a

jomt-venture projects. Nonprofit institutions led two of the

single company; these projects were subject to an upper

single-applicant projects and three joint ventures,

limit on ATP funding of $2 million and a time limit of 3

years. The predominance of single-applicant projects in this report occurs for two reasons. First, projects led by

single companies make up the majority of all projects.

Second, the constraint on the length of single-applicant

projects means they end sooner than most joint ventures; thus, they reached completion sooner.

Sixteen percent of the 100 projects were joint ventures. Each of these projects had a minimum of two for-profit

companies sharing research and costs for up to 5 years.

Typically, the joint-venture membership included other for

profit companies, universities, and nonprofit laboratories. These projects, free of the funding constraint, tended to take on larger problems for longer periods of time.

Project Leaders

Figure 1 .1 illustrates how project leadership of singleapplicant and joint-venture projects was distributed among the various types of organizations. Small

companies led most of the projects—60 of the 84 singleapplicant projects and 4 of the 1 6 joint-venture projects.

"Small" follows the Small Business Administration's

definition and includes companies with fewer than 500

employees. Large companies—defined as Fortune 500 or i p^Q^ the 1 991 competition, when nonprofits were eligible to equivalent firms—led 1 5 of the single-applicant projects, lead ATP projects.

A Variety of Technologies

The 100 completed projects fall into the five technology

areas used by ATP for classification purposes.

Figure 1 .1 Distribution of Single Applicant and Joint

Venture Projects by Type of Leadership

Non ProfK

ConsottiLiTi

Medium Company

Large Company

Small Company

10 —I

10

20 —1

Il5

40 —150 60

SIngle.'Vpplicant

Joint Vc nturo

20 30 AO Number of Projects

50 60

ioii.'ce:Ae^/a!Ked Jechnclogy Prcgtam F!/st 1G0 Status Repc/ts

OVERVIEW 3
Figure 1.2 Distribution of Projects by Technology Area

El ectrcni cs/CcnpL'ter

Hard'A'arei'Ccrnn unicatic rss

Manufacturing

Biotechnology

Advanced Materials and

Chemicals

Information Technology

19

20

10 15 20

Percent of Prqocts

25

130

30

Source:A&/anced Technolgcy Prcgmm First t(W Status R^oits

Figure 1 .2 shows the percentages of completed projects

by technology area. The highest concentration,

accounting for 30 projects, or 30 percent of the total, is in "Electronics, Computer Hardware, or Communications."

This category includes microelectromechanical

technology, microelectronic fabrication technology,

optics and photonics, and other electronics projects.

"Manufacturing," "Advanced Materials and Chemicals,"

and "Information Technology" account for similar shares,

19 to 20 percent each, of the 100 projects. The

Manufacturing category includes areas such as energy

conversion and energy generation and distribution, in addition to machine tools, materials handling, intelligent

control, and other discrete manufacturing. The Advanced

Materials and Chemicals category includes the

subcategories of energy resources/petroleum, energy

storage/fuel cell, battery, environmental technologies,

separation technology, catalysis/biocatalysis, and other

continuous manufacturing technologies, as well as

metals and alloys, polymers, building/construction

materials, and other materials.

The lowest concentration of projects is in the area of Biotechnology, which accounts for 12 percent of the 100

projects. The category of biotechnology includes areas such as bioinformatics, diagnostic and therapeutic, and

animal and plant biotechnology.

The technology make-up of these 100 projects differs from that of the larger ATP portfolio of projects in part

because the composition of ATP applicants and

awardees overtime may change. Of the first 100

completed projects, 77 percent come from ATP's

General Competitions that were open to all technologies,

while 23 percent come from ATP's focused program

competitions, which were held from 1994 through 1998.

These competitions funded technologies in selected

areas of focus, such as in Motor Vehicle Manufacturing

Technology and Digital Video in Information Networks.

It should be noted that while the five major technology areas are used to classify the projects, most of the

projects are not easy to classify. Most ATP projects

involve a mix of technologies and interdisciplinary knowhow.

Collaborative Activity

Although only 16 percent of the 100 projects were joint

ventures, 82 percent of all projects had collaborative

arrangements. As shown in Table 1.1, 42 percent of the

projects involved close research and development

(R&D) ties with universities. Fifty-one percent reported

collaborating on R&D with companies or other

nonuniversity organizations. Slightly more than half the

projects formed collaborative relationships with other

organizations for commercial pursuit of their ATP-funded

technologies. Twenty-six percent of projects had

collaborative relationships with both universities and

nonuniversities for either R&D or commercial purposes.

For more detail. Figure 1.3 illustrates the types of collaboration undertaken by projects with different forms

of project leadership. It highlights the fact that under all forms of project leadership, projects were highly likely to involve collaboration with other companies. About 35

percent of the projects led by small and large companies

involved university collaboration, while the share rose to 62 percent for projects led by medium-sized companies,

and 75 percent for consortium-led projects.

Costs of the Projects

As shown in Table 1 .2, ATP and industry together

invested in excess of $400 million on the 100 projects.

Overall, they shared almost equally in project costs, with

ATP providing a slightly larger share. ATP spent an

4 OVERVIEW
Figure 1.3 Number of Projects by Type of Collaboration and Type of Project Leadership

30

25

Siu 20

o 15

is ^10

23

Small- Company

Onty v.lth Companies

None

7 7

Vvlth Both

UnlversilBS

&. Companies

Only .vHh

Unr*fensitlea

Largc- C amp any ModumConpany

ConscrtiLin

Lcapdorship Leadership LoaccrsHp Lcaccrship

So<jit;e:A<f^aiK«d Techtclcgy P/cgram Flt^ 100 Status .^epoits

Ncn-Profit Lcaccrship

average of $1 .78 million per single-applicant project and

an average of $3.53 million per joint-venture project.

Across the 1 00 projects, the average total cost (ATP

plus industry) per project was $4.09 million. Estimated

benefits attributed to ATP from just a few of the 100

projects for which quantitative economic benefits have

been provided exceed ATP's funding for all of the 100

projects. In addition, there is considerable evidence of large project benefits that have not yet been quantified.

Approximately two-thirds of single-applicant projects had

total research costs under $3 million. These projects had

an ATP share that ranged from a little more than $.5

million to $2 million. Over 50 percent of the joint-venture

projects had total research costs greater than $3 million and just under 50 percent were below $3 million. Onethird of them had total research costs greater than $5

million, and one project had total research costs greater

than $30 million. ATP's share of these costs were $2

million or more for 60 percent of the projects and were

$5 million or higher for 25 percent. For one of the

projects, ATP's share exceeded $10 million. Joint

ventures, which made up only 16 percent of the total number of projects, accounted for 27 percent of total ATP funding.

Table 1.1 Collaborative Activity

f Type of Collaboration Percentage

Collaborating on R&D with other

companies or nonuniversity

organizations

51%

Close R&D ties with universities 42%

Collaborating on R&D with other

companies or nonuniversity

organizations OR close R&D ties with universities

67%

Collaborating with both universities and nonuniversity organizations

26%

Collaborating on commercialization

with other organizations

51%

Collaborating in one or more of the

ways identified above

82%

Note: This assessment of collaborative relationships likely understates the number because it focused on the project's lead organization and probably missed some of the informal

collaborative relationships of other participants.

Source: Advanced Technology Program First 100 Reports

OVERVIEW 5
Table 1.2 ATP Funding, Industry Cost Share, and Total Costs of 100 Completed Projects

Single Applicant

Projects Joint Venture Projects Total Projects

ATP Funding ($ millions) 149.6 56.4 206.0

Industry Cost Share ($ millions) 146.8 55.8 202.6

Total Project Costs ($ millions) 296.4 112.2 408.6

ATP Share of Costs 50% 50% 50%

Industry Share of Costs 50% 50% 50%

Average Project Funding

Provided by ATP ($ millions)

1.78 3.53 2.06

Average Project Cost-Share

Provided by Industry ($ millions)

1.75 3.49 2.03

Average Project Funding

Provided Overall ($ millions)

3.53 7.01 4.09

Source: Advanced Technology Program First 1 00 Status Reports

J^llllllllllll^

6 OVERVIEW

I
OVERVIEW OF COMPLETED PROJECTS

PART 2

Gains in Technical Knowledge

One of ATP's major goals is to build the nation's scientific and technical knowledge base. Each of the

first 100 completed ATP projects targeted a number of specific technical goals designed to achieve a

new or better way of doing things. The knowledge created by each project is the source of its future

economic benefit, both for the innovator and for others who acquire the knowledge. It is a good

starting place for assessing completed projects.

New Technologies and Knowledge Gains

Knowledge gains by the 100 projects are diverse and

encompass, within their wide range, the following:

mathematical algorithms underlying new software tools;

the science of growing human tissue; new techniques for

fabricating high-temperature superconducting devices;

optical technology for increasing brightness and clarity of

miniaturized and projected displays; and new chemical

formulations. Advances were made in each of the five

major technology areas.

The technologies developed in the 100 projects are

listed in column B in Tables A.1-A.5 in Appendix A. The

set of tables provides the reader with a convenient, quick

reference to the entire range of technologies. The entries are arranged alphabetically, using the five technology areas shown in Figure 1 .2. As was mentioned earlier,

most of these projects are interdisciplinary, involving a

mixture of technologies and generating knowledge in multiple fields.

Even those projects that were not fully successful in achieving all of their research goals, or those that have

not been followed by strong progress in commercialization, have achieved knowledge gains.

Moreover, some of the projects carried out by

companies that have since ceased operations or stopped work in the technology area yielded knowledge,

as indicated primarily by the presence of publications

and patents. In these cases the direct market routes of

diffusion of knowledge gains through commercialization

by the innovators are likely lost. However, the indirect

routes—whereby others acquire and use the

knowledge—remain.

Of What Significance Are the Technical Advances?

Measuring the significance of technical advances is challenging. One factor that challenges measurement is the length of elapsed time that typically separates an R&D investment and its resulting long-term outcomes. In the interim period, various short-run metrics may serve as indicators that project results appear to be on track

toward achieving long-term goals. One metric that has

been used to signal the significance of a project's

technical achievements is formal recognition in the form

of an award from a third-party organization.

Twenty awards for technical accomplishments were

made to participants for achievements related to ATPfunded projects. Participants in 13 of the 100 projects

received awards for their technical achievements.

Participants in five of the projects received multiple

technical awards. Table 2.1 lists the awards made to these projects by third-party organizations in recognition

of their technical accomplishments.

OVERVIEW 7
Table 2.1 Outside Recognition of Technical Achievements of the First 100 Completed Projects

Project Awardee Year Awarding Organization Award

American

Superconductor

1996 R&D Magazine One of the 100 most important

innovations of the year. American

Superconductor

1996 Industry Week Magazine Technology of the Year award.

Communication

Intelligence #1

1997 Arthritis Foundation

Ease-of-Use Seal of Commendation for the development of natural handwriting

technology for use by disable people who

have trouble with keyboard entry.

DuPont 1993 Microwave & Rf Magazine

One of the Top Products of 1993, for high-temperature superconductivity

component technology.

Ebert Composites 1999

Civil Engineering Research

Foundation

Charles Pankow Award for Innovation in Civil Engineering.

Engineering Animation 1994 Computerworld Magazine

Smithsonian Award for the use of information technology in the field of medicine.

Engineering Animation 1995

Association of Medical

Illustrators

Association of Medical Illustrators Award

of Excellence in Animation.

Engineering Animation 1995 International ANNIE Awards Finalist, received jointly with Walt Disney,

for best animations in the film industry.

Engineering Animation 1996 Industry Week Magazine

One of the 25 Technologies of the Year

for interactive 3D visualization and

dynamics software used for product

development.

HelpMate Robotics 1997 Discover Magazine

One of 36 finalists for Technology of the

Year for the HelpMate robot used in hospitals.

HelpMate Robotics 1997

Science Technology

Foundation of Japan

Japan Prize to CEO Joseph Engelberger

for "systems engineering for an artifactual environment."

Illinois Superconductor 1996 Microwave & Rf Magazine

One of the Top Products of 1996 for

cellular phone site filters and

superconducting ceramics.

Illinois Superconductor 1997 American Ceramic Society Corporate Technical Achievement Award.

Integra Life Sciences 1999 New Jersey Research and

Development Council

Thomas Alvin Edison Award to Dr. Kohn

of Rutgers University for his collaborative

work with Integra on the project.

Molecular Simulations 1996 Computerworld Magazine

Finalist for Smithsonian Award, the 1996

Innovator Medal.

NCMS 1994

Institute for Interconnecting &

Packaging Electronics

Circuits Best Paper of Conference Awards.

Perceptron (formerly

Autospect, Inc.) 1998

International Body

Engineering Conference

Best Paper Award.

Strongwell Corporation 1998 Composite Fabricators

Association Conference

Best of Show Award.

X-Ray Optical Systems

(XOS)

1995 R&D Magazine R&D top 100.

X-Ray Optical Systems

(XOS)

1996 Photonics Spectra Magazine Photonics Circle of Excellence Award.

Source: Advanced Technology Program First 100 Status Reports

OVERVIEW
OVERVIEW OF COMPLETED PROJECTS

PARTS

Dissemination of Knowledge

I If knowledge from the projects is disseminated—either through products and processes

I commercialized by the Innovators or through publications, patents, and other modes of knowledge

transfer—it may benefit other producers in the economy and, subsequently, consumers. The resulting

I national benefits may go far beyond the returns to the innovating firms and the benefits to their

li customers.

[i Multiple Ways of Disseminating Knowledge

I New knowledge developed in a project can be diffused

I in a variety of ways. This section discusses two principal

II means: through patents filed and granted by the U.S. h Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and cited by

others, and through preparation of technical papers that

' are published or are presented at conferences.

\ Collaborative activity among research and commercial

partners, treated In Part 1 , is another way by which

knowledge is disseminated. Another way is through the

observation and reverse engineering of the new goods

, or services produced directly by the innovators and their

I partners, discussed in Part 4. Among the other important

f ways—not explicitly covered here—in which knowledge

developed in a project can be diffused are informal

I

interactions among researchers, suppliers, customers,

and others; movement of project staff to other

organizations; distribution of nonproprietary project

descriptions by government funding agencies; and

project-related workshops and meetings.

Pathways of knowledge dissemination allow others to

- obtain the benefits of R&D without having to pay its full I cost. When the technology is particularly enabling—in I the sense of providing radically new ways of doing

' things, improving the technical bases for entire industry

(sectors, or being useful in many diverse areas of application—the spillover benefits to others are likely to be particularly large.

u ^ The generation of spillover benefits, or positive externalities,

I fronn technological advancement is an innportant argument for

y public support of enabling technologies.

Balancing Intellectual Property Protection and

Knowledge Dissemination

ATP encourages broad dissemination of knowledge

produced in ATP-funded projects because it increases

the number of potential users of the knowledge and,

therefore, may increase national benefits. At the same

time, ATP does not force innovating companies to compromise their ability and willingness to pursue early

commercial applications of the technology by giving

away all of their intellectual property. After all, these

companies, which contribute a substantial share of the

costs, have agreed to tackle difficult research barriers

and to take the technology to the marketplace as rapidly as possible.

Thus, it is not surprising that the amount of knowledge

dissemination varies among the projects. Most of the

projects pursue some forms of deliberate knowledge

dissemination, such as publishing scientific papers,

giving presentations, and forming collaborative

relationships. Most projects also engage in considerable

unintended knowledge dissemination; for example, as a company's scientists move and work among other

companies and universities; as myriad formal and

informal discussions occur; as others reverse-engineer

their products; and through mergers and acquisitions of the innovating companies.

Public Disclosure of Patent Filing Information

When applying for a patent to protect intellectual property, an inventor must explicitly describe the

invention. Because patent law requires that the invention

is both novel and useful, the inventor must demonstrate

that the invention is essentially different from any other

invention and must describe how it can be used. When

the USPTO grants a patent, the full application text

OVERVIEW 9
Figure 3.1 Distribution of Projects by Number of Patents

Filed

Soc'.xc; Advanced Technology Piogram First 100 Sl^us Reports

describing how the invention may be used and how it is related to other technologies is put into the public record

and becomes a medium through which knowledge is transferred to others. Hence, patents serve to disseminate knowledge.

At the same time, patent data are not perfect signals of knowledge creation and dissemination. Despite the

limitations, patent statistics serve as useful indicators of knowledge creation and dissemination, and they are

widely used by researchers. The decision to seek patent

protection for intellectual property is influenced by many

factors, including the ease with which others can copy

the property's intellectual content and the difficulty of defending the patent position from infringement. Some

companies may decide that patent protection is not worth its expense or that a strategy of trade secrets and

speed-to-market is more effective. Conversely, patents

may be filed as the basic ideas are forming, and trade secrets used in later stages. Furthermore, the

importance of patents as a strategy varies among

technology areas; for example, patents figure more

strongly in electronics and manufacturing than in computer software. The absence of a patent does not mean that intellectual property was not created. But the

presence of a patent is a signal that it was created.

Of the 100 completed projects, 58 had filed 326 patents

at the time the study data were collected."^ Fifty-one of

^ Patents filed and not yet granted are included here, in addition to those filed and granted, despite the fact that there is no public disclosure until patents are actually granted. The

reason for including patents filed and not yet granted is to help

offset the problem that there are substantial differences across

industries in the lag time between patent filing and granting.

the projects had among them a total of 202 patents

granted, or 60 percent of the total filed. Twenty-two of the projects had filed a total of 124 patents for which a

final decision on granting was still pending.

Figure 3.1 displays the distribution of the 100 projects by

the number of patents filed, whether granted or not yet

granted. More than half the projects have filed one or more patents. Participants in 1 1 percent of projects had

filed a single patent, 25 percent had filed 2 to 4 patents

each, and 22 percent had filed 5 or more patents. Fortytwo percent of the projects had yet to file a patent.

Knowledge Disseminated by Patents as Revealed by

Patent Trees

Each published patent contains a list of previous patents

and scholarly papers that establish the prior art as it relates to the invention. The citations provide a way to track the spread of technical knowledge through patents

granted to ATP-funded projects. By following the trail of the patent referenced, it is possible to construct what

looks much like a horizontal genealogy tree.

Once the pool of ATP-related patents was identified,

computerized tools made available by the USPTO were

used to track subsequent patents that refer to each of the ATP-related patents as prior art and the links recorded."^ The process is then repeated in turn for each

of these patents, until the chain of references is complete. Next, the information is converted into a

graphic format that illustrates the diffusion of knowledge

along the path from ATP project patents in the tree.

With the passage of additional time, new branches may

emerge as outgrowths of earlier patents. To the extent

that later patents are dependent on the earlier ones, the

patents in the tree represent developments in knowledge

that would not have occurred, or at least not in the same

timeframe, had ATP not stimulated the creation and

dissemination of that platform knowledge.

Patent Tree Illustrating International Knowledge

Dissemination

Figure 3.2^ is a patent tree for 1 of the 100 completed

projects, a project to develop liquid solder-jetting carried out by MicroFab Technologies, Inc., a small company

based in Piano, Texas.

'* The references to prior patents contained in a published

patent are based on information supplied by the applicant and

on research by USPTO researchers. There is no way to distinguish between the two sources and no indication that one

tends to dominate the other. (USPTO telephone interview with ATP staff, February 1 1 , 2000.)

^ Patents highlighted in pink are assigned to foreign

companies.

1 0 OVERVIEW
Figure 3.2 Patent Tree for MicroFab Technologies, Inc. -

Patent 5,772,106

Project Impact through Knowledge Dissemination

199R 1999 200Q 20C1 2002 2Q03 2D04

^.w. (5,

Til (5

1" V ";.-_."!'

\

As explained in the project status report for MicroFab

Technologies, Inc., the ATP award was instrumental in allowing the company to collaborate with and attract additional funding from a consortium of five major

electronics manufacturers (Motorola, Deico, Texas

Instruments, Kodal<, and AMP) to further develop its technology. These relationships also had the potential to improve tine ultimate diffusion of the technology.

The patent tree in Figure 3.3 shows citations of a patent

that came out of an ATP-funded project led by

TopicalNet, Inc. (formerly Continuum Software) during

which they developed MultiPlyTM, a technology allowing

business programmers to develop scalable business

applications without having to learn parallel

programming. Though TopicalNet achieved technical success, at the time the project was completed, venture

capital was not available because the computer industry was focused on Y2K compliance. This situation made it difficult for the small start-up company to market its innovative software application. For this and other reasons, TopicalNet did not marl<et MultiPlyTM.

The patent tree illustrates how an ATP-funded project

whose direct path appears to have slowed or has come

to a standstill nevertheless has the potential to remain

influential along an indirect path of l<nowledge utilized and cited in subsequent patents. As the patent tree

illustrates, a number of other companies are referencing

the TopicalNet patent, and the potential for beneficial impact from the research continues. (See

http://statusreports-atp.nist.gov/reports/94-06-0034.htm.)

The company received five patents for technologies

resulting from its ATP-funded project. Patent number

5,772,106, granted in 1998 and entitled "Printhead for

liquid metals and method of use," involved a printhead

assembly used for depositing molten solder droplets,

without the need for fluxes and without conducting the

operation in a confined chamber, into a semiconductor

substrate. In the following 6 years, 19 patents that

directly cited the MicroFab patent were granted to 13

companies. Some of the companies that benefited from

the knowledge were Hewlett Packard Company, Micron

Technology, Inc., and Ferro Corporation from the United

States, as well as Unimicron Technology Corporation,

Ltd. from Taiwan, Kuroda Techno Corporation and

Olympus Optical Company Ltd. from Japan, and Luk.

Automobiltechnik GmbH & Company from Germany. At

the end of 2004, a total of 56 patents, which directly or

indirectly cite the MicroFab patent, were granted to companies from 8 countries, including France, Sweden,

Korea, and the Netherlands.

Figure 3.4 shows citations by other companies of a

patent resulting from a project led by Ingersoll Milling

Company. Though the company went bankrupt, the

patent tree illustrates how knowledge can outlive its creator and continue to be disseminated. An observer

who equates business success of the innovator, one-to- one, with ATP project success may be mistaken,

because the indirect path may nevertheless produce

important benefits. Figure 3.3 Patent Tree for TopicalNet (formerly

Continuum Software) - Patent 5,999,729

Project Impact After Innovator Reduced Activity

1999 2001 2002 2003

OVERVIEW 1
Figure 3.4 Patent Tree for Ingersoll Milling Company - Patent 5,392,663

Project Impact Where Innovator Went Bankrupt

1996 1998 1^99 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

^Sliijgg^^ I^^Aj^gr <<)j|tjyiiti^

Figure 3.5 Patent Tree for Hynomics (formerly Sagent Corporation) - Patent 5,963,447

Example of Extensive Knowledge Flows

ZOOO 20OX 2003 2004

IMft ll 1^

\ 'l-irr,,— ^ yra

Patent Tree Illustrating Extensive Knowledge Flows

Figure 3.5 illustrates just how complex knowledge

dissemination through patent citations can become. The

path shown is for a patent resulting from an ATP-funded

project led by Hynomics (formerly Sagent Corporation).

The project developed a workforce optimizer and people

scheduler using hybrid systems, automata, and control theory. Hynomics has entered into a number of partnerships involved with commercializing their

technology. As shown in the patent tree, the work has

generated substantial interest as demonstrated by the

number of citations of their patent.

For projects that have received a patent or patents, access to patent trees is available through the individual status reports on the NIST ATP website

(http://statusreports-atp.nist.gov/basic_form.asp). All patent trees for the first 100 status reports were updated

as of June 2004. Although representing only one aspect

12 OVERVIEW
of knowledge dissemination, the patent trees extend awareness of the influence of the new knowledge.

Knowledge Dissemination through Publications and

Presentations

Participants in almost 60 percent of the 100 projects had

published or had presented papers in technical and

professional journals or in public forums. Participants in about half of all projects had published, and the number

of publications totaled at least 393 papers. Participants

in nearly 40 percent of the projects had given project- related presentations, and the number of presentations

totaled at least 443. Overall, publications and

presentations for these 100 projects equaled or exceeded 836.

Figure 3.6 gives the distribution of projects by their numbers of publications and presentations. Thirty-five

percent of the projects each had between one and five papers published or presented. Seven percent had

between 6 and 10 papers published or presented, and

another 7 percent had between 1 1 and 20. At the high

end, 10 percent of projects each had more than 20

papers published or presented. Forty-one percent had

no known presentations or publications.

Knowledge Dissemination through Other Means

Aside from publishing, presenting, and patenting, ATPfunded projects have a high rate of collaborative

activities. Eighty-two percent of the projects showed some type of collaboration (see Table 1.1). With so many partners, collaborators, and subcontractors

involved, it would be difficult to secure the information.

The involvement of so many participants in the projects

Figure 3.6 Distribution of Projects by Number of

Publications and Presentations

provides rich avenues of further interaction, and those

interactions in turn may increase knowledge flows

through personal and professional contacts. When the government enters into an agreement with an

organization, certain information about the agreement is generally made public. Such is the case with ATP and

company cost-sharing partnerships. Nonproprietary

information has been disclosed to the public for each of the 768 projects funded by ATP in 44 competitions held

from 1990 through September 2004 (project information

is available on the ATP website^). Further, new

nonproprietary project descriptions are added to the site as new awards are made. Evaluation reports, such as

this one, are also available at ATP's website and provide

information to the public.

ATP organizes and sponsors public workshops, where

companies present non-confidential aspects of their ATP-funded research and engage in open discussions.

These workshops facilitate information flow among ATP

award recipients and from the recipients to other

companies, ATP project managers, other government

program managers, the press, potential investors, and

universities. Public meetings, presentations by ATP staff, and other events are posted at ATP's website.

When a product or service incorporating new technology

reaches the marketplace, a buyer can learn a great deal

about the technology. The mere functioning of a new

product reveals some information. Intentional investigation, including reverse engineering, reveals even more. More than 60 percent of the 100 projects

reviewed for this study had some commercial products

or processes based on ATP-funded technology already on the market. Therefore, product use and examination

are providing others with information about the new

technologies.

^ http://jazz.nist.gov/atpcf/prjbriefs/listmaker.cfm or

http://atp.nist.gov (go to Funded Projects Database).

OVERVIEW 1

3
If
OVERVIEW OF COMPLETED PROJECTS

PART 4

Commercialization of the New Technology

New technical knowledge must be used if economic benefits are going to accrue to the nation. This

generally means that a new product or process is introduced into the market by the innovating firm, its collaborators, or other companies that acquire the knowledge. In competitive markets, the producer is typically unable to capture all the benefits of a new product or process, and the consumer reaps part

of the benefits. The higher up the supply chain the innovation occurs, the more value-added steps

there are before final consumption, and the more intermediate firms in the supply chain may benefit,

in addition to the final consumer.^ It is through commercialization that society reaps the benefits of

new technology, such as reduced product costs, improved efficiency, enhancments to health and

welfare, and economic growth.

Commercialization of Products and Processes—

A

Critical Step Toward National Benefits

Sixty-four of the projects had already spawned or expected

to bring to market 143 new products or processes when the

data for this report were collected. Companies in 1

3

additional projects expected to achieve their first commercialized results shortly^, and companies In 14

projects that had already commercialized their technology

expected to add new products and processes soon. Thus,

77 percent of the projects had spawned one or more

products or processes In the market or were expected to do

so shortly, for a total of 161 products or processes either on

the market or expected shortly after the time the data were

collected. Table 4.1 summarizes the commercialization

results. A number of additional years have passed since the data for the first 50 projects were collected. Since that time, further developments have doubtless occurred with these projects,

which have changed their commercialization results. This

overview reports commercial progress of the first 100

projects, all at approximately comparable times following

their completion.

A Quick Glance at the New Products

A variety of new products and processes resulted from

the projects. For a convenient, quick reference, brief descriptions of the new products or processes for each

project are listed in column C in Tables A.1-A.5 in Appendix A. For each new product or process, the new

technology on which it is based is also listed in the

tables, in column B.

Commercialization: A Critical Step, but Not the Final

Word

Commercializing a technology is necessary to achieve

economic benefit, but it does not ensure that the project

is a full success from the perspective of either the

company or ATP. Widespread diffusion of the technology

may or may not ultimately follow the initial commercialization. Nevertheless, it is significant that these products and processes are actually on the market.

For a detailed treatment of the relationship between spillover benefits (knowledge, market, and network spillovers) and

commercialization, see Adam B. Jaffe, Economic Analyses of Research Spillovers: Implications for the Advanced Technology

Program, GCR 96-708, (Gaithersburg, MD: National Institute of Standards and Technology, December 1996). He notes: "Market

spillovers will not be realized unless the innovation is commercialized successfully. Market spillovers accrue to the customers that use

the innovative product; they will not come to pass if a technically successful effort does not lead to successful commercialization" (p. 12). In commenting on spillovers that occur because new knowledge is disseminated to others outside the inventing firm, he observes:

"Note that even in the case of knowledge spillovers, the social return is created by the commercial use of a new process or product, and

the profits and consumer benefits thereby created" (p. 15).

^ "Shortly" refers to the time when the question is asked. Since Status Reports are written about 5 years after ATP funding ends, the perspective is the same for all status reports. So, when a company answers that they expect a product or process on the market soon

or shortly, they are referring to new product commercialization in the next 3 to 12 months.

OVERVIEW 15
Table 4.1 Progress of Participating Companies in Commercializing the New Technologies

Degree of Progress

Number

of Projects

Number of

Products/

Processes

Products/Processes On

the Market and Expected

Soon

14 46

Products/Processes On

the Market with None

Expected Soon

50 97

No Products/ Processes

On the Market with At Least One Expected Soon13 18

Total Products/Processes

On the Market or Expected

Soon

77 161

Source: Advanced Technology Program First 100 Status Reports

Rapidly Growing Companies

Rapid growth often signals that a small innovating

company is on the path to taking its technology into the

market, and one dimension of company growth typically

is its employment gains.

Figure 4.1 shows employment changes at the 60 smallcompany, single-applicant ATP award recipients.

^° Twenty-eight percent of these companies experienced

job growth in excess of 500 percent from the beginning

of the project until several years after the project had

completed. Thirty-six percent—the largest share

experienced job growth in excess of 100 percent,

ranging up to 500 percent.

Not all the small companies grew. A little less than onefifth of them experienced no change or a decrease in staff. Several of the companies that were small when

they applied to ATP grew so rapidly they moved out of

Employment within the small companies is considered here as an indicator of commercial progress. Assessing

macroeconomic employment gains from the technological progress stimulated by the 100 projects is beyond the scope of

this report.

^° Employment changes in joint ventures, larger companies,

and nonprofit organizations are less closely tied to the success

of individual research projects, and, therefore, are not included

in the employment data in Figure 4.1

.

the small-size category. As a group, of the 60 small

single-applicant companies, 39 companies at least doubled in size; 12 of them grew more than 1,000

percent. ATP helped these companies develop

advanced capabilities, which they subsequently

leveraged into major businesses.

For example, Vitesse had approximately 200 employees

when it applied to ATP, but had nearly 800 at the time it was profiled for inclusion in the 2001 report of ATP's first 50 completed projects. Now the company has more than

900 employees." Another, Cree Research, Inc., had 41

employees at the project start, 210 when it was included

in the 2001 report of the first 50 completed projects, and now it has more than 1 ,000 employees. Yet another,

Integra LifeSciences, grew from 32 employees at the

beginning of the project to 129 at the time the data were

collected for the second 50 completed projects, to 760

as currently reported. At least one of the companies

that was quite small at the time it applied to ATP

GelTex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. —has since changed size

categories as a result of being acquired by a large

company, Genzyme.

The following examples illustrate the potential impact of ATP funding on the technological and commercial

prospects of funded companies.

Digital Optics: In the late 1990s, as the labor-intensive

integration and packaging of optoelectronic components was causing customer costs to rise, Digital Optics faced

the prospect of a loss of business to inexpensive overseas competition. Supported by $1 .7 million in ATP

funding. Digital Optics achieved its goal of developing an

integrated micro-optical systems (IMOS) R&D initiative that resulted in its commercial launch of the patented

Photonic ChipTM.

The company, which grew from a staff of 35 at the

project's start to 130 employees as of December 2001,

has applied for 42 patents since the project launch and

has become the leader in integrated optical modules.

Well respected in the marketplace, its technology is positioned to become the primary production method for integrated optical subassemblies (OSAs). Moreover, with

the financial resources necessary to anticipate market

trends and act on emerging opportunities, the company

has taken the steps necessary to pursue new

opportunities in the data storage, telecommunications,

and data communications markets.

" Current employment data were obtained from Market Guide,

Inc. (2003), an on-line database of descriptive and financial information on publicly traded companies.

Market Guide, Inc. (2003).

^^Ibid.

16 OVERVIEW
Figure 4.1 Employment Change at Small Companies

that Received a Single-Applicant Award

More lhan 500?fc: Increase 28%

Source: Advanced Technolo^ Frvgram Firs! 100 S!a!iJs Ropoits

Although the telecommunications market contraction

since 2001 has created a less than optimal environment

in which to marl<et new technologies, the company has

experienced continued growth and has outperformed its competitors. Once current adverse marl<et conditions

begin to subside, the Photonic ChipTM and its IIVIOS technology will position Digital Optics to compete

successfully for new customers and play a leading role

in further advances in optical integration.

Displaytech, Inc.: Continued, rapid advancements in emerging large- and small-screen display applications

(as well as consumer expectations of these products and

their prices) created a need for technology to replace

traditional Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs). The next- generation solution had to be smaller, faster, and deliver more power while using less power. Displaytech

invented and demonstrated just such a solution in Ferroelectric Liquid Crystal (FLC) technology. However,

it had to overcome significant capital obstacles to put its new manufacturing process strategy in practice. To meet

that challenge, the company proposed a new process

that could reduce the net cost per unit by 99 percent and

increase the daily yield from 4 to 500 units per operator.

A two-year ATP award of $1 .7 million made the

successful launch of this manufacturing process possible

and led to the commercialization of a new line of devices. Without this funding, the best-case scenario was a cost reduction of 80 percent.

The company's success extended beyond development

of the technology required to mass-produce FLC display

chips to significant process improvements that

generated a 600-percent increase in image quality, a 100-percent extension of product lifetime, and a 97.4-

percent reduction of cost per unit (from $6,000 to $160).

These achievements increased the number of potential

applications for FLCs, both within and beyond the

electronics industry, and created an opening for U.S.

firms in the Japanese-dominated display market.

Displaytech, which grew from 20 employees at the start of the project to a staff of 150, realized production

capabilities of 100,000 displays per month as of early

2000.

Ebert Composites Corporation: When market

demand for electricity skyrocketed in the early 1990s,

options for increasing supply seemed limited to those

that were economically burdensome and/or

environmentally unacceptable. Ebert Composites

Corporation proposed and successfully created

prototypes of corrosion-resistant, lightweight,

nonconductive structures. Bar-coded for quick snaptogether construction, they were nearly 50 percent

lighter than steel; their advantages also included lower

life cycle and installation costs and reduced

environmental risks in comparison with steel towers or wooden poles.

Now a joint venture, Strongwell-Ebert, LLC has

commercialized the composite structures for electric power poles and lattice towers that are sold and used

throughout the United States within the electric power

industry and may have market applications in other

industries, as well. The company, which had 12

employees at the start of the project, had grown through

the joint venture to nearly 865 by September 2004 and

had established sales sufficient to fund operations as

well as future R&D projects.

Capital Attraction

Attraction of additional capital is another signal that a company is positioned to make further progress. Of the

100 projects, 69 had attracted additional capital to further pursue development of their technologies.

Additional funding came variously from collaborative

partners, venture capitalists, public offerings of stock,

other governmental departments including state government programs, and other sources.

OVERVIEW 1

7

OVERVIEW OF COMPLETED PROJECTS

I

PART 5

Overall Project Performance

The individual performance oftlie 100 completed projects has varied, as, measured by the

creation and dissemination of knowledge and the accelerated use of that knowledge for

commercial purposes. Some of the award-recipient companies grew by leaps and bounds as they

translated their knowledge gains from ATP-funded research into profitable and beneficial products,

services, and production processes. Some continued to strive toward hard-to-achieve goals, while

others showed little outward signs of further progress. A few that achieved impressive research

accomplishments later failed in the commercialization phase. However, the achievements of the

more successful projects, with their impressive new performance capabilities resulting in lower

costs and higher quality products and processes, appear to have much more than compensated

for the less successful projects. There is considerable evidence that the benefits attributable to ATP from the 100 completed projects substantially exceed their costs.

Composite Performance Scores

During the intermediate period covered by this analysis—after project completion but before long-term

benefits have had time to be realized—ATP uses a Composite Performance Rating System (CPRS) to help

gain a sense of how projects in the portfolio have

performed overall thus far against ATP's mission-driven

multiple goals. In this intermediate period of project life cycles, the focus is on progress toward the goals of 1) knowledge creation, 2) knowledge dissemination, and 3)

commercialization. The CPRS uses a weighted composite

of output data systematically collected for each of the 1 00

projects—some of which have been presented in aggregate form in the preceding sections of this overview—to assess overall performance of the portfolio of completed projects in this intermediate period.

The output data serve as indicator metrics of progress

toward achieving goals. Examples of available indicator

metrics signaling progress toward the creation and

dissemination of knowledge are a) awards for technical

excellence bestowed by third-party organizations, b)

patent filings, c) publications and presentations, d)

knowledge dissemination from potential reverse

engineering of new and improved products/processes on

For an in-depth treatment of the CPRS, which was

developed in prototype for ATP's use, see Rosalie Ruegg,

Bridging from Project Case Study to Portfolio Analysis in a

Public R&D Program, NIST GCR 03-851 (Gaithersburg, MD:

National Institute of Standards and Technology, forthcoming).

the market or expected soon, and e) collaborative

activity. Available indicator metrics signaling progress

toward commercialization of the new technology include

a) attraction of additional capital, b) employment gains,

c) project-related company awards for business success,

d) moving products and processes into the market, and

e) analysts' outlooks for future progress by the awardrecipient companies.

Weights are assigned to the indicator data, which are combined to produce a composite numerical score that

is then converted to a zero- to four-star rating for each

project. A score of one star or less signals poor overall performance; two stars, moderate performance; three

stars, strong performance; and four stars, outstanding

performance. The distribution of CPRS scores computed

for each project in a portfolio of projects is then

examined, and the results taken as indicative of overall

portfolio performance.

The resulting CPRS ratings provide an easy-to-grasp

highlighting of portfolio performance in the intermediate

period. They call out those projects that have exhibited

outstanding or strong outward signs of progress towards

long-run program goals during the years covered and

those that have exhibited moderate or few signs of progress. However, the ratings are imperfect and should

be viewed as only roughly indicative of overall performance.

The performance metrics are consistent with the view of varying degrees of success—with knowledge creation

OVERVIEW 19
and dissemination constituting partial success, and a

continuation Into commercialization constituting a fuller degree of success In terms of project progress. Some

companies carried out their proposed research with a degree of success during the time of ATP funding, but

then did not continue pursuit of their project's larger

goals after ATP funding ended. At this stage of evaluation, ATP considers such projects only partial successes, because the direct path for achieving project

goals is truncated. Such projects are not among the

higher scorers in this report. It is possible, however, that developments along the Indirect path (diffusion of knowledge from the project through publications,

presentations, patents, and licensing) may nevertheless occur—particularly if a project produced effective knowledge transmitters, such as patents and

publications. It is also possible that a company may work

In secrecy for a long period of time with no visible outputs and then suddenly explode on the scene with a

single output that will yield large societal benefits.

Nanophase Technology Corporation, Cree Research,

Inc., Aastrom Biosciences, Inc., Tissue Engineering,

Inc., ColorLink, Torrent Systems, Inc., American

Superconductor Corporation, and the National Center for Manufacturing Science.

The next tier of 33 strong projects included 28 singleapplicant projects and 5 joint-venture projects. Of the

single-applicant projects, 22 were led by small

companies, 2 by medium companies, and 4 by large

companies. Of the joint ventures, two were led by small

companies, one by an industry consortium, one by a

large company, and one by a nonprofit organization.

A few projects with low CPRS ratings had impressive

technical achievements as indicated by the receipt of a

third-party technical award, though most of the technical

awards went to those with the highest overall ratings. In contrast, all of the awards for business acumen went to the projects with CPRS ratings of three or four stars.

Limiting factors include the extent to which not all relevant effects are captured; moreover, the use of Indicator metrics is constrained by data availability, the

development of the weighting system Is empirically

driven rather than theoretically based, and the ratings do

not directly measure national benefits. The degree of correlation between a project's performance score and

its long-run societal benefits Is impossible to know at this time. Projects with the same scores are not necessarily

equal In their potential benefits. They are, however,

somewhat comparable in terms of the robustness of their progress to date.

Scoring the First 100 Completed Projects

The distribution of CPRS scores for ATP's

first 100 completed projects Is shown In Figure 5.1 . The largest group of projects,

33 percent, fell In the three-star category

showing strong progress. Combining these

with the 12 percent rated "outstanding,"

shows an impressive 45 percent of projects performing at a high level. Twenty-seven percent fell into the two-star category—moderate progress, but not

particularly robust overall. Twenty-eight

percent of the projects scored one star or

less. Indicating poor performance overall

perhaps not surprising for companies

taking on difficult goals.

The 12 top-scoring projects overall Include

1 1 single-applicant projects led by small

companies and 1 joint venture led by a

consortium. Leaders of these top-scoring

projects were Engineering Animation, Inc., Integra LifeSclences, Third Wave

Technologies, X-Ray Optical Systems,

Performance by Technology Areas

Overall project performance in the intermediate period

covered by the study varied by technology area, as

illustrated In Figure 5.2. Of the 12 biotechnology

projects, 8 were 3- or 4-star projects. Of the 30

electronics projects, half scored high. Of the 20

manufacturing projects, close to half scored high, but 45

percent scored low. The 19 projects in the materials

group were more evenly divided into high, low, and

moderate scorers. The 19 information technology

projects had 7 projects that were both moderate and

high-scoring projects and 5 low-scoring projects.

Differences In life cycles among the technology areas may account for part of the performance differences, but

Figure 5.1 Distribution of Projects by Star Rating

0 star 1 Star 2 Stars 3 Sara

Souice: A^/anced Tecljnology Progmm First f CO Stains Reports

A Stars

20 OVERVIEW
Figure 5.2 Distribution of Star Ratings by Technology Area

14 ,-

12 -

= 9 — 5

IS

3 or 4 Stars

2 Stars HH 0 or 1 Star

6 6

J

AcN/anced Biotechnology Electronics' Intormatlon Manufacturing

Materials and Computer Tedtnology Chemicals Hardivaret' Conmunlcallorts

Soun»: AeSiancetiTechnolo^ Picgtam First 100 Status Repcits

the relatively small number of projects In each category

does not support the drawing of robust conclusions

about how projects in the different technology areas will perform.

Project Performance Translated into Economic and

National Security Benefits

For a few of the 100 projects, in-depth evaluation studies

have been conducted to estimate at least part of their expected economic impacts. One such study conducted

by economists at the Research Triangle Institute (RTI), a

consulting firm in North Carolina, included three medical

technologies that are among the first 100 completed. RTI economists provided early estimates of the value of a new biopolymer to repair fractures, developed by

Integra LifeSciences; a system for replicating stem cells, developed by Aastrom Biosciences, Inc.;^^ and a new

prosthesis material—animal-derived extracellular matrix, or ADMAT—developed by Tissue Engineering, Inc. Professor Karen Polenske and Nicolas Rockier from the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) completed

Martin, Sheila A., Daniel L, Winfield, Anne E. Kenyon, John

R. Farris, Mohan V. Bala, and Tayler H. Bingham, A

Framework for Estimating tlie National Economic Benefits of ATP Funding of Medical Technologies, NIST GCR 97-737

(Gaithersburg, MD: National Institute of Standards and

Technology, April 1998). Aastrom Biosciences, Inc. utilized human hematopoetic stem

cells derived from blood or bone marrow for its ATP-supported

research and continues to use bone marrow and umbilical cord blood in its development efforts. The bone marrow and cord blood utilized by Aastrom during its research complied with the

regulations for the protection of human subjects as codified by

the Department of Commerce at 1 5 CFR Part 27.

a retrospective study of the Auto Body Consortium's

dimensional control project. ^'^ More recently, RTI conducted an economic study of ATP's investment in a portfolio of 24 component-based software projects,

3 of which are among the first 100 completed studies

examined here.^^

The following examples draw on the economic

evaluation studies mentioned above to provide a rough notion of quantified net benefits. In addition, it supplements the results of the economic studies with

several examples of projects/companies that also

appear to be generating significant economic benefits.

Biocompatible Polymers for Cartilage Repair: The

RTI study estimated the medical cost savings from

the project led by Integra LifeSciences, in terms of avoiding second surgeries to remove implants, such

as pins and screws, when trouble arises. Integra has

shown continued robust progress since the RTI study was completed several years ago. At the time the

project analysis for this mini-study was completed in late 1999, company employment, which was 32 at the project's start, had increased fourfold. A recent check showed nearly a 24-fold increase in the

company's employment to 760, in part through internal growth and in part through acquisitions. The company's

sales revenue was reported at $118 million in 2002, and

a recent Standard and Poor's stock report estimated a 44-percent increase in revenue in 2003, pointing to the

company's participation in an expanding number of markets. Through its commercial partners, Integra's

technology is utilized in surgical fixation devices for attaching soft tissue to bone in the knee and shoulder.

These products are currently in clinical trials. Patient

benefits include avoidance of medical complications and

further surgeries associated with utilizing existing

technologies, as well as lower surgical costs.

Stem Cell Replication: Because of the difficulty of

estimating the value of patient pain reduction and

improved health outcomes, the RTI study also based the

benefits estimates for Aastrom's stem cell expansion

technology only on the reduction in procedure costs,

although it is the patient pain avoidance and improved

outcome effects that were the main expected benefit of

this technology. By allowing a small amount of stem cells to be multiplied into a larger quantity, the technology

reduces donor clinic visits to collect the stem cells;

Polenske, Karen, and Nicolas Rockier, Closing The

Competitive Gap: An Analysis of the ATP 2mm Project,

NIST GCR 03-856 (Gaithersburg, MD: National Institute of Standards and Technology, July 2004).

White, William J. and Michael P. Gallaher, Benefits and

Costs of ATP Investments in Component-Based Software,

NIST GCR 02-834 (Gaithersburg, MD: National Institute of Standards and Technology, November 2002).

Standard and Poor's stock report.

OVERVIEW 21
reduces procedure hours; is easier for medical staff to perform; reduces treatment costs; substantially reduces

patient pain and negative side effects; and has been

shown to result in better treatment outcomes.

RTI economists estimated that once it was implemented,

Aastrom's replication system (commercialized as the

AastromReplicellTM System), would save several million dollars in the costs of providing bone-marrow transplants

for cancer treatment

Aastrom has since continued unabated pursuit of the

commercialization of its AastromReplicellTM System.

According to a Standard and Poor's stock report, the

company over time has made a strategic shift in its business model from that originally centered on the bone marrow transplantation market, to a model focused on

multiple paths to using human cell-based therapies for stem cell repair and regeneration, cancer treatments,

and infectious disease treatments. Core to the original

and the new business models is its ability to grow stem

cells outside the body, the ATP-funded technology.

The edition of this report that covered the first 50

completed projects described how a recent clinical trial had demonstrated success in using the cell replication

system to enable cancer patients—for which there were

otherwise no donors—to receive stem cell transplants by

expanding tiny amounts of cord blood samples that matched the patients. ^° According to the director of medical oncology at Hackensack University Medical

Center, "These results suggest that we may have found

a new treatment approach that will enable more patients

to receive treatment for this very serious and often fatal disease [leukemia]. "^^ According to the American Cancer

Society, 2,800 new cases of leukemia will be found in children in 2005, making new, more effective treatments

of great value to society.

An investigation of developments revealed that in September 2003, Aastrom received a National Institutes of Health grant—one of several grants—to demonstrate

Cord blood, the blood in the umbilical cord and placenta after the birth of a child, has been found to offer an alternative source of stem cells for transplantation that provides an

acceptable transplant even with a higher degree of tissue mismatching. As a result, a cord-blood banking infrastructure is being established, but the small amount of cells available from

this source restricts its use. In recent clinical studies, several

adult cancer patients needed very high-dose chemotherapy to be followed by a stem cell transplant, but no suitable bone marrow donors could be found. In the cord blood bank, small samples were found that provided a match, but the amounts

were too small to be used. In the clinical trials, the AastromReplicellTM System was used to replicate the number

of matching cord blood cells, allowing the patients (for which , there were otherwise no donors) to receive stem cell transplants.

Company press release, April 19, 2000.

http://www.cancer.org/docroot/home/index.asp

the feasibility of using the cell replication system for the

production of completed dendritic cell-based vaccines for immunotherapy against ovarian cancer, the leading cause of gynecological cancer-related deaths in women.

Recent studies reportedly have shown that dendritic

cells produced and exposed to cancer molecules have

resulted in immune responses. But there are difficulties

in producing the quantities of antigen-loaded dendritic

cells needed to perform a complete immunotherapy

treatment in patients with cancer, which is why the

AastromReplicellTM System is needed.^^

There have been news releases about the company's

commercial activities. In activities related to the

immunotherapy approach reported above, the company

is reportedly preparing to begin clinical studies of its approach in collaboration with Stanford University for multiple myeloma cancer and with Duke University for colorectal cancer.^" Other reports describe an agreement with Astro Instrumentation, L.L.C. to manufacture the subassemblies and parts of the

instrumentation platform of the AastromReplicellTM

System.

Biomaterials for Prostheses: RTI predicted expected

benefits from the first application of Tissue Engineering's

(now TEI Biosciences) ADMAT technology, namely, the

repair of damaged knee ligaments (specifically, anterior

cruciate ligaments, or ACLs). RTI was able to estimate

benefits expected to result from improvements in the

quality of life for patients receiving the treatment by

using a "quality adjusted-life-years" index value. As of 2004, TEI has sales exceeding $2 million from three

products on the market, and has strategic collaborations

with Medtronic, Stryker Orthopedics, and other U.S. medical device companies. The products are used by more than 450 surgeons and have benefited more than

1,200 patients.

Auto Body Manufacturing Assembly: One project, led by the Auto Body Consortium (ABC), has generated

documented production cost savings, has improved

automobile quality, and has demonstrated the potential

for extending these same kinds of benefits to the

manufacturing assembly of other products. A

retrospective study on this project by researchers at MIT

found that the project reduced variation of critical body

dimensions to meet the 2-millimeter objective (with +/- 1mm variance) and was the key driving force in changing the manufacturing quality control technology

CBS MarketWatch, September 15, 2003.

Ibid. CBS MarketWatch, August 26, 2003.

For a description of the use of Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALY) in evaluating patient benefits in evaluation studies, see Andrew Wang, "Key Concepts in Evaluating Outcomes of ATP

Funding of Medical Technologies," Journal of Technology

Transfer, Vol. 23 (2), 1998, pp. 61-66.

22 OVERVIEW
used to improve quality, reduce cost, and shorten timeto-market by domestically owned vehicle manufacturers.

The implementation of 2-millimeter technology helped

domestic producers slow the loss of market share to offshore and transplant manufacturers, created no fewer

than 1,400 new jobs, and generated, by conservative

estimate, an increase of $186 million in gross domestic

product (measured over a 10-year period following the

start of the ATP-funded project).^^

Component-Based Software (CBS): Developing the

capacity to build large software systems from

assemblies of smaller, reusable, independent

components is an important strategy to reduce software

system costs, increase system reliability, and enable

lower cost upgrades. Three projects included among the

first 100 Status Reports were part of a portfolio of 24

projects that was included in an in-depth economic case

study conducted by RTI.^^ These projects were led by

Reasoning Inc., TopicalNet, Inc. (formerly Continuum

Software), and HyBrithms (formerly Hynomics Corp.).

Across the entire CBS portfolio, RTI's economic study

estimated $840 million in net-present-value benefits and

a benefit-to-cost ratio at 10.5, suggesting that the

investment in the portfolio of projects as a whole was

worthwhile. The net-benefits estimate is based on the

cost of all 24 projects, but the estimated benefits of only

8 were the subject of the detailed case study. In addition,

the study found other benefits that were presented

qualitatively, namely, enhancing the credibility of the

mostly small software firms that were funded and

assisting firms in strengthening their planning and

management functions.

Reasoning Inc., TopicalNet Inc. (formerly Continuum

Software), and HyBrithms (formerly Hynomics Corp.)

had commercialization activities underway when RTI conducted its study. Their costs, but not their benefits, were included in RTI's aggregate portfolio net-benefit measure, because they were not among the eight projects

selected by RTI for the portfolio benefits assessment.

Thus, the RTI study results, at best, suggest that the three

projects are part of a portfolio of projects found to be

valuable. Of the three projects, two are rated as three-star performers, and one is a two-star performer.

It is also informative to look at how some of the other

projects that were rated as top performers have

progressed since the original data were compiled and

the CPRS ratings calculated. Six additional projects are

profiled below.

Scalable Parallel Programming: One of the topperforming projects among the first 50 completed

Polenske and Rockier, July 2004.

' White and Gallaher, November 2002.

projects, originally profiled in Volume 1, was a project led by Torrent Systems, Inc. Although Torrent had fewer

knowledge-dissemination outputs than the other topperforming projects, its exceptional commercialization

efforts boosted it into the four-star group. The project

developed a component software system that insulates

programmers from the complexities of parallel

programming while allowing them to use it productively

in scalable applications. Torrent delivered this new

capability in its software product. OrchestrateTM. An early user of the new software. United Airlines, was able to increase its revenue by $100 million per year as a direct

result of using OrchestrateTM.^^

When revisited in Status Reports, Volume 2, Torrent's technology was reported to be enabling e-businesses

and other companies to process and analyze unlimited

volumes of data. Torrent was listed in Computerworld's

"100 Hot Emerging Companies" in 1998 and received a number of other awards recognizing both its software

technology and business acumen.

Since that time. Torrent, which had only two employees

when it received its ATP award, has been acquired for a purchase price of $46 million by Ascential Software Corp., a global company with a market capitalization of $1 .1 billion, headquartered in Westboro, Massachusetts.

^° According to Ascential's Chairman and CEO, Peter Gyenes, "Torrent's patented and proven parallel

processing technology is a perfect complement to the

rich feature set within our data integration solution,

DataStage."^^ According to additional public statements by the company, Ascential has integrated OrchestrateTM

into its DataStage XE product family, with the result that customers will be able to integrate data of virtually any

volume and complexity, with infinite scalability, and turn growing amounts of data into valuable information

assets.

United Airlines, first a Torrent customer and then an

Ascential customer, is using OrchestrateTM and an IBM

parallel-processing computer to design a system for managing airplane seat assignments. A statement by

Bob Bongirno, managing director of applications

development for United Airlines, that is posted at the

Ascential Software Corp. website provides a user's perspective of the importance of the product:

At United, we analyze 'astronomical' amounts of

data every day through our Orion system to determine the optimum seat availability and price across tens of millions of passenger itineraries, " he

Information from Hoover's Online company search and

Torrent's website, current August 31 , 2000.

^° Standard and Poor's stock report on Ascential Software

Corp. Press Release, November 28, 2001, available on-line at www.ascentialsoftware.com, Press Center.

OVERVIEW 23
said. "For Orion and our otiier data-intensive

applications, we demand a parallel processing

technology that is robust and reliable enough to process massive data volumes on very large

systems and will provide a state-of-the-art data

integration foundation that helps us manage all our

disparate data sources and accelerates the

development of new applications. The combination

of technologies from Torrent and Ascential holds

great promise for meeting the data processing

needs of customer-centric organizations like United.

Thus the commercialization path has grown more

complex for this ATP-funded technology as the

technology has been combined with other software

elements. At the same time, the impact potential of the

technology appears strong. According to Doug Laney,

META Group Vice President, the worldwide market for data integration was projected to grow from $900 million

in 2001 to $1.3 billion in 2004,'^ and the technology

platform funded in part by ATP appears well positioned

to play a role in serving this growing market.

High-Temperature Superconducting (HTS) Wire: The

project led by American Superconductor Corporation

(AMSC) is another of the top-rated 100 completed

projects profiled originally in Status Report Volume 1. At

the time Volume 1 was being written, the company was

beginning to launch its commercialization effort. Since

then, the company has reportedly continued making

impressive advances, building the world's first highvolume HTS wire manufacturing plant with a capacity to manufacture 20,000 kilometers of wire per year when it

is fully equipped. This new manufacturing capacity Is said to give potential customers the ability to accelerate

their schedules for launching commercial products

incorporating HTS wire by making the product available

to them in commercial quantities, at commercial prices.

"^^ AMSC's products and services listing now shows a

vertically integrated portfolio that includes HTS wire,

motors, generators, synchronous condensers, industrial power quality solutions, power conversion, and

transmission grid solutions.

A press release issued October 1, 2003, announced that AMSC had received additional funding from the

Department of Defense (DOD) and Department of Energy (DOE) to support further manufacturing scale-up

for second-generation HTS wire. According to Dr. Paul

Barnes, U.S. Air Force Superconductivity Team Leader,

ensuring that the United States will have a reliable supply of the second-generation HTS wire is expected to be central to the development of many future military

systems, including lightweight high-power generators

and advanced weapon systems. According to James

Daley, manager of the Superconductivity program at DOE, the technology is also expected to play an important

future role in upgrading the nation's power grid."'"

Visualization Software: As in the preceding examples,

Engineering Animation, Inc. (EAI), leader of another of the top-performing projects and originally profiled in Status Report Volume 1 , continued to aggressively and

successfully pursue applications of its award-winning

imaging software capabilities developed in the ATPfunded project. Founded by two professors and two

graduate students in 1990, EAI had 20 employees at the

time ATP made the award. According to company

officials, the ATP award allowed it to significantly extend

its capabilities in computer visualization and

computations dynamics and to form important

collaborative relationships that enabled it to leverage the

technology in many different directions. The company

used its ATP-funded technology to improve the training of doctors as well as to guide medical procedures.

Furthermore, patients reportedly had better outcomes

when the visualization software was used during their surgical procedures.

In 1999, the company employed approximately 1,000

staff members and had sales of $71 million. At that time, EAI had extended and deployed its award-winning

visualization capabilities to develop a virtual factory

technology implemented at Ford Motor Company. This

application of the software enabled faster design and

analysis of factory models.

On October 23, 2000, EAI was acquired by Unigraphics

Solutions Inc. for $178 million. Subsequently, through

acquisition and merger, Unigraphics and another

software services company, SDRC, became a combined

subsidiary of Electronic Data Systems Corporation

(EDS), the world's largest information technology

outsourcing services company, which has a worldwide

infrastructure and 138,000 employees. Unigraphics

and SDRC were combined to form EDS's fifth line of business. Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)

Solutions. This union provided, through Unigraphics NX

software, a unified approach to extended enterprise

collaborations enabling the modeling and validation of products and their production processes digitally from

initial concept to finished parts. Thus, EAI followed the

business model for growth of merging with a much larger

company.''^ An online search revealed that previously

developed EAI products and books remain on the market.

33 Ibid. Information provided by the company at its website,

www.amsuper.com.

Company press release, October 1 , 2003.

^^ Prior to the acquisition of Unigraphics, EDS was the major

company stockholder. Information found at www.eds.com.

Ibid.

24 OVERVIEW
Examples of strong projects from among the three-star group are described below. These, too, appear to be

delivering important economic benefits.

Composite Piping Systems: An example from the

three-star group is a project led by EDO Specialty

Plastics. The company developed an improved method

to join composite pipe segments and more efficient, less

costly processes for manufacturing the pipe fittings. The

reliable joining methods that Specialty Plastics

developed during this ATP-funded project have led to an

increased use of composite piping systems on offshore

tension leg platforms (TLPs) by the oil industry with

significant cost savings.

DNA Sequencing System: Another three-star project was led by Amersham Pharmacia Biotech, which is credited with accelerating development of an enzyme

important to the speed of the human genome project

where timing is of enormous importance.

Highly Integrated Digital Circuits: A project with

continued strong commercialization was led by Vitesse

Semiconductor Corporation. Vitesse successfully applied

gallium arsenide (GaAs) material in the volume production

of highly integrated and very complex digital circuits. Most

of the world's telecommunications companies now use

Vitesse chips; virtually every long-distance call passes

through its integrated circuits. The project's main avenue

for knowledge dissemination was through

commercialization, rather than patents and publications.

To these examples, other promising technologies may

be added—technologies that improve productivity,

facilitate better weather forecasts, improve

communications, enable new drug discovery, reduce

energy costs, and improve health and safety.

What Difference Did ATP Make?

ATP aims to improve the international competitiveness

of U.S. firms by funding projects that would not take

place in the same timeframe, on the same scale, or with

the same goals without ATP's support. A project may be

successful in terms of achieving its goals, but if the same

accomplishments would have occurred in the same

timeframe without ATP, then the program has not had

the intended effect. For this reason, evaluation studies of ATP—as well as other government programs—should

apply the principle of "additionality" to correctly

distinguish between benefits that would likely have

occurred anyway and those benefits that are reasonably

attributable to ATP.

In preparing the 100 individual mini-case studies in this report, analysts asked project leaders about the role ATP funding played in their projects. Throughout the

project selection process, beginning with the application,

ATP presses the questions of why the project requires

ATP funding, why funding is appropriate, what will happen if ATP funding is not provided, and how the

expected outcome will differ with and without ATP

involvement. During the evaluation process, these

questions are again pursued retrospectively, i.e., what

happened that was different as a result of ATP? Applied

prospectively, the results are hypothetical. In evaluation

studies, the results may be based on counterfactual

survey and interview questions, such as those posed in the status report case studies. Evaluation studies have

also used control group techniques, which provide more

reliable evidence of the additionality impacts of ATP.^^

Fifty-five percent of the respondents indicated their projects would not have happened at all without ATP

funding. Indeed, some participants said their companies

would have gone out of business had the ATP award not been made.

Forty-five percent of the respondents said they would

have attempted the project at some later date or at a

slower pace and that ATP funding enabled them to accelerate the technology. Table 5.1 shows the project

time savings attributed to ATP for those projects that reported they would have proceeded without ATP funding.

With ATP, the projects avoided delays ranging from six months to five years and more. The acceleration of some

of the projects may seem short; however, the value of even a small acceleration can be substantial. For example, the six-month lead in developing ThermoSequenase, a DNA polymerase that is both thermostable

and accurate, was significant to DNA sequencing. Speed

in developing and commercializing a technology can also mean increased global market share for U.S. producers.

A number of companies also reported other effects of

their ATP awards. Some reported that receiving their award enhanced their ability to raise additional capital.

Some reported that their award helped them form

collaborative relationships for research and commercial

activities. Others reported that receipt of their ATP award

had enabled them to gain in international

competitiveness.

What Constitutes Success and Failure for ATP?

Because individual project failure must be allowed and

tolerated in a program that focuses on overcoming

challenging technical barriers to innovation, it is essential

to take a portfolio approach to assessing ATP.

Moreover, success should be assessed against the

legislated mission of the program.

See Sun/ey of Applicants 2000, NIST GCR 03-847,

(Gaithersburg, MD: National Institute of Standards and

Technology, June 2003) and Maryann P. Feldman and

Maryelien R. Kelly, Winning an Award from the Advanced

Teclinology Program: Pursuing R&D Strategies in tfie Public

Interest and Benefiting from a Halo Effect, N I STIR 6577

(Gaithersburg, MD: National Institute of Standards and

Technology, March 2001).

OVERVIEW 25
Table 5.1 Effect of ATP Funding on Expected Timing

of Research

Number

of Projects

49

40

Effect on Project

Would not have conducted Project without

ATP funding

Would have proceeded without ATP funding,

but with delay*

Length of Delay

6 months 1 18 months 4

21 months 3

24 months or more** 8

Some other specified 2 number of months

5 years or more 10

Delay, but time unspecified 12

Total Respondents 89

Source: Advanced Technology Program First 100 Status Reports

*Another factor potentially influenced by ATP funding (the scope and scale of the project) was not explicitly covered).

**The Printed Wiring Board Joint Venture project had a split response: half the tasks would not have been done at all and

half would have been delayed by at least a year. This result is recorded conservatively in Table 5.1 as a two-year delay.

Four general tests, and several additional specific

tests—all derived from ATP's mission—if applied after

sufficient passage of time, should reveal the extent to which ATP has successfully met its mission, as

described below.

Test 1: Has the portfolio of ATP-funded projects overall produced large net social benefits for the nation?

Test 2: Has a substantial share of net social benefits

accrued to citizens and organizations beyond ATP direct award recipients?

businesses able to participate? Were manufacturing

capabilities improved?

While the ultimate answers to these success "test questions" depend on the long-run impacts of the entire

portfolio of ATP projects, the performance-to-date of the

sub-portfolio of 100 projects provides emerging answers.

There is mounting evidence that the tests for program

success are being met. First, there is strong evidence

that social benefits of the portfolio are large and exceed

program costs. Second, there are benefits extending well beyond those captured by the direct award recipients:

there is substantial evidence of knowledge and market

spillovers as others cite the project patents and use the

products. Third, there is evidence that ATP has made a

significant difference in the amount and timing of benefits, as well as having other beneficial impacts on the

companies. Fourth, there is some evidence of improvements in the competitiveness of U.S. companies.

The performance ratings show that the majority of the

projects continued to make progress in the several years

after ATP funding ended. iVloreover, the portfolio has

been shown to contain a core group of highly active and

productive projects that are successfully accomplishing

their high-risk project goals.

ATP awarded a total of $206 million to the 100

completed projects. Questions of keen interest are what

is the public investment producing in the way of benefits,

and are the tests for program success being met?

Estimated benefits attributed to ATP from just a few of the

100 projects for which quantitative economic benefits

have been provided exceed ATP's funding for all of the

100 projects. In addition, there is considerable evidence of large project benefits that have not yet been quantified.

This completes the portfolio view of ATP. Appendix A

that follows provides an overview of the 100 individual projects that make up the portfolio. Appendix B

describes reasons that some ATP-funded projects did not proceed to completion. Appendix C lists the first 100

completed projects along with their GPRS star ratings.

Test 3: Did ATP make a substantial positive difference in the size and timing of the benefits?

Test 4: Has the portfolio of ATP-funded projects

enhanced United States' economic and technological

competitiveness?

Additional specific tests of success include the following:

Did the projects produce new scientific and technical

knowledge? Did ATP increase collaboration? Were small

26 OVERVIEW
MANUFACTURING

Calmac Manufacturing Corporation

New Refrigeration Cycle To Improve 1 00-Year-Old Technology

Refrigeration is one of the leading uses of electric power in the United States. The term

"refrigeration" refers to air-conditioning for homes, businesses, and industry and the

operation of refrigerators, freezers, and heat pumps. The technology most often used in

refrigeration, the vapor compression cycle, is 100 years old, inefficient, and environmentally

unsound. Since the 1980s, the refrigeration industry has faced pressure to improve efficiency

and reduce emissions of the chloroflurocarbon (CFC) compounds used in vapor compression

cooling. Attempts to decrease CFC emissions by using alternate compounds have typically

made refrigeration devices less efficient.

Calmac Manufacturing, Inc., proposed a new, efficiency-enhancing twist on the old paradigm.

It proposed an ejector expansion refrigeration cycle (EERC) to increase the efficiency of the

cycle by recovering some of the unused energy in the compressed fluid. Calmac targeted a

10-percent reduction in energy used for air-conditioning and up to a 20-percent improvement

for other, lower temperature applications over standard vapor compression refrigeration

systems. Because Calmac lacked the internal funding resources to support such an

ambitious, but risky, project, it turned to the Advanced Technology Program (ATP). In March

1993, ATP awarded $729,000 to Calmac to pursue the development of EERC technology.

Unfortunately, scientific and technical failures prevented Calmac from successfully

developing the EERC technology and, by the project's end in February 1996, the company

had abandoned its efforts. Calmac did, however, advance the refrigeration industry's body of

knowledge for modernizing the vapor compression process, and future industry efforts may

potentially expand on the inroads made by Calmac.

COMPOSITE PERFORMANCE SCORE

(based on a four star rating) No Stars

Research and data for Status Report 92-01-0007 were collected during October-December 2001.

1 00-Year-Old Refrigeration Techniques Are

Obsolete

Vapor compression refrigeration systems use 23

percent of all electric energy in the United States. Add

the millions of gallons of gasoline burned to power

automobile air conditioners, and it is clear that any

increase in efficiency could lead to tremendous societal

benefits. Unfortunately, decades of attempts to improve

the vapor compression refrigeration system by reducing

chloroflurocarbon (CFC) emissions have not resulted in increased efficiency or reduced the environmental

impact of the system. Typically, reductions in CFC

emissions lead to decreased efficiency, requiring the use of more electric power as well as the emission of more environmental toxins from the electric-powergeneration process.

Efficient, Cleaner Refrigeration Through EERC

Calmac developed an ejector expansion refrigeration

cycle (EERC) process to improve the efficiency of vapor

compression refrigeration by recovering energy typically

lost during the process. Specifically, the EERC process uses the energy normally lost in the expansion process

to help compress the gas entering the compressor. The

CALMAC MANUFACTURING CORPORATION 261
EERC expands the liquid refrigerant in two steps. The

first step is through a specifically designed nozzle

where the liquid is used to increase the pressure of the

gas returning to the compressor. After this stage, the

liquid refrigerant is collected in a receiver where it is metered into the evaporator by conventional methods.

Prior Success Indicates Goals Are Possible

Before applying for ATP funding, Calmac had expended

significant internal resources to overcome prior EERC

failures in the industry. For example, industry efforts to achieve EERC had not generated sufficient pressure

within the ejector nozzle to enhance refrigeration

efficiency. Calmac, however, had developed techniques

to achieve a six-percent improvement in energy

expended for refrigeration through the use of the

EERC. That level of improvement was not high enough

to make the technology cost effective, but, with further research and refinement, Calmac expected a 10- percent improvement for air-conditioning and up to a 20-percent improvement for other, lower temperature

applications. IVIoreover, more efficient refrigeration

would reduce both the size of the equipment needed in the process and the potential release of CFCs into the

environment. When improvements reached the 10-

percent threshold, cost savings would then be high

enough to encourage original equipment manufacturers

(OEMs) to use the EERC process. At that point,

economic and environmental spillover could be

achieved.

Limited internal funds had hindered efforts, however, to reach the commercially viable 10-percent improvement

stage. Furthermore, given the previous failures to develop EERC technology within the industry, external

funds through the private market were not available to Calmac.

Improved Refrigeration Efficiency Has Potential

Spillover Benefits

Because refrigeration is used in almost every

residential and commercial structure, and because it accounts for such a high percentage of the nation's

consumption of electric power, improvements in <

refrigeration efficiency could result in lower overhead

costs across many industries. In the commercial

setting, cost savings could then be invested back into

product development. In the residential setting, the

decrease in money spent each month on electricity

could free up spending for a host of consumer items or

for personal savings. The potential spillover benefits

supported Calmac's proposal to receive cost-shared

funds from ATP. Therefore, in 1993, ATP awarded the

company $729,000 to pursue further development of the EERC technology.

Unforeseen Obstacles Block Increased Efficiency

and Commercialization

In the first 18 months of the project, Calmac engineers

researched materials and engineering advances that had the potential to push the EERC above the 10-

percent efficiency improvement threshold. The following

six months were spent integrating these innovations

into the EERC technology. At the start of the third year

of the project, however, Calmac encountered

unforeseen instability in the ejector's operation. Three

sources of the instability were examined, but Calmac was unable to completely pinpoint and solve the

problem. The specific operating parameters needed in the ejector for the EERC operation introduced inherent

instabilities to the system outside this design window.

Calmac conducted research into the cause of the

instability and generated extensive documentation of its findings. However, the company could not make the

EERC operate efficiently for the equipment's complete

range of operation.

Calmac encountered unforeseen instability in the

ejector's operation.

Consequently, Calmac could not commercialize a component package for retrofitting older machines or

for installation by OEIVIs because the costs were still prohibitive. When the ATP project concluded in 1996,

Calmac decided not to continue its work on EERC.

Conclusion

ATP funded Calmac's effort to develop more efficient, more environmentally friendly refrigeration technology

based on recovering the energy lost during the process.

262 CALMAC MANUFACTURING CORPORATION
However, scientific and technical failures prevented the

company fronn achieving the performance goal needed

to make the EERC technology financially viable.

Scientific and technicalfailures prevented the

companyfrom achieving the performance goal

needed to make the EERC technologyfinancially

viable.

Nevertheless, Calmac's research did add to the body of knowledge of engineering processes related to refrigeration. In the future, that knowledge may save

engineers time and money as they continue to search

for more efficient refrigeration methods.

CALMAC MANUFACTURING CORPORATION 263
PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS

Calmac Manufacturing Corporation

Project Title: New Refrigeration Cycle To Improve

100-Year-Old Technology

(Ejector Expansion Refrigeration Cycle (EERC))

Project: To improve the efficiency of refrigeration through an ejector expansion refrigeration cycle (EERC)

that recycles energy normally lost during the process. If

successful, this technology would benefit every consumer of electric power by making refrigerators, air

conditioners, and freezers substantially more efficient and cost effective.

Duration: 3/1/1993-2/29/1996 ATP Number: 92-01-0007

Funding (in thousands):

ATP Final Cost $ 729 62%

Participant Final Cost 448 38%

Total $1,177

Accomplishments: Although Calmac made

some progress in developing more efficient, more

environmentally friendly refrigeration technology based

on recovering the energy lost during the process,

technical problems prevented the company from

achieving the performance goal needed to mal<e it cost

effective. Despite this failure, however, Calmac

advanced the refrigeration industry's body of knowledge

for modernizing the vapor compression process by

identifying for the industry those EERC methods that would not work.

Commercialization Status: Caimacwas

unable to commercialize the EERC technology it worked

to develop in this ATP-funded project due to scientific and technical failures.

Outlook: Calmac has abandoned further work on

the EERC project, and there are no plans for commercialization at this time. In 2003, the outlook for

this particular project is poor.

Composite Performance Score: No stars

Number of Employees: 16 at project start, 65

as of December 2001

Company:

Calmac Manufacturing Corporation (formerly Inc.) 101 West Sheffield Avenue

Englewood, NJ 07631

Contact: CalvIn D. MacCracken Phone: (20i) 569-042o

Research and data for Status Report 92-01-0007 were collected during October-December 2001

.

264 CALMAC MANUFACTURING CORPORATION
MANUFACTURING

Corning Tropel (formerly Tropel Corporation)

Improving Measurement Accuracy and Speed Using Optical,

Noncontact Technology

Many precision fabrication industries, sucli as fuel-injector and bearing manufacturing, rely

on precise measurement techniques to sustain dimensional accuracy. During the early to mid-1990s, the primary technologies used to measure surface forms, particularly complex

surface forms, failed to keep pace with the growing need to improve speed and accuracy

through in-process measurement of these surfaces. Accordingly, Tropel Corporation, one of

the world's leading small optics companies, sought to meet this need by developing its unique noncontact, optical interferometric measurement technology. In 1995, the company

applied for and received funding through the Advanced Technology Program (ATP) to develop this new technology. By project conclusion in 1998, Tropel had developed a laser

interferometry measuring system for complex shapes that increased measurement speed by

a factor of 10 to 20 times and improved dimensional measurement accuracy by 2 to 5 times

more than the mechanical measurement. Through these research and development

accomplishments, Tropel was able to commercialize its CylinderMasterTM machine. Since the

project ended, Tropel has sold more than a dozen machines worldwide.

COMPOSITE PERFORMANCE SCORE

(based on a four star rating) * * *

Research and data for Status Report 95-01-0022 were collected during July - September 2001.

Existing Measurement Instruments Were

Slow and Costly

deteriorates because of thermal and other drifts. Data

acquisition was limited to a few points per second with

CMMs. Moreover, these machines did not permit in- process measurement of surfaces, which would let machine operators measure a surface before a process

and make any necessary changes before completing

the entire manufacturing loop. The need for greater in- process testing to improve the quality of manufacturing

processes drove the evolving industry's need to measure machined part dimensions at higher speeds,

with greater accuracy, and at lower costs.

Precision manufacturing has always required a great

deal of dimensional accuracy. It relies on performing

exact measurements of component surfaces during the

manufacturing process. Methods used for this type of measurement before the mid-1990s were reliable, but

painstakingly slow and costly, causing major

bottlenecks that affected the productivity of industries

such as automotive and bearing manufacturing. During

this time, coordinate measuring machines (CMMs) and

precision roundness gauges were the backbone of general-purpose shape measurement; however, these

machines had several limitations.

Particularly challenging to the precision manufacturing

industry was the need to measure complex shapes,

such as cylinders and cones, which had to be

measured by physical contact. At the time, most

manufacturers used CMMs to perform these

measurements. CMMs move tiny contact probes

around the surface and build up a set of measurement

When a large number of points are needed to characterize a surface, the data-acquisition time

becomes prohibitive, and the accuracy of the data often

CORNING TROPEL 265
points that are used to ensure that the object measured

is within certain dimensional tolerances. The process was slow, however, and could not be used for real-time

control.

Measuring Complex Shapes Requires New

Technology

Even companies that had mastered methods for measuring simple, flat surfaces struggled to develop new methods for measuring complex shapes. Tropel

Corporation, one of the world's leading small optics

companies, teamed with Cummins Engine to develop a new approach for measuring complex surfaces using

optical, noncontact methods.

Particularly challenging to the precision

manufacturing industry was the need to measure

complex shapes, such as cylinders and cones,

which had to be measured by physical contact.

Tropel proposed to investigate advanced optical

interferometric methods for measuring complex

machined surfaces that would allow in-process

characterization of these surfaces. Interferometry had

been used successfully for many years to accurately

and rapidly measure simple shapes such as spheres

and flat surfaces. Common optical systems, such as

laser interferometry, worked well for simple surfaces

because they were able to accurately create the optical

wavefronts that conform to and, therefore, permit the

measurement of such surfaces. However, more

complex surface forms, such as cylinders and cones,

could not be easily measured by these common optical

components, because the components were unable to create the complex wavefronts (conical or axiconical)

required to test such surfaces. Therefore,

accomplishing accurate yet rapid measurements of complex surface forms was challenging. The complexity

of the technology and the failures of other CMIVl

manufacturers to develop new methods caused Tropel

to seek support for its technology development efforts.

In 1995, the company applied for and received ATP

funding. "

An example of the imaging capabilities that were possible using the CylinderMasterTM machine.

Tropel's unique approach used diffractive optics (DOs)

to apply the multiplexing and noncontact advantages of laser interferometry to more complex shapes. The

company planned to use DOs to produce complex

wavefronts by applying the same lithography techniques

that were common in the semiconductor industry for processing silicon wafers. DOs allow wavefronts to be

designed or engineered with a nearly arbitrary shape

from a software description. Thus, with DOs,

interferometry could be used with a much broader class

of surfaces, limited only by the ability to mathematically

describe the desired wavefront or surface. It was

predicted that replacing mechanical measurement

systems with laser interferometry systems would

improve the speed and accuracy of complex surface

measurements.

Tropel Faces Technical and Business Barriers

The project's technical and business risks were

particularly daunting for a company as small as Tropel.

For example, major technical risks included the use of DOs for this type of measurement, since this technology was in its infancy at the time; the self-alignment and

automatic operation elements of the proposed

technology; and the fact that completing the dimensional

measurements required analyzing large amounts of data.

266 CORNING TROPEL
Assuming technicai success, the major business risk was that the techniques proposed were radically

different from the existing ones, and no other equivalent

technology existed. Tropel knew that there would be a

long acceptance period before manufacturers and other

end users would readily adopt these technologies.

The new technology increased measurement

speed by a factor of 10 to 20 times and improved

dimensional measurement accuracy by a factor o)

2 to 5 times.

By project conclusion in 1998, Tropel had successfully

improved measurement accuracies to the submicron

level and had reduced measuring time to less than one

minute. Tropel was able to develop a prototype, the

CylinderlVIasterTM, which measures shape and form,

and Cummins performed tests on this prototype

machine. However, as discussed earlier, the measuring

machine used techniques that were very different from

the techniques normally used at that time. Cummins

was dissatisfied with the results of the new technology

because the company had difficulty correlating

measurements by the prototype machine with data

obtained from existing instruments. Consequently,

Cummins ended its participation in the ATP project at the testing stage.

Despite losing its strategic partner, Tropel continued

developing the technology and was able to perform in- plant demonstrations. Additionally, the company

disseminated its knowledge to others, allowing the

University of North Carolina at Charlotte to use the

machine for research purposes.

CylinderMasterTM Improvements in Speed and

Accuracy Lead to Success

These improvements allowed Tropel to find enough

support for its technology to commercialize the

CylinderMasterTM in 1998, shortly after the ATP project

concluded.

Through this project, the company successfully

developed the basis for its CylinderMasterTM

product, which is now being used throughout the

world.

Since then, Tropel (now Corning Tropel) has sold more

than a dozen machines for $200,000 each. This success has allowed the company to establish a

worldwide, three-year sales agreement with Carl Zeiss

IMT for Tropel's metrology instruments business.

Conclusion

Manufacturing industries are constantly striving to improve the speed and accuracy of their processes.

One major aspect involved in the process is the

measurement system that is used to ensure that the

parts produced are within the required dimensional

tolerances.

Measurement techniques used during the time of this ATP project were fairly accurate, but painstakingly slow.

To meet the need for a more precise and quicker

method, Tropel sought ATP's assistance in developing

its unique optical interferometric measurement

technology based on diffractive optics. Through this

project, the company successfully developed the basis

for its CylinderMasterTM product, which is now being

used throughout the world to improve the accuracy and

speed with which complex shapes are measured in precision manufacturing plants.

The new technology increased measurement speed by

a factor of 1 0 to 20 times and improved dimensional

measurement accuracy by a factor of 2 to 5 times.

CORNING TROPEL 267
PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS

Corning Tropel (formerly Tropel Corporation)

Project Title: improving Measurement Accuracy and Speed

Using Optical, Noncontact Technology

(NoncontBCt Optical Metrology of Complex Surface Forms for Predsion Industrial Manufacturing)

Project: To develop a unique optical interferometric measurement technology based on diffractive optics to enable

high-speed, in-process, noncontact measurement of complex

shapes, such as cylinders and cones, in a manufacturing

environment.

Duration: 8/1/1995-3/31/1998 ATP Number: 95-01-0022

Funding (in thousands):

ATP Final Cost S 924 45%

Participant Final Cost 1.115 55%

Total S 2,039

Accomplishments: Through this project. Tropel

accelerated the development of its optical measurement

technology and achieved important milestones leading to its technological successes. The company improved dimensional measurement accuracies to the submicron level and reduced measuring time to less than one minute. The project's accomplishments also enhanced the company's reputation as an

innovative optical metrology company, and they experienced a 1 0-

to 1 5-percent increase in revenue and employment.

Tropel received the following five patents as a result of technology

related to the ATP project:

o "Diffraction management for grazing incidence

interferometer" (No. 5,719,676: filed April 12, 1996; granted February

17, 1998)

o 'Object fixturing in interferometer" (No. 5,684,594: filed April 18. 1996; granted November

4, 1997)

c "Fringe pattern discriminator for interferometer using

diffraction gratings" (No. 5,724,137: filed June 27, 1996; granted March 3, 1998)

o "Interferometric measurement of tone surfaces at grazing incidence'

(No. 5,889,591: filed October 17.1996: granted March

30. 1999)

o "Interferometiic measurement of absolute dimensions of

cylindrical surfaces at grazing incidence" (No. 5.777.738: filed March 17, 1997; granted July 7, 1998)

The developers of the technology made several presentations and

wrote numerous papers explaining the technology. The following presentations and papers are a sampling:

o Kulawiec. A.W. and J.H. Bruning. "Applications of

DrffractiVe Optics to Three-Dimensional Surface Form

Measurements." 1996 Annual Meeting of the Optical Society of America, Paper TuH3. Rochester. NY,

October 20-24, 1996.

o Kulawiec, A.W., J.F. Fleig, and J.H. Bruning,

"Interferometiic Measurements of Absolute Dimensions

of Cylindrical Surfaces," 1997 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Precision Engineering. Norfolk, VA,

October 5-10. 1997.

Commercialization Status: Before this atp project, Tropel conceived of a cylinder-measuring instrument and had

established a proof of concept. Through the ATP-funded project, the company was able to develop a prototype of the metrology

Instiument. In 1998. after the conclusion of the ATP project, Tropel

successfully commercialized its CyiinderMasterTM product. They

have sold two to three CylinderMasters^ (5200,000 each) per year

over the past five years and have established a woridwide, three- year sales and marketing agreement wnh Cari Zeiss IMT for Tropel's metrology instruments business.

Outlook: Currentiy, the technology is aimed at a spedfic, high- end, precision manufactijring segment. Tropel (now Coming

Tropel) expects its CylinderMasterTM to experience limited growth

over the next couple of years as the firm continues to develop an

increased market for the instrument. Coming Tropel is seeking to expand the development of this technology by adding new

capabilities that would be useful for process manufacturing, such

as the ability to measure size and diameter, in addition to

268 CORNING TROPEL
measuring shape and form. The company is exploring additional

applications for its technology, such as fiber-optics packaging for the telecommunications industry.

Composite Performance Score: * * *

Number of Employees: 120 employees at project start, 260 as of September 2001

Company:

Corning Tropel 60 O'Connor Road

Fairport, NY 14450

Contact: Andrew Kulawiec Phone: (7i6) 388-3410

Subcontractors and Strategic Partners:

INTI Electronics Cummins Engine

Research and data for Status Report 95-01-0022 were collected during July - September 2001

CORNING TROPEL 269
MANUFACTURING

Dana Corporation

Magnetic Pulse Welding Process To Decrease Vehicle Weight and Increase

Fuel Efficiency

Looking forward in 1 995, automobile manufacturers identified a potential shift in customer

preferences to lighter weight, fuel-efficient automobiles; fuel-cell powered cars; and hybrid

gas/electric vehicles. To make existing cars more fuel efficient and to meet the coming needs

of alternatively powered vehicles, automobile original equipment manufacturers (OEMs)

needed lighter components. These same OEMs, however, recognized that the 1995

generation of automobile components was manufactured as light as they could be using the

existing technology. Therefore, improved efficiency could only be gained by using new,

lighter weight materials, such as aluminum, and new manufacturing processes that reduced

the use (and therefore the weight) of steel in welding. The Advanced Technology Program's

(ATP) Focused Program, Motor Vehicle Manufacturing Technology, provided Dana

Corporation with the necessary funding to develop technology to bond aluminum to steel

without depositing additional metal at the weld site. Dana Corporation developed a functional

magnetic pulse welding machine prototype to manufacture automobile parts that are twothirds lighter Once installed into vehicles, these lighter parts would result in increased fuel

efficiency of 8 to 10 percent. Since the project ended in 1998, automakers have contacted

Dana Corporation about using magnetic pulse welded materials in their vehicles.

COMPOSITE PERFORMANCE SCORE

(based on a four star rating) * * *

Research and data for Status Report 95-02-0055 were collected during October - December 2001.

Current Welding Technology Increases Component

Weight

The welding method commonly used before this ATPfunded project deposited substantial amounts of

additional metal onto the joint. This additional metal was critical to the integrity of the weld because it flowed

into the materials to be joined, hardened, and formed

into an intermolecular bond. While this bond was

extremely strong, the added metal from each weld

could increase the part's weight by up to 10 percent,

thereby decreasing fuel efficiency.

The challenge that the industry faced was how to join different metals together so that the assembled

components had the desired stiffness, strength, and

dimensional quality. Current manufacturing

technologies that provided multi-metallic joints, such as

the use of fasteners or adhesives, require additional

implementation expense, such as processes and

special design features, and may not achieve

acceptable levels of strength and dimensional quality.

Attachment processes are critical to performance in weight-reduction initiatives involving rotating

assemblies, such as driveshafts. Minimizing forcing

functions related to both the shaft's mass and

dimensional quality necessitated a new assembly

approach, especially when using large-diameter, thin- walled tubular components.

ATP Funds Development of Magnetic Pulse

Welding Process

ATP's Focused Program, Motor Vehicle Manufacturing

Technology, to develop a novel technology for bonding

aluminum to steel without depositing additional metal at the weld site. ATP awarded the company $2.0 million

for a three-year research program. The company's

In 1995, Dana Corporation submitted a proposal to

DANA CORPORATION 271
proposed magnetic pulse welding process begins by

subjecting preshaped aluminum and steel tubular stocl<

to high pressure within precision die cavities machined

directly from computer-aided design files. This process,

called hydroforming, leads to more precisely fitting

structural components, which require little overlap or fill material for the subsequent welding steps.

The welding method commonly used before this

A TP-fundedproject deposited substantial

amounts ofadditional metal onto the joint.

These hydroformed parts are then fitted loosely

together. An inductor is utilized either internally or

externally to create a rapidly switching magnetic field that causes one of the metallic components to form

quickly and finally impact the other "stationary" metallic

part with sufficient velocity and force to create a

metallurgical bond. Implementation of this process

would require new machinery capable of generating

proper welds in complex geometric arrangements.

Because of these project risks, automobile parts

manufacturers had only studied the technology, but had

not taken steps to develop it.

New Welding Process Promises Wide-Ranging

Benefits

Dana Corporation envisioned that its new process

would enhance manufacturing productivity through a

simplified welding process that offered a reduction in manufacturing steps, materials, equipment, and

personnel expenses. One predicted benefit to the

original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and

automobile purchasers was a vehicle frame that was

two-thirds lighter, which would result in an 8- to 10- percent improvement in vehicle fuel efficiency.

Increased fuel efficiency, in turn, would reduce air pollution. Moreover, Dana Corporation's process could

potentially reduce the energy consumed in joining

components and eliminate the shielding gases

associated with conventional welding, benefits that would further decrease air pollution.

If U.S. -manufactured vehicles became less expensive

to manufacture, operate, and recycle, U.S. competitiveness could be enhanced, and domestic

Frames, side rails, cradles, stampings, space frames, and bumper

reinforcements are a few examples of automobile products produced more efficiently due to the magnetic pulse welding process.

automobile companies would realize a higher market

share. Moreover, the new technology could benefit

other industries that need to efficiently join dissimilar

metals. Combining hydroforming with magnetic pulse

welding could result in nearly limitless possibilities to improve any industry that requires machined metal or welding. New lighter, stronger, and potentially more

efficient structures could be created, and costs could be

reduced. The strong potential for economic spillover

made the project more attractive to ATP.

Dana Corporation Overcomes Project Roadblocks

During the project, Dana Corporation's team faced

daunting technical roadblocks that threatened to derail the project. The prototype magnetic pulse welder, as

originally designed, forged a new path for shop floor assembly power distribution and required a substantial

risk assessment that took many months of the initial

installation. The welding process utilized a rapidly

changing magnetic field derived from the rapid release

of high-voltage and high-current electricity through the

welding circuitry. Concerns and design revisions

addressed changes to the power distribution and

insulation of the elements to prevent the potential of

electrical arc-off that could compromise components of the equipment. The Dana Corporation team took nearly a year to resolve these safety problems, and, by

October 1996, the machine was operating safely and more efficiently.

A second technical challenge was to determine the

proper geometric relationship between the mating

components to be welded. The weld angle, for example,

ultimately determines a shape configuration that

272 DANA CORPORATION
influences the design for hydroformed tube ends. The

shape factor is important because precisely formed

tubes allow strong, smooth bonds without the need to deposit additional metal on top of deformities. A

challenge throughout the project was to understand the

relationship between weld angle, part size, and power

distributed to the weld surface. After much effort, Dana

Corporation determined the appropriate parameters for particular tubes, created prototypes, and sent the

prototypes to automobile OEMs for testing. A third technical challenge was to develop consistent

metallurgical bonds.

OEMs are rethinking their automobiles

'

structures andpowertrains to find cost savings

andfuel efficiencies that were not thought

possible before this project.

The goal was to create bonds strong enough that, even

under extreme torque, the tube warped before the bond

failed. The team achieved this goal; moreover, there was virtually no gross distortion associated with this welding process once the company refined the process.

It could be used to join combinations of low-carbon

steel, aluminum, and stainless steel in a variety of geometries.

ATP-Funded Technique Applies to Other Industrial

Applications

Despite delays, Dana Corporation's advanced welding

method has the potential to change entire industries. Dana Corporation engineers continue to work on

production technology transfer in this post-project

phase and, as of mid-2001 , imminent commercialization was anticipated with a machine expected on the

production floor by fourth quarter of 2002. Technical

issues have been solved, a proof of concept has been

developed, and automobile OEMs now recognize the

value of magnetic pulse welding. When

commercialization is achieved, the new welding process

promises to deliver driveshafts that are straighter and

lighter, experience less vibration, and enable new

geometries that could change the configuration of automobile transmissions and undercarriages.

Dana Corporation's process is the most advanced of its kind in the industry. Automotive industry news indicates

that BMW attempted to use friction welding to accomplish a similar result, but could not forge strong

enough bonds in their bimetallic driveshafts. According

to Dana Corporation executives, because of ATP's

funding and the company's innovation, major

automobile manufacturers are conducting studies on how to incorporate magnetic pulse welding into their production. Since the ATP project disproved the old paradigm that dissimilar metals could not be structurally

welded, OEMs are rethinking their automobiles'

structures and powertrains to find cost savings and fuel efficiencies that were not thought possible before this project.

While clearly important to the automobile industry,

magnetic pulse welding has wider applicability.

Bimetallic welding enables lighter structures in new

shapes and allows for cost savings in a way that could

revolutionize the design and manufacture of many kinds

of metal-based products.

Conclusion

ATP funded the development of a new welding method

to join dissimilar metals (something never before

accomplished for productive structural shapes). Dana

Corporation developed magnetic pulse welding and is poised to begin selling components into automotive

production. Moreover, the company received four patents as a result of the ATP-funded project. The

company had also filed several other patents that had

not yet been granted when this project case study was

compiled. Magnetic pulse welding has the potential to change the way many kinds of metal items are manufactured by making them lighter, assembled with

greater dimensional accuracy, less expensive, and

easier to assemble.

DANA CORPORATION 273
PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS

Dana Corporation

Project Title: Magnetic Pulse Welding Process To Decrease

Vehicle Weight and Increase Fuel Efficiency (Advanced Welding

Technology-A Phase Shift for Metallurgical Manufacturing)

Project: To develop a versatile manufacturing process

(implemented by a new machine that combines a precision metalforming step with an unconventional welding method that is capable of joining dissimilar metals) to build lower cost, lower weight aluminum and steel load-bearing structures, such as car and truck frames. The process requires precisely crafted and machined tubes of metal bonded by heat generated by a rapidly

shifting magnetic field.

Duration: 9/10/95-9/9/98 ATP Number: 95-02 0055

Funding** (in thousands):

ATP Final Cost $2,000 47%

Participant Final Cost 2,221 53%

Total $4,221

Accomplishments: Through ATP funding of this

technology, Dana Corporation created a process for welding

tubular steel to aluminum without depositing additional metal, overcame technical barriers to join dissimilar metals, enabled new

geometries for automobile undercarriages, and maintained the

potential to increase fuel efficiency and create a phase shift in automobile manufacturing.

Dana Corporation holds four U.S. patents as a result of this ATP-funded technology and has filed for several others siill in the approval process. The patents granted are:

o "Molecular bonding of vehicle frame components

using magnetic impulse welding techniques"

(No. 6,104,012: filed June 14, 1996, granted August

15, 2000)

o "Method of magnetic pulse welding an end fitting to a

driveshaft tube of a vehicular driveshaft" (No. 5,981,921: filed June 20, 1997, granted November 9, 1999)

o "Method for joining vehicular frame components"

(No. 5,966,813: filed December 13, 1997, granted October 19, 1999)

o "Molecular bonding of vehicle frame components using

magnetic impulse welding techniques"

(No. 6,234,375: filed August 22, 1998, granted May 22, 2001)

Commercialization Status: Despite delays, Dana

Corporation views commercialization of the technology as imminent. The only remaining barrier is to complete extensive durability testing at

original equipment manufacturer (OEM) sites, something Dana

Corporation expects will occur by the end of 2002. The big U.S. automakers, as well as European companies, have contacted Dana

Corporation about using magnetic pulse welded materials in their

vehicles. Moreover, the company is ready to provide component parts

for fuel-cell or hybrid-electric cars, if and when they are produced in

larger volume.

Outlook: The outlook for this technology is good. Safety-related concerns and other manufacturing difficulties delayed

commercialization of this manufacturing process, but Dana Corporation has overcome these difficulties. If commercialization occurs as planned,

the benefits to automobile manufacturers, automobile purchasers, other

industries requiring metal components, and the U.S. economy as a whole could be substantial.

Composite Performance Score: * *

*

Focused Program: Motor vehicle Manufacturing Technology, 1995

Company:

Dana Corporation Robeson & Weiser Streets P.O. Box 13459

Reading, PA 19612

Contact: Bob Durand Phone: (6io) 371-7111

As of December 9, 1 997, large single applicant firms are required to pay 60% of all ATP project costs.

Prior to this date, single applicant firms, regardless of size, were required to pay indirect costs.

Research and data for Status Report 95-02-0055 were collected during October - December 2001

274 DANA CORPORATION
MANUFACTURING

General Electric Corporate Research & Development

Mercury-Free Lighting Could Provide Environmental and Economic Benefits

In 1994, William Woodburn, then vice president of worldwide marketing for General Electric

(GE) Lighting, made the following statement regarding the lighting industry: "What was a

relatively stable industry dating back to Thomas Edison's invention, with innovations coming

at an evolutionary pace, has accelerated into a revolutionary outpouring of new technology

and new products." During the early 1990s, many companies engaged in research and

development to create technologies that would lead to further innovation in this field. One

impetus behind these initiatives was the need to create lighting systems that are friendlier to the environment, a goal that led companies to focus on developing mercury-free lighting

technologies. Many of these efforts centered on an earlier innovation-fluorescent lighting. GE

focused on developing mercury-free fluorescent lighting because it recognized the

technology's potential economic and environmental benefits. Because the technical risks

were too high for internal funding, given the required rates of return when compared with less

environmentally friendly products, GE submitted a project proposal in 1993 to seek co- funding from the Advanced Technology Program (ATP). Although the company did not

achieve its goal of developing mercury-free fluorescent lighting for existing sockets, it did

advance the state of the art of mercury-free fluorescent lighting. GE also used the

technologies developed during this three-year project to improve conventional fluorescent

lighting. Moreover, the company published papers and gave presentations on the subject

and received three patents for technologies related to this ATP project.

COMPOSITE PERFORMANCE SCORE

(based on a four star rating) *

Research and data for Status Report 92-01-0132 were collected during October - December 2001.

Mercury-Filled Products Burden the Lighting

Industry Fluorescent tubes contain mercury vapor, a

substance that is toxic. In the early 1990s, it cost

$275 million annually to dispose offluorescent

tubes, greatly burdening the industry and its end

For more than 62 years, fluorescent lighting has been

used in offices and homes as a low-cost, energy-saving

power source. Fluorescent bulbs last longer, are more

energy efficient than incandescent bulbs, and have

reduced the load on power plants. But there is a downside, fluorescent tubes contain mercury vapor, a substance that is toxic. In the early 1990s, it cost $275

million annually to dispose of fluorescent tubes in an

environmentally sound manner, greatly burdening the

industry and its end users. In fact, during this period,

several states enacted legislation to ban or limit the

disposal of any products containing mercury.

Two essential elements are involved in fluorescent

lighting: plasma and phosphors. In a fluorescent tube,

electrical energy is used to excite electrons in conducting plasma, which emits ultraviolet photons that then strike a phosphorescent layer on the inner surface

of the tube, emitting visible light. Mercury is used in plasma because it converts electrical energy into

users.

GENERAL ELECTRIC 275
relatively low-energy ultraviolet photons with a high

level of efficiency.

Phosphor and Plasma Technology To Replace

Mercury-Filled Systems

In 1992, GE proposed to use ATP co-funding to develop a lighting source that was more

environmentally safe and as cost efficient as the original

fluorescent bulb. GE pursued research to develop a low-pressure xenon-positive column discharge, which

would excite the phosphor to create white light.

GEproposed to use A TP co-funding to develop a

lighting source that yvas more environmentally

safe and as cost efficient as the original

fluorescent bulb.

This discharge would replace the mercury gas

discharge used in existing fluorescent lamps. GE's plan was to develop the two essential parts of the lamp: 1

)

the mercury-free discharge to produce the ultraviolet

light and 2) the quantum-splitting phosphor that would

convert the ultraviolet light into acceptable visible light. To replace the mercury, it was necessary to find a lowpressure plasma source that was comparable to the

high efficiency level of mercury (roughly 65 percent)

and was compatible with existing phosphors.

The difficulty was to create a mercury-free product that could be used immediately in current socket structures,

since GE anticipated there would be low market

penetration for a product that used new socket

structures. Therefore, the company decided to concentrate its efforts on developing commercial

phosphors and on lowering the amount of mercury in its current fluorescent lights, rather than creating a new

mercury-free product. The technical risks for this project were too high to allow GE to use internal funds because

other, less environmentally friendly products could

produce a higher rate of return. The potential broad

benefits to the economy and the environment from this project, however, could be significant.

Partnerships Contribute to Technical Success

GE's alliance with ATP gave the company access to

rich resources throughout the life of the project and

allowed GE to gain the support of valuable university

subcontractors to perform some of the research. For example, the California Institute of Technology studied

circuit topologies in an effort to develop a ballast prototype to contain the mercury-free light. (The ballast

starts the lamp and then regulates the electric current

that flows into it.) The University of Wisconsin helped in assessing plasmas as ultraviolet light sources. Access

to the expertise at these universities proved invaluable

to the research.

GE achieved spin-offbenefits related to the

development ofquantum-splitting phosphors.

The completed work on quantum-splitting

phosphors led to an increased interest among

universities.

Through ATP, GE met another ATP award recipient,

Photonics Imaging, which manufactures plasma flat panel displays (PFPDs). A technology overlap existed

between GE's primary path in this project and Photonics

Imaging's primary path in developing PFPDs. GE's path

involved low-pressure xenon-positive column discharge

and an efficient phosphor used to create white light. Photonics Imaging's path was aimed at an intermittent atmospheric-pressure discharge in a gas mixture

containing xenon, which excites phosphors to create

red, green, and blue pixels. Through discussions

regarding similar uses of phosphor technology, the

companies shared knowledge that proved valuable to both efforts.

GE Encounters Technical Difficulties, but Realizes

Spin-Off Opportunities

GE was able to achieve operating conditions under

which a direct-current xenon discharge reached

approximately two-thirds of the efficiency and output of a conventional fluorescent lamp. Unfortunately, the

research team was not able to achieve its goal of a candidate discharge (low-pressure xenon-positive

column) that was highly efficient at a high-discharge

power density.

However, GE achieved spin-off benefits related to the

development of quantum-splitting phosphors as well as

technologies that can be used in any type of fluorescent

276 GENERAL ELECTRIC
lighting. Tlie completed worl< on quantum-splitting

pliosphors led to an Increased interest among

universities and within GE to further develop such

phosphors. GE is currently pursuing additional research

and development efforts in this area.

The following technologies developed through this ATP

project can be used in any type of fluorescent lighting:

o Lifelong, low-pressure cathodes, which led

to higher lamp efficiency, lower ballast costs, and better performance from lamps

that are frequently switched. These

cathodes are used in a range of applications, from basic lighting to electron

microscopes and plasma cathode electron

guns.

o Electronic ballasts, which have advantages

over conventional electromagnetic ballasts,

including smaller size, lower weight, higher

efficiency, and faster starting and dimming

capability. This cheaper, more efficient method of applying power electronics to improve traditional fluorescent lighting

eliminates flickering and reduces the

acoustic noise associated with fluorescent

bulbs.

o Electromagnetic shielding of ballast, lamp,

and phosphors, which led to higher

efficiencies by protecting the power system

from spil<es in energy and from the heat of the lamp.

Conclusion

Through the research performed during this project, GE

made advances in the design and production of quantum-splitting phosphors. Although GE was not able

to develop a mercury-free fluorescent light that is as

efficient as mercury filled lights, the technologies

developed have been used to improve conventional

fluorescent lighting. For example, oxide quantumsplitting phosphors are being used generically in conventional fluorescent lights and in the development

of miniature lamps.
PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS

General Electric Corporate Research & Development

Project Title: Mercury-Free Lighting Could Provide

Environmental and Economic Benefits (Mercury-Free

Fluorescent Lighting)

Project: To demonstrate the feasibility of developing an

environmentally safe, cost-competitive fluorescent lamp source

that is as efficient as the currently used mercury-filled

fluorescent lamps.

Duration: 5/10/1993-5/9/1996 ATP Number: 92-01-0132

Funding** (in thousands):

ATP Final Cost $1,336 40%

Participant Final Cost 2.044 60%

Total $3,380

Accomplishments: Through the ATP funded project, GE made improvements in the design and production of

quantum-splitting phosphors. Although the company did not develop efficient mercury-free fluorescent light, the technologies developed have been used to improve

conventional fluorescent lighting. GE also accomplished the

following:

O Achieved a breakthrough in getting quantum-splitting phosphors to work in everyday chemicals (oxide- based) that are regularly used in manufacturing o Published several technical papers and gave

presentations regarding the mercury-free fluorescent lamp program and research that was conducted during

the project O Received the following patents for technologies related

to the ATP project:

Commercialization Status: ge was not able to commercialize the technologies that were developed under this

project. The company is continuing to work to develop a commercial phosphor, however, and is concentrating its efforts on lowering the amount of mercury in existing fluorescent lights.

Outlook: While a clear path does not seem to exist for replacing mercury-filled fluorescent lighting with a mercury-free

product, the research and development conducted during this

project has led to further development in fluorescent technology. GE continues to improve its ability to measure phosphorquantum efficiencies and to assess new candidate phosphor

material, working toward its goal of developing a quantumsplitting phosphor that can be manufactured.

Composite Performance Score:

*

Company:

General Electric Corporate Research & Development One Research Circle Niskayuna, NY 12309

Contact: Dr. Timothy Sommerer Phone: (518) 387-6440

Subcontractors:

California Institute of Technology

University of Wisconsin

• "Quantum splitting oxide phosphor and method of making"

(No. 5,571,451: filed January 3, 1995, granted November 5, 1996)

• "Determination process for determining if quantum

splitting phosphors are obtained and novel compositions"

(No. 5,788,883: filed February 28, 1997, granted August 4, 1998)

• "Mercury-free ultraviolet discharge source"

(No. 5,866,984: filed November 6, 1997, granted February 2, 1999)

As of December 9, 1997, large single applicant firms are required to pay 60% of all ATP project costs.

Prior to this date, single applicant firms, regardless of size, were required to pay indirect costs.

Research and data for Status Report 92-01-0132 were collected during October - December 2001.

278 GENERAL ELECTRIC
MANUFACTURING

Ingersoll Milling Machine Company

Octahedral Hexapod Design Promises Enhanced Machine Performance

In the field of advanced machine tools, enhanced performance is seldom achieved without

greater design complexity, reduced operational flexibility, and higher costs. These drawbacks

have stalled innovation in the U.S. machine tool industry, where most research and

development (R&D) efforts focus on incremental improvements to conventional machines.

Ingersoll Milling Machine Company developed its octahedral hexapod prototype, which

promised superior accuracy, stiffness, and speed, as well as lower prices, shorter delivery

times, simpler assembly, and greater accessibility. Further development of the octahedral

hexapod tool concept had the potential to boost U.S. status in a competitive international

market and to bolster smaller manufacturing companies by meeting their need for highprecision machine tools at an affordable price. However, because the industry viewed

Ingersoll's prototype as a radical design and its continued development as too high risk to fund,

the company sought and received funding from the Advanced Technology Program (ATP).

Since 1996, when the project ended, sales of the octahedral hexapod machine have been

limited to three laboratories. However, Ingersoll's R&D during the ATP project laid the

foundation for eventually bringing the octahedral hexapod to maturity. Moreover, the

company's efforts have resulted in additional research by two-dozen machine companies that are currently investigating this machine tool.

COMPOSITE PERFORMANCE SCORE

(based on a four star rating) *

Research and data for Status Report 92-01-0034 were collected during October - December 2001.

Manufacturing Industry Needs More Precise Tools

The machine tool industry depends heavily on stackedaxis computer-numerical-control (CNC) machines,

which achieve a specified position and orientation of the

spindle by controlling individually as many as six positioning axes (X, Y, Z, roll, pitch, and yaw). The CNC

commands up to six separate movements, each

performed independently, whose combined effects produce a target position. However, the stacked-axis

machine architecture generates cumulative error. This occurs because inexact positioning on one axis

dislocates the positioning of the spindle on the next

axis, which multiplies the imprecision with each

subsequent adjustment. In addition to this design

shortcoming, the traditional stacked-axis machine

requires a massive granite foundation for stability. This

results in a cumbersome unit that takes up considerable

factory floor space and is difficult to transport.

The manufacturing industry desired a more precise tool. The development of a high-precision, low-cost machine

tool became imperative for small companies' ability to enhance the quality of U.S. products. Moreover,

innovation was vital for the United States to improve its position in the machine tool industry (the nation lagged

behind Japan and Germany in a competitive market,

with domestic manufacturing companies importing $1.6

billion in machine tools in 1 991 ).

The Octahedral Hexapod Offers Promise

In 1987, a radical concept caught the attention of engineers at Ingersoll. Eventually called the octahedral

hexapod, this novel design creatively employs the

Stewart platform concept, most commonly known for its application in flight simulators. The Stewart platform, a

floating base supported or suspended by six actuators,

is familiar to several generations of pilots (it was the

basis for the design of the Link flight simulator).

INGERSOLL MILLING MACHINE COMPANY 279
The octahedron, a regular geometric shape of eight

equilateral triangles, is built on an octahedral frame and

a Stewart platform actuation, the hexapod. Machining

operations take place within the octahedral frame, and

the struts, or the pods of the hexapod, directly translate the force generated during the machining operation to the six vertices of the octahedral frame. The shape has

such stiffness that when a load is applied, the frame

responds by distributing the weight of the load evenly

throughout the shape, eliminating much of the bending

because of the shape's stiffness. Furthermore, the six axes are in simultaneous movements rather than the

independent sequential movements experienced with

the CNC machine. Hence, the shape of the octahedral

hexapod tool would offer six times the machine stiffness and five times the position accuracy of the traditional CNC machines.

Under the ATP award, Ingersoll planned to use a

laboratory prototype octahedral hexapod machine

(which they had constructed prior to the ATP project

with their own funding) to develop detailed baseline

data on the performance of the design. Then they

would try various enhancements to improve and measure machine precision. The results would be used

to design a future class of commercial machines based

on the octahedral hexapod concept.

ATP Provides Early Catalyst for R&D Proliferation

As indicated by the numerous predicted uses of the

octahedral hexapod, this technology has the potential to substantially impact a wide range of manufacturing

industries across the supply chain. However, the risk of funding research for such a radical design was too high

for either machine tool companies or their manufacturing clients. Moreover, if Ingersoll absorbed

the cost of the extensive R&D required to fully develop

the octahedral hexapod, it would have to subsequently

increase the cost of its machine tools by at least 20

percent. This cost escalation would put their products in a range that would be prohibitive for many smaller

companies, such as those who provided parts for the

automobile industry.

The concept demonstrated the potential to evolve into a machine tool that offered double the accuracy at a

selling price and life cycle cost that was 30 percent less than that of the best existing technology. Therefore,

ATP awarded cost-shared funding to Ingersoll.

Project Slowly Overcomes Technical Obstacles

With a prototype of the octahedral hexapod as a

starting point, Ingersoll set out to design and develop

several applications to achieve the machine tool's maximum potential for improved accuracy and

precision. Though the design concept itself was in place, other components essential to achieving these

performance objectives needed to be developed.

This technology has the potential to substantially

impact a wide range ofmanufacturing industries.

A key step of this process was the development of a computer control system and accompanying software

that were capable of processing the complex

algorithmic calculations necessary to command the

parallel movement of the hexapod's six struts. To direct these complicated six-axis moves in real time, the

processor requires a calculation power equivalent to that of several fast PCs combined. Additionally, the

software needs to compute error as well as offset data,

thermal deviations, and compensation formulas. During

the project, Ingersoll worked with software suppliers GE

Fanuc and Siemens to incorporate software algorithms

into a central control system, taking important strides toward the full computerized alignment envisioned for ideal accommodation of the octahedral hexapod.

Ingersoll was able to begin the development of the

system during the ATP project. However, the

development and programming of such a system

proved to be extensive and time-consuming,

demanding R&D beyond the timeframe of the ATP

project.

Ingersoll also faced the challenge to develop a

calibration system that would guarantee high-level

accuracy, enabling the machine tool to manufacture

parts repeatedly within specified tolerances. Because of

its design, the octahedral hexapod concept did not lend

itself to conventional inspection techniques. Therefore,

before it could be commercialized, Ingersoll needed to develop a turnkey calibration method that could be

performed more quickly and efficiently than the existing

labor-intensive procedure. To this end, the company

worked to implement a self-calibration system that would allow machines to check their own performance

and correct any detected inaccuracies.

280 INGERSOLL MILLING MACHINE COMPANY
In addition to these tasks to install control and

calibration systems, Ingersoll encountered obstacles in developing the supporting electronic and mechanical

components of the octahedral hexapod machine tool. However, the company maintained steady and

productive R&D efforts throughout the ATP project,

continuing to demonstrate promise for eventual

commercialization and revealing more and more

possible applications.

Sustained R&D Points to Commercialization on the

Horizon

At the conclusion of the project in 1996, the technology

components of the octahedral hexapod were well understood; however, six years later, the machine tool was still in development. While several fully functional

hexapods exist, researchers must improve their accuracy, streamline the production process, develop

standards, and solve small but important mechanical

problems before pursuing full-fledged

commercialization. Based on the interest generated by

Ingersoll's original prototype, there are currently about

two-dozen companies that have invested R&D funds in hopes of bringing the Ingersoll hexapod to market.

The company maintained steady andproductive

R&D efforts throughout the A TPproject,

however, six years later, the machine tool was

still in development.

Ingersoll has sold three octahedral hexapods, one each

to the National Institute of Standards and Technology

(NIST), Lockheed-Martin's research facility, and Aachen

University. Because Ingersoll's current goal is the

evaluation of production techniques rather than sales,

only a national laboratory, a large corporate research

facility, and a university have purchased hexapods.

Octahedral hexapods are custom-made because

Ingersoll has not developed a protocol for high-volume,

quick, and affordable manufacturing. Future research

will address production problem areas, such as computer control systems and struts, which together

account for 75 percent of the machine tool's cost. Other

research will focus on simplifying the hexapod's design,

since reducing the number of machine parts could lower

costs by an estimated 40 percent.

Calibration, control, and thermal compensation issues

persist as roadblocks to commercialization, reducing

the octahedral hexapod's ability to repeatedly

manufacture parts within specified tolerances. Using an

octahedral hexapod purchased from Ingersoll, a project

at NIST's Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory,

supported in part by ATP intramural funds, is addressing these problems by setting common

performance-evaluation procedures and developing

measurement methods to achieve high positioning

accuracy.

Scientists at NIST have focused on implementing a

built-in metrology system and an enhanced machine

controller that simplifies performance-enhancing

modifications in software or hardware. Ingersoll has

improved thermal compensation techniques by using

laser feedback that senses and eliminates deviant

length changes of the hexapod's struts. Additional postproject research will determine the optimal machine

configuration and the most advantageous strut length

given a particular working envelope size (the work

area).

Researchers Identify Multiple Uses for the

Octahedral Hexapod

As researchers assessed the mechanical and electronic

specifications for the octahedral hexapod, they

discovered the versatility and flexibility of this machine

tool. Engineers at Ingersoll predict that the hexapod

could become a general manipulator for vanous tasks

or a universal carrier for several end effectors, such as

milling heads, coordinate measuring machine probes,

and turning tools. These engineers anticipate that current R&D efforts will lead to the octahedral

hexapod's role in numerous applications, including the

following:

o Mold and die industry uses, such as

contouring large surfaces and machining

dies for precision sheet-metal forming

o The machining of high-value, low-volume,

high-complexity components, such as

titanium for use in military aircrafts

o The machining of lighter rnetals and

materials

INGERSOLL MILLING MACHINE COMPANY 281
o Precision assembly technology; for exannple, delicate welding in an

automotive assembly line and in aerospace and aircraft production

Conclusion

Dennis Bray, vice president of engineering at Ingersoll,

reports that the current configuration of the octahedral

hexapod would not have been designed without ATP

funding. The ATP project allowed Ingersoll to tackle a number of the deficiencies identified in the original

prototype and to bring the hexapod closer to full-scale development. Additionally, ATP funding helped to validate the unconventional concept and design of the

octahedral hexapod, convincing other machine tool companies of its worth and generating further investment in its R&D. Although commercialization of the octahedral hexapod machine tool has stalled,

Ingersoll continues to research methods to improve

accuracy, streamline the production process, and

develop the ability to manufacture parts repeatedly

within specified tolerances, with reasonable production

costs.

282 INGERSOLL MILLING MACHINE COMPANY
PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS

IngersoU Milling Machine Company

Project Title: Octahedral Hexapod Design Promises Enhanced Machine Performance (Octahedral Hexapod Machine Development Program)

Project: To demonstrate a revolutionary new design for highprecision, multi-axis machine tools based on an octahedron frame and a Stevi^art platform actuator.

Duration: 3/1/1993-2/28/1996 ATP Number: 92-01-0034

Funding (in thousands):

ATP Final Cost

Participant Final Cost

Total

$ 1,864

1,635 $ 3,499

53%

47%

Commercialization Status: Due to the need

for additional research, Ingersoll has not been able to

fully commercialize the octahedral hexapod. However,

the company has sold three of these machine tools, generating $6 million in revenue.

Outlook: The outlook for the octahedral hexapod is

clouded. At this point, researchers at Ingersoll have been

unable to combine accuracy and the ability to manufacture parts repeatedly within specified tolerances

with reasonable production costs. This has stalled the commercialization of the octahedral hexapod machine

tool. However, several companies continue to research

the octahedral hexapod tool concept.

Composite Performance Score: *

Accomplishments: Ingersoll has sold three octahedral hexapod machine tools, one each to NIST, Aachen University, and Lockheed-Martin's research facility, to be used for further R&D. The company performed several demonstrations of its prototypes to potential clients such as Boeing Corporation and

the U.S. Air Force. These demonstrations created interest and

generated constructive feedback.

Company:

ingersoll Milling Machine Company

707 Fulton Avenue

Rockford, IL 61103

Contact: Dr. Dennis Bray Phone: (815) 987-6891

Ingersoll received the following patent for its work:

o "Octahedral machine tool frame"

(No. 5,392,663: filed November 9, 1993, granted

February 28, 1995)

Research and data for Status Report 92-01-0034 were collected during October - December 2001.

INGERSOLL MILLING MACHINE COMPANY 283
M&M Precision Systems Corporation

World's Most Accurate Gear-Measurement Machine

Automobile transmissions, submarine screws, and helicopter rotors can all be made quieter,

smoother running, and more efficient with enhanced gear precision. By the 1980s, American

gear-measurement instruments were beginning to lag behind the accuracy of gearmanufacturing technology, and the gear-measurement market shifted toward foreign-made

instruments that had a higher level of accuracy. In 1994, M&M Precision Systems

Corporation, in collaboration with Pennsylvania State University, submitted a proposal to the

Advanced Technology Program (ATP) to develop a highly accurate gear-measurement

machine. ATP awarded co-funding for a three-year project, and M&M subsequently

successfully developed gear-measurement technology that was more than five times more

accurate than existing U.S. gear-measurement tools. The technology was later

commercialized, which increased the U.S. share of the global gear-measurement machines

market to 50 percent and led to a resurgence of confidence in the accuracy of American

gears.

COMPOSITE PERFORMANCE SCORE

(based on a four star rating) * *

Research and data for Status Report 93-01-0191 were collected during October - December 2001.

Gear Precision Inaccuracy Harms U.S. Gear

Industry

and identify the problems with gear-measurement

machines. Therefore, M&M teamed with Pennsylvania

State University to study current gear-measurement

Gears have been used for centuries and are critical mechanical elements in the operation of a device that requires a transfer of motion and power to enable

rotation. A mainstay of civil and military engineering,

gears are in virtually all motor vehicles, aircraft, machine tools, and military combat vehicles. One of the constants of the industry is that as gears become more

exact, their operation becomes smoother, quieter, and more efficient As gear-manufacturing technology

became more complex, however, it was more difficult to perform gear measurements with the degree of accuracy required; thus, precision in gear

manufacturing began to suffer. Partly as a result of this declining precision, the U.S. gear industry began to

suffer, and German firms began taking more dominant

control of the world market.

technology, to identify and eliminate weaknesses, and

to create the world's most accurate gear-measurement

machine.

ATP Funds Development of New Technology

Recognizing that the future of both the U.S. gear and

gear-measurement industries depended on

improvements, ATP funded the research and

development of new gear-measurement technology.

M&Mteamed with Pennsylvania State University

to create the world's most accurate gearmeasurement machine.

No single company or organization had the capabilities or could afford the investigation required to research

M&M Proposes World's Most Accurate GearMeasurement MachineAwarded in 1994, the ATP grant provided a fresh start

to the industry-an opportunity to reassess the

technology, correct existing problems, and develop

breakthrough technologies to enhance the precision of gear measurement. Moreover, the potential for

M&M PRECISION SYSTEMS CORPORATION 285
M&M's 3500-series machine has automatic software-driven correction,

rotary axis motion, and new control technology.

far-reaching economic spillover was high. The

technology would impact the nation's 350 gear and

gear-related component manufacturers.

M&M Addresses Technical Issues

First, M&M engineers had to correct errors inherent in the operation of gear-measurement machines. Gearmeasurement machines typically rotate the gear and

compare the specimen with precise measurements

taken from the appropriate gear mold. Gearmeasurement machines cannot hold a specimen

perfectly still, which causes errors in the final measurement. To solve this problem, M&M developed

algorithms for the computer correction software that adjusts measurements for errors caused by the gearmeasurement machine itself. Second, M&M tried to incorporate a linear motor into the gear-measurement

machine to enable "on-the-fly" operation. Typically,

gear-measurement devices set the gear in one place,

take a measurement, move the gear to another fixed

spot, and take another measurement. This is a timeconsuming process, and M&M sought to improve the

speed of gear-measurement machines by taking laser measurements as the gear rotated. Unfortunately, linear motors did not run smoothly enough to allow accurate measurements, and the gear-measurement machines

resulting from the project did not have the desired onthe-fly measurement capability. In the years following

the ATP project's completion, however, linear-motor

technology advanced to the point where the second

generation of M&M gear-measurement machines now

has this capability.

ATP Project Leads to Technology and Knowledge

Spillover

What began as a partnership with Pennsylvania State

University evolved into a coalition of several

universities. After the ATP project, M&M entered into cooperative research agreements with professors and

laboratories at the University of North Carolina, Ohio

State University, and the University of Toledo. Not only

do these alliances generate new innovations from the

academic labs, but they also train students to enter

industry fully prepared to operate in, and improve upon,

cutting-edge technology. According to Dean Hawk,

M&M's ATP principal investigator, gear-measurement

software technicians typically are not productive for the

first four to six months of their tenure in the industry

because they must climb a steep learning curve. Recently hired graduates of the collaborating

universities, however, are capable of stepping in and

being productive from day one.

Conclusion

As a result of this ATP project, M&M brought its 3500-

series machine to market in 1998. The machine's most

important innovations were automatic software-driven

correction, rotary axis motion, and new control technology. The 3500-series machine measures

spaces between gear teeth to within 0.22 uncertainty

microns and provides an entire tooth profile to within

1.3 microns. This represents improvements over prior

capabilities of 78 percent and 74 percent, respectively.

The 3500-series machines developed through this project helped M&M to gain approximately 50 percent

of the world's market share for gear-measurement

machines and to increase its U.S. market share to 70

percent in the years after the project concluded.

According to an M&M executive, more accurate gears

enabled the U.S. automobile industry to increase the

quality of its transmissions. Moreover, in the defense

industry, U.S. submarines and aircraft are now the

quietest in the world, in part because of their more

precise gear operation.

286 M&M PRECISION SYSTEMS CORPORATION
PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS

M&M Precisions Systems Corporation

Project Title: World's Most Accurate Gear- Measurement Machine(Advanced Gear-Measurement

Technologies to Achieve Submlcron-Level Accuracies)

Project: To create a new generation of gear- measurement machines, which were necessary to enhance the accuracy of American-made gears, to

create smoother running transmissions, and to maintain market share for gear-measurement machines within the

United States.

Duration: 4/1/1994-3/31/1997 ATP Number: 93-01-0191

Funding (in thousands):

ATP Final Cost $1,950 64%

Participant Final Cost 1,093 36%

Total $3,043

Accomplishments: This ATP project led to a

revolution In gear-measurement technology and

Innovations In motor-powered transportation transmissions that were not possible before the project. By starting over and aiming to design the perfect gear- measurement machine, M&M achieved submlcron-level accuracy in gear measurement. This ATP-funded project generated the following new technologies and process improvements:

o Automatic computer-controlled errorcorrection software

o Rotary-axis technology, enabling smoother and faster gear measurements

o New control technology, enabling a smoother, more precise gear motion dunng measurements

Commercialization Status: Before this atp

project, no U.S. -based company had the ability to measure gears to less than one-micron accuracy. Because this measurement Inability created uncertainty about the precision of U.S. -manufactured gears, U.S.

industrial customers turned to foreign companies for both gears and gear-measurement systems.

The error-correction software and control mechanisms

developed by M&M dunng this ATP project were later commercialized into the 3500-series measurement

machine. The 3500-series machine measures spaces between gear teeth to within 0.22 uncertainty microns and provides an entire tooth profile to within 1 .3 microns, an improvement over previous capabilities of 78 percent and 74 percent, respectively.

The 3500-series machines helped M&M gain approximately 50 percent of the world's market share for gear-measurement machines and to increase its U.S.

marl<et share to 70 percent. Additionally, the technology had an immediate impact on the 350 gear and gearrelated component manufacturers within the United

States. The many improvements developed during M&M's ATP project have been incorporated extensively

into automobile transmissions, submarinescrews, and

helicopter rotors.

Outlook: The prototype machine developed through

this ATP project continues to be the gear-measurement

industry's "gold standard." The newest generation, which made its debut at gear shows in Detroit and Germany in

late 2001 , includes linear motors for on-the-fly measurement, in addition to the improvements already made through the ATP-funded project. These machines

should continue to dominate the gear-measurement

industry, allowing quieter, smoother running transmissions and gear assemblies for the foreseeable

future.

Composite Performance Score: *

*

Number of Employees: Seventy-seven

employees at project start, 70 upon completion of status

reports.

Company:

M&M Precision Systems Corporation 300 Progress Road West Carrollton, OH 45449

Contact: Dean Hawk

Phone: (937) 859-8273

Research and data for Status Report 93-01-0191 were collected during October - December 2001.

M&M PRECISION SYSTEMS CORPORATION 287
MANUFACTURING

Perceptron (formerly Autospect, Inc.)

Laser Ultrasonics to Improve Automotive Painting Process

Whether the hue is sports-car red, school-bus yellow, or sleek black, the automotive painting

process has frustrated manufacturers for years. Of all automotive manufacturing processes,

painting has historically been the most costly ($345 per vehicle in 1995) and arguably the

most painstaking, involving 13 discrete steps. Moreover, the slightest inaccuracy can cause

corrosion, adhesion, and poor finish, requiring that the auto body undergo a costly repair

process. Existing paint-thickness-measurement systems could only measure dry paint, so by

the time controllers detected errors and made proper adjustments, paint-booth operators had

often coated up to 100 more units. To remain competitive, U.S. automotive manufacturers

needed an accurate and reliable non-contact method for online paint-thickness

measurement, and in 1995, Autospect proposed to develop a new wet-paint-thickness

measurement system using its existing laser ultrasonics (LU) method.

Autospect suggested that three significant benefits would accrue to the industry: savings of

$683 million annually for the Big 3 auto manufacturers (Ford, General Motors, and

DaimlerChrysler), improved vehicle quality, and lower volatile organic chemical emissions.

Due to the technical risk, direct funding from the Big 3 was unavailable; they did, however,

commit to participating in the project's process integration stage. In 1995, Autospect was

awarded $1.8 million in cost-shared funding from the Advanced Technology Program (ATP)

to develop a wet-film-measurement (WFM) system. By the end of the ATP project in 1998,

Perceptron had successfully produced a prototype LU WFM system for a DaimlerChrysler

test site. Though the prototype WFM system has proven its value and technical viability,

Autospect (now Perceptron, which acquired Autospect in 1997) encountered severe financial

difficulties in 1998 that have forestalled its ability to commercialize the technology.

COMPOSITE PERFORMANCE SCORE

(based on a four star rating) *

Research and data for Status Report 95-02-0005 were collected during October - December 2001.

Measurement Techniques Fail to Simplify

Painstaking Painting Process

In the early 1990s, the painting process represented a

disproportionate amount of the total automobile

manufacturing costs and labor requirements, requiring

several expensive materials and 13 discrete steps to coat a bare-metal auto body with a high-quality finish. Additionally, painting errors were frequent and costly,

and the paints and solvents used posed a threat to the

environment. Consequently, there was increased

pressure from both consumers and environmentalists to produce high-quality finishes through efficient methods.

For example, a 1994 Delphi study indicated that 50

percent of consumer appeal and satisfaction derives

from factors directly or indirectly related to the

automobile's paint job, such as appearance, durability,

and resistance to scratching. Further, amendments to the 1 989 Clean Air Act limited the discharge of volatile organic chemicals (VOCs), thereby requiring

automotive manufacturers to consider the environment

by more efficiently using paints and solvents.

Before the ATP project, existing paint-thicknessmeasurement methods failed to help automotive

manufacturers address these concerns or to reduce the

PERCEPTRON 289
high cost of painting each vehicle. At the time, non- contact-measurement techniques were not reliable outside the laboratory, so magnetic-inductance

methods, including the Elcometer and the Fischer

Scope, were the only available paint-measurement

technologies. Both of these methods were extremely

time-consuming. After each coat (i.e., the electrocoat,

primer, base coat, and clear coat), manufacturers had

to wait for the coat to dry and then had to remove the

test vehicle from the assembly line for inspection of the coat at 60 to 80 points on the car's surface.

Fifty percent ofconsumer appeal and satisfaction

derives fromfactors related to the automobile's

paintjob.

With these costs, manufacturers could only afford sampled quality control, measuring approximately 1 to 3

cars per day, or about 1 out of every 500 vehicles.

Moreover, the slowness of the quality control contributed to poor feedback response time. By the time

quality control detected a problem and made proper

adjustments, up to 100 vehicles had passed through the

defective painting production line. Manufacturers had to repair all vehicles with defective paint coatings by using one or both of the low bake repair (LBR) and high bake

repair (HBR) processes, at a cost of $600 to $1 ,200 per

vehicle in 1995. In some extreme cases, the

manufacturer had to completely scrap the vehicle. At

the time of the ATP project, 1 5 percent of all vehicles

required HBR, putting a massive strain on overall automotive production budgets.

Autospect Proposes a More Efficient Coating

Process

To address the problems that riddled the automotive

painting process, Autospect proposed to develop a wet- film-measurement (WFM) system that would provide non-contact inspection and online measurement. This

process would eliminate the need for an operator and

would allow manufacturers to measure every vehicle,

thus reducing the time it took them to detect and

respond to problems in the coating process. Thickness

and distribution information would feed back

immediately to logic controllers that controlled paint flow

to sprayers, reducing the number of vehicles that passed through the process after error detection from

up to 100 units to just 1 to 2 units. With accumulated

feedback data, manufacturers could correlate wet-filmbuild measurements with flow-control methods so they

could predict future behavior and develop more precise

systems.

Reducedpaint use and reduced defects would

save $683 million annuallyfor the Big 3

manufacturers and would lower costs and

improve quality for consumers.

Autospect envisioned a non-contact WFM system that included a precise and reliable instrument for the online

measurement of paint thickness and that provided

closed-loop feedback in real time for the painting process. The proposed system would function in the

hostile environment of the factory paint booth,

withstanding paint splatter, temperature and humidity

fluctuations, and exposure to evaporated solvents,

without performance degradation.

Broad-Based Benefits Extend to the Environment

and Consumers

The proposed WFM system also promised broad-based

economic benefits. The automotive industry would reap

significant advantages, as demonstrated in Autospect's

cost-benefit analysis. Before the ATP project, 106 of the

168 paint production lines in North America used

Autospect's existing QMS-I and QMS-BP products.

Thus, the company's equipment assisted in the

production of nine million vehicles annually. The

average cost of paint required to coat a vehicle was

$345. Unfortunately, up to 60 percent of the paint was

wasted due to inefficient production processes.

Therefore, a measurement system that reduced excess

paint could lead to savings of up to $200 per vehicle. Conservatively estimating that its WFM system would save $50 in paint per vehicle, Autospect projected an

annual savings of $360 million for its existing customer

base. Because figures indicated that 15 percent of all vehicles required HBR at a cost of at least $600 per

vehicle, a system that prevented painting defects could save Autospect's customers another $323 million

290 PERCEPTRON
annually. Thus, reduced paint use and reduced defects

resulting from the company's WFM system would save $683 million annually for the Big 3 manufacturers and

would lower costs and improve quality for consumers.

Autospect also expected that consumers would benefit

from improved vehicle appearance as well as from

reduced repair costs related to low-quality paint coats

that easily scratch and corrode. Autospect identified the

environment as another beneficiary, since a more

efficient painting process would lead to lower VOC

emissions. Further development of a WFM system

could provide advantages to other industries in which

the painting of large surfaces is expensive and

environmentally hazardous, such as the aerospace and

coil-coating industries. Finally, Autospect itself would

benefit by tapping into a potential market of $500 to $750 million, increasing its engineering leadership by 5

to 10 employees, and strengthening its position to provide best-in-class measurement and control for the

U.S. automotive industry.

WFM Technology Supported by Industry But

Lacks Funding

Despite the many potential benefits, Autospect

recognized the high risk involved in developing a

breakthrough product. IVIeasurement systems that appear promising from a theoretical standpoint often fail

to realize the flexibility and ruggedness required for the

factory floor. Thus, as a small company with about 10

employees and limited internal research funds,

Autospect could not single-handedly undertake such a

project. Without additional funding, Autospect would

need to scale back its goals and focus on small,

incremental development.

Although unable to find private funding, Autospect

secured the support of the entire industry for cooperative development and feedback. The Big 3 auto companies committed to participating in the project's

process integration stage. Painting-robot manufacturer

Fanuc, paint shop manufacturer Haden, and automotive

paint suppliers PPG and BASF agreed to help, and

PPG also offered the use of its Flint Applications

Facility for product testing. Confident of the importance

of WFIVI technology to the automotive industry,

Autospect applied for and was selected to receive $1 .8

million in cost-shared funding from ATP's 1995 motor

vehicle manufacturing technology-focused program

competition.

Laser Ultrasonics Can Improve Efficiency and

Reduce Costs

In accordance with its plan, Autospect explored three

potential measurement techniques. After eliminating

other non-contact methods, such as an alternating current impedance method and a method using microstrip microwave resonators, Autospect turned to laser technology to develop the ideal technique for wet-film

measurement. Extensive research indicated that laser ultrasonics (LU), a non-contact ultrasound technique, was most promising in terms of repeatability,

measurement sensitivity, practicality, and cost.

Autospect valued the LU method for its simplicity. It requires only three square feet of paint booth space

and three main components: two lasers and an

interferometer. To measure wet-paint thickness, the first laser produces a very short pulse to generate

ultrasound on the painted surface. The absorption of

this light causes a temperature rise in the paint film, inducing a density gradient in the material and thereby

producing an ultrasonic acoustic signal. Thus, the short

laser pulse is analogous to a quick hammer strike to a

bell. The second laser detects the minute ultrasonically

induced motions (about 0.1 nanometers) on the paint

surface. This detecting laser light is reflected off the

surface and coupled into the interferometer, which

strips away and measures the surface vibrations. The

resulting spectra provide raw data for analysis, as film thickness has an inverse relationship to resonant

frequency.

In addition to saving paint booth space, which costs about $100,000 per square foot, the LU method has

many other advantages. The system can measure all automotive body coatings, both wet and dry. Its measurement is extremely fast and does not require

calibration, even for new paint materials. Since laser

light can be fiber-optically coupled to the paint booth, a manufacturer can place sensitive equipment far away

from the spray area, thereby eliminating splatter

disturbance and vibration problems. The LU method

also provides advantages on the factory floor because

the measured parametric frequency of the ultrasound is

PERCEPTRON 291
not affected by changes in intensity of the signal, which

is a parameter susceptible to many environmental

conditions. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the

LU system can be multiplexed; that is, 250 or more

sensors in multiple locations can make measurements

that feed to one set of equipment, allowing for the

measurement of every vehicle in a plant by a single

system.

Successful Prototype Proves System's

Technical Feasibility

By the end of the ATP project in 1998, Autospect

(hereafter referred to as Perceptron, which acquired

Autospect in 1997) had successfully developed a WFM

system and had achieved positive results from in-plant

testing at PPG's Flint facility. Perceptron engineers

Jeffrey White, Frederick LaPlant, and John Dixon

coauthored a paper with PPG engineers Donald Emch

and Vince Datillo that discussed the LU WFM

technology. The paper, titled "Non-Contact Real Time

Film Thickness Gauge," won the Best Paper Award at the 1998 International Body Engineering Conference.

Shortly after the close of the project, Perceptron sold a

prototype system to DaimlerChrysler and installed it at the company's Windsor Assembly Plant, creating an

alpha test site. Tests at the Windsor facility continued to prove the system's technical feasibility. Perceptron

initiated its eight-stage product development process

and planned its next step to pursue sales of the WFM

system to each of DaimlerChrysler's eight plants. In 1998, Perceptron set target sales at 4 systems by 2000

and another 8 in 2001 , with the hope of ramping up

sales to 12 annually by 2002.

Financial Difficulty Halts Perceptron's

Commercialization Effort

Equipped with a clear-cut business plan, Perceptron

aimed to move forward to commercialize the LU WFM

technology. However, the company began to experience the effects of the automotive industry's 1991

to 1993 slump and its stagnant sales from 1994 to 1997. The company's stock, which had peaked at just

under $40 a share and had held steady there during

1996 and 1997, dropped to about $20 per share in the

second half of 1998. Since then, Perceptron has not

been able to recover, with its stock continuing to fall to around $5 per share between 1999 and 2000. In 2001,

its shares decreased further and as of fall 2001 were

valued at $.03.

Because of these severe financial difficulties, Perceptron has focused on survival strategies, and

product development of the new WFM technology has

become a low priority. Perceptron has managed to invest more than $1 million of its internal funds since

the close of the ATP project, working with

DaimlerChrysler to fine-tune the prototype and to convert raw thickness and distribution data into useful feedback information. Perceptron estimates that the

system will require three years of product development

before full-scale commercial release becomes feasible. At this time, the company is unable to pursue that development due to its financial position. Perceptron

engineer Mr. White confirmed that the company is open

to the possibility of a transfer of the technology to another company, but expressed doubt that any other

automotive suppliers are in a position to take on the risk or the investment.

The WFM system has also sparked interest from the

aerospace industry and coil-coating manufacturers,

who are currently considering investments in the

development of the WFM technology for their applications.

Industry Resistance Presents Another Barrier to Commercialization

In addition to the lack of available funds to commercialize the WFM system, industry resistance

has presented another unforeseen challenge. Mr. White

explained that because automotive painting is such a

fragile and expensive process, manufacturers worry

that constant adjustments to spray flow and other

parameters will only compound the problems. Even

though the existing process is error-laden,

manufacturers hesitate to alter it until a new system

demonstrates proven quality control elsewhere. While

the DaimlerChrysler prototype exhibits superior

measurement, researchers need to perform further

testing and complete research to convert raw data into useful feedback before proving the WFM system's

capability for total closed-loop feedback control.

292 PERCEPTRON
Conclusion

As a result of the ATP project, Perceptron successfully

developed a WFM (wet-film-measurement) system

based on its LU (laser ultrasonics) technology. The

company affirms that this advance would not have

occurred without ATP's support. Despite the system's

excellent technical outlook, however, Perceptron has

not been able to fund commercial development

because of severe financial difficulties and industry

resistance. If Perceptron regains financial strength, it plans to resume commercialization efforts. In consideration of its present situation, the company

expresses its willingness to negotiate a technology

transfer to another company.

PERCEPTRON
PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS

Perceptron (formerly Autospect, Inc.)

Project Title: Laser Ultrasonics To Improve Automotive

Painting Process (Wet Paint Thickness Measurement

System)

Project: To develop a non-contact method for online measurement of wet-paint thickness to enable a high-quality,

time-efficient, and cost-effective painting process for the automotive industry.

Duration: 9/15/1995-9/14/1998 ATP Number: 95-02-0005

Funding (in thousands):

ATP Final Cost $1,800 81%

Participant Final Cost 421 19%

Total $2,221

AcCOmplislimentS: Perceptron successfully developed the technology for a wet-film-measurement (WFM)

system using its laser ultrasonics (LU) technology; tested the system at PPG's facility in Flint, Michigan; and installed a

prototype for further development at DaimlerChrysler's Windsor, Ontario plant.

Company engineers received the Best Paper Award at the 1998 International Body Engineering Conference for a paper

discussing the ATP technology titled, "Non-Contact Real Time Film Thickness Gauge."

Perceptron received the following patents for technologies

developed during the ATP project:

o "Method and system for processing measurement

signals to obtain a value for a physical parameter"

(No. 6,092,419: filed November 21, 1997; granted

July 25, 2000)

Commercialization Status: Although Perceptron

sold a prototype WFM system to DaimlerChrysler after the close of the project, the company has ended its commercial development efforts due to severe financial difficulties caused by the auto industry's weakness in the early and

mid 1990s.

Outlook: Currently, Perceptron's weak financial status and the industry's resistance to the new technology prevent

the commercial development of the WFM system. However, the prototype system has demonstrated technical success and holds promise for future commercial development and improvement of the automotive painting process. The WFM system has also sparked interest from

the aerospace industry and coil-coating manufacturers. These industries are currently considering investments in the development of the WFM technology for their

applications.

Composite Performance Score: *

Number of Employees: (figures are for the Autospect division only) 10 employees at project start, 15 as of December 2001

Focused Program: Motor Vehicle Manufacturing

Technology, 1995

Company:

Perceptron 47827 Halyard Drive Plymouth, Ml 48170-2461

Contact: Jeffrey White Phone: (734)4i4-6ioo

"Method and system for measuring a physical parameter of at least one layer of a multi layer

article without damaging the article and sensor head for use therein"

(No. 6,128,081: filed November 27, 1997; granted October 3, 2000)

Research and data for Status Report 95-02-0005 were collected during October - December 2001.

294 PERCEPTRON
MANUFACTURING

Philips Laboratories

A Novel Microminiature Light Source Technology

Companies located in the Pacific Rim dominated ttie market for miniaturized circuitry and

iigiiting applications from the 1980s to the early 1990s. During that time, U.S. firms fell far

enough behind that they had trouble keeping a foothold in the marketplace. In 1 993, Philips

Laboratories applied for Advanced Technology Program (ATP) support to research a method

to use microcavities as small as 1 mm in the company's microlamp research and to develop a

prototype for industrial and consumer applications. Philips' proposed research would focus on

creating electrodeless microlamps as well as microlamps with both conventional and thick-film

electrodes. Toward the end of the ATP-funded project, Philips focused mainly on thick-film

tungsten electrodes in 1-mm cavities, since these showed the most promise. All research and

knowledge from the ATP-funded Philips Laboratories project was transferred to Philips

Lighting after the close of the project in order to facilitate microlamp commercialization.

Ultimately, Philips Lighting could not commercialize the product at prices low enough to compete with microlamps already on the market, so the company abandoned plans to bring a product to market.

COMPOSITE PERFORMANCE SCORE

(based on a four star rating) *

Research and data for Status Report 93-01-0045 were collected during October - December 2001.

Pacific Rim Firms Dominate the Market

Between the late 1970s and the early 1990s,

miniaturization emerged as one of the most significant

design trends for consumer and military products.

Companies with strong technical competencies in miniaturization processes, such as precision machining

and micromachining, gained considerable competitive

advantages in the marketplace. These companies,

largely based in Japan, used their strong miniaturization

capabilities to design and manufacture electronic and

optical products that were higher performing, lighter,

and more rugged than those made by companies who

lacked miniaturization expertise. The progress by

Pacific Rim-based companies negatively impacted the

health and stability of the electronics industry in the

United States, which, as of the early 1990s, had not developed a comparable level of competency in miniaturization.

Moreover, because miniaturization technology

significantly impacts the manufacturing, machining,

lighting, and display industries, companies based in the

Pacific Rim maintained a significant advantage in those

industries. In 1993, however. Philips Laboratories

developed a research project to use miniaturization

technology to create a small, powerful, efficient lamp for

lighting and display options.

U.S. Firms Must Improve in Order To Compete

By the 1990s, microlamps manufactured outside the

United States were coming to market in automobile

lighting, projection televisions, and backlights for laptop

computers. However, the U.S. lighting industry had not been able to capture the benefits of miniaturization.

These microlamps were generating significant revenue

for non-U. S. businesses. For example, the automotive

headlamp market was $389 million annually in 1993

and was expected to grow to $496 million by 1997. The

projection television and laptop computer marketplaces,

while smaller overall, were experiencing even more

rapid growth. Without improved miniaturization

capabilities, U.S. manufacturers could not produce

lamps that were small enough, bright enough, cheap

PHILIPS LABORATORIES 295
enough, or capable of being viewed at a wide enough

angle to capture market share from the Asian

companies.

Technical Benefits of the Proposed Technology

Philips Laboratories proposed to develop ultra-miniature

light sources that were less than 1 mm in diameter,

which would be significantly smaller than the Japaneseproduced 5-inch lights, the smallest available at the

time. This radically new approach would use

microfabrication techniques to generate very small

sealed cavities in transparent substrates. Those

cavities, when created and activated properly, would

serve as the ultra-small light sources. The sealed

cavities would be formed by etching and wafer-bonding

techniques that were already established within other

industries.

Miniaturization emerged as one ofthe most

significant design trends for consumer and

military products.

The more difficult aspects of the proposed technology

involved investigating the emissive properties of

electrical discharges within the sealed cavities in both an inert state and when filled (also known as "dosed")

with different materials. One of the expected

advantages of the miniature cavity was its ability to sustain much higher pressures because of its small

size. The cavity was expected to withstand several

hundred atmospheres of pressure; and since light

output (lumen) efficiency increases at higher pressures,

the ultra-small light sources would be highly efficient. Moreover, the smaller size would enable wider viewing

angles and more light sources packed onto a substrate,

making the light more visible and of better quality.

Philips' Research Project Promises Cost and

Environmental Advantages

Philips determined that there were three areas of

potential broad-based benefits that could flow from a

successful project. First, given that the Pacific Rim

countries' miniaturization skills clearly dominated the

world market, any effort to bring market share back to the United States had the potential to create significant

economic benefits through increased domestic

manufacturing jobs and decreased reliance on imports.

Furthermore, the innovation Philips proposed could also

reduce the cost of the ultra-miniature light sources produced in Japan. For example, before the ATPfunded project began in 1994, the typical cost of processing a 5-inch substrate for these light sources, through a sequence of integrated circuit fabrication

steps, was $100. Since the proposed microlamps were

smaller than their Pacific Rim counterparts, and the

manufacturing process was simpler, the cost of processing the 1-mm ultra-miniature light source would

be approximately 10 cents per lamp, a 99.9-percent

decrease in the cost per lamp.

Philips Laboratories proposed to develop ultraminiature light sources that were less than 1 mm

in diameter.

The second broad-based benefit from Philips' proposed

innovation was the impact that would accrue to many

downstream U.S. industries. If the proposed technology were successful, the new range of U.S.-manufactured

ultra-miniature light sources would be of interest to the

lighting, automotive, consumer electronics, and

professional equipment industries within the United

States. However, in order to remain focused and to have a better chance of success. Philips decided to limit

its miniaturization project to research for lighting and

display applications.

The third potential benefit of the new technology was

environmental. Philips' proposal would create lighting sources that used far less mercury than any lights

available on the market. Because even small amounts

of mercury in cast-off lamps leech into the soil and

pollute large areas, there is a recognized need to reduce mercury usage. If successful, the project would

enable effective lighting sources with a significantly

lower risk of environmental pollution.

Philips Seeks Public Funds To Help Develop

Technology

Despite these potential benefits, substantial technical

and business challenges prevented Philips from funding

296 PHILIPS LABORATORIES
the research internally. In 1990, several years before

submitting their ATP proposal, Philips had conducted a

preliminary investigation into this new technology. Their

research suggested that the fabrication, dosing, and

sealing of microcavities were possible for these ultra- miniature lighting sources. The technical risks lay with

conducting a full-scale examination of the physical

phenomenon of generating specific types and strengths

of light within very small cavities. The research project

called for full investigation of a large variety of discharges in order to minimize the amount of mercury

necessary for lighting. In addition, the microcavity walls

would need to be engineered precisely to prevent

distortion and loss of energy that would adversely affect lumen efficiency. The microcavity engineering risk was

substantial because U.S. -based lighting industry

knowledge in 1993 was based on assumptions from

lighting results in much larger cavities. Putting the

physics and models to practice within a 1-mm cavity,

however, was significantly more difficult.

The project's business risks were formidable given the

complete industry domination by companies based in the Pacific Rim. The cost of manufacturing labor was

significantly less in Japan than in the United States. Therefore, savings from a successful project would

have to be significant enough to make up for the labor cost disadvantage if U.S. companies' microlamps were

to compete in the global marketplace. ATP, satisfied that Philips met the technical criteria for funding,

awarded the company cost-shared funds in January

1994.

Project Focuses on Three Types of Lamps

As part of its process to create an ultra-miniature light source. Philips studied light emission within three forms

of lamps: the electrodeless microlamp, the electroded

microlamp with conventional electrodes, and the

electroded microlamp with thick-film electrodes.

Electrodeless Microlamp

Philips had fabricated sealed cavities in quartz

substrates prior to the start of the ATP-funded project.

They believed a similar process could be developed for glass, sapphire, and other substrates. The process » used to fabricate the miniature cavities involved four

steps. First, a masking layer is deposited on the wafer

substrate and is patterned. Second, the quartz

substrate is then etched through the openings in the

cavity. Third, the cavity is filled with a dosing material.

Finally, another wafer, in which similar cavities have

been etched, is aligned with the initial wafer and

bonded to it in the appropriate ambient gas using

fusion-wafer bonding. This process forms a sealed

cavity that contains the dosing material and the gas. As

a result of the company's research during this ATP

project. Philips succeeded in fabricating sealed cavities

that contained a dose of mercury and argon gas. Such

cavities can be excited with radio frequency or microwave power, thereby creating a discharge

microlamp. The microlamp, however, did not produce

commercial-quality light. Therefore, Philips continued its research with electroded microlamps.

Electoded Microlamp with Conventional Electrodes

Philips determined that the scientific and technical

issues related to these electroded microlamps were more difficult than the electrodeless microlamp, but the

potential for efficient lighting was greater. During the

process of incorporating the electrode into the sealed

cavity, careful steps needed to be taken to ensure that contamination did not occur within the cavity. If contamination did occur, the microlamps would not operate properly, if at all. Furthermore, the temperature

within the sealed cavity, when excited by a current, had

to be regulated to prevent evaporation of the vapors

inside and to prevent the electrodes from melting.

The cost ofmanufacturing microlamps within

Philips Lighting was too high to effectively

compete with other products on the market.

After developing several designs and prototypes.

Philips was able to create three electroded microlamps.

The first was an electroded, high-pressure mercury

microlamp and the second was an electroded highpressure mercury microlamp that contained arcs of just

1 mm. The 1-mm arcs made the second microlamp

well-suited for projection applications. A third microlamp was developed with electrodes located on one side, a design that enabled the microlamp to be illuminated

using low electrical current. As a result, small

apparatuses that require low-wattage light could

incorporate this microlamp.

PHILIPS LABORATORIES 297
Electroded Microlamp with Thick-Film Electrodes

In order to create microlamps for use in a wider array of

lighting applications, Philips also researched electroded

microlannps with thick-film electrodes. In its proposal to ATP, Philips indicated that tungsten would be a good

electrode candidate because of its high melting point,

good conductivity, and electron-emission properties.

The key step in the formation of the tungsten thick-film electrodes would be the deposition of tungsten films on

quartz substrates without significant warping, cracking, or peeling. Philips simultaneously investigated several

different techniques to achieve these requirements,

including low-pressure chemical vapor deposition,

plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition, laser

ablation, and sintering of tungsten paste. At the

conclusion of the ATP-funded project. Philips

Laboratories scientists and engineers had developed an impressive research file on the emissive properties

of tungsten thick-film electrodes.

Cost Pressures Limit Commercialization

The entire body of knowledge developed during this ATP-funded project was transferred to Philips Lighting, a separate company that would work to make the final adjustments on, and commercialization of, the thick-film electroded microlamps and conventional electroded

microlamps. Ultimately, however, the cost of manufacturing microlamps within Philips Lighting was

too high to effectively compete with other products on

the market. Philips Lighting management decided in 1998 not to market any of these products commercially,

but to retain them for future internal research and

development activities.

Project Knowledge Is Disseminated

Though Philips Lighting's management decision ended

plans to bring products resulting from this ATP-funded

research to market, the research conducted at Philips

Laboratories was made available to other interested

parties through a number of knowledge-dissemination

channels. Three patents were granted for knowledge

directly related to this ATP project, and applications were submitted for nine others. Moreover, an article was submitted for publication to the professional

journal. Applied Physics Letters, and presentations were made at four industry symposia.

Conclusion

ATP awarded Philips $1.43 million in cost-shared funds

to pursue miniaturization technology for microlamps.

The research project examined electrodeless

microlamps and microlamps with traditional and thickfilm electrodes. Tungsten thick-film electroded

microlamps showed the most progress, and Philips

Laboratories developed a large body of research on this technology. All knowledge was transferred to Philips

Lighting for commercialization after the end of the ATPfunded project in 1997. However, the cost of tungsten

thick-film electrodes was still too high for commercialization, and no products resulted.

298 PHILIPS LABORATORIES
PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS

Philips Laboratories

Project Title: a Novel Microminiature Light Source

Technology

Project: To develop techniques to produce

microminiaturized, high-pressure discharge lamps using etched cavities in quartz or sapphire wafers for lighting and

display applications.

Duration: 2/15/1994-2/14/1997 ATP Number: 93-01-0045

Funding** (In thousands):

ATP Final Cost $1,432 28%

Participant Final Cost 3,576 72%

Total $5,008

Accomplishments: As a result of this ATP project.

Philips successfully achieved several broad objectives, which

in the future could lead to the development of microminiature,

high-intensity discharge lamps. These successes include the development of an electrodeless microlamp and the development of an electroded microlamp fabricated with conventional electrodes. Philips also developed tungsten

films as thick as 20 microns with minimal warping, cracking,

or peeling by using a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor

deposition process. This process is pivotal to the future development of electroded microlamps fabricated with thickfilm electrodes. In addition. Philips acquired significant knowledge from this project, which led to the granting of five patents and the publication of several articles. Patents for technologies related to the ATP project include:

o "Microlamp incorporating light collection and

display functions" (No. 5,574,327: filed June 7, 1995, granted November 12, 1996)

o "Flat panel light source for liquid crystal displays" (No. 5,808,410: filed June 7, 1995, granted

September 15, 1998)

o "Gas discharge lamps fabncated by micromachined transparent substrates"

(No. 5,965,976: filed December 19, 1997, granted October 12, 1999)

** As of December 9, 1997, large single applicant firms are required to pay 60% of all ATP project costs.

Prior to this date, single applicant firms, regardless of size, were required to pay indirect costs.

Research and data for Status Report 93-01-0045 were collected during October - December 2001.

Commercialization Status: Because

manufacturing costs remained too high, commercialization

of this breakthrough technology has not been initiated. However, Philips and the industry are ready to provide the technology and its related products when a scale-up need

ahses.

Outlook: As the demand for microminiature light sources increases, so will the need to provide a scaled-up

production method. As a result, the outlook for this microminiature light source technology is promising,

especially due to the lighting, automotive, consumer

electronics, and professional equipment manufacturers' continuous search for methods to increase product

efficiencies. In addition, the knowledge spillover from this ATP project is extensive. By May 2001, 32 additional patents had been spawned from the initial 5, evidence that the market is very interested in the technology that resulted from this project and that there could be demand for microminiature lamps in the near future.

Composite Performance Score: *

Company:

Philips Laboratories 345 Scarborough Road

Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510

Contact: David Cammack

Phone: (9i4) 945-6045

PHILIPS LABORATORIES 299
MANUFACTURING

Sheffield Automation (formerly Giddings & Lewis)

Enhanced CMMs To Improve Manufacturing Processes

Competitive manufacturers liave shifted their focus from post-process defect detection to realtime, in-process defect prevention. In 1992, existing coordinate measuring machine (CMM)

technology, which was used for quality control purposes, failed to meet the demand for realtime, highly accurate measurement, because the machines had to be located in climatecontrolled rooms. Giddings & Lewis proposed to bring CMMs to the factory floor to improve

process efficiency and product quality. These process improvements would result in fewer

errors, thereby decreasing the levels of scrap, down time and the associated potential for large

financial losses for the manufacturers.

The company applied for and was awarded cost-shared funding from the Advanced

Technology Program (ATP) for a two-year project to develop and place an optical fiber multidegree-of-freedom laser measurement system right on the CMM. This system would be

capable of measuring error components within the machine during the manufacturing process

on the factory floor so that corrective actions could be taken immediately, thus improving

quality and speed.

Working with researchers at the University of Michigan, Giddings & Lewis sought to develop

both a laser optical system to monitor positional deviation of CMMs caused by thermal

expansion and an adaptive compensation system to account for those errors in real time.

Persistent problems with thermal drift rendered the prototype system incapable of adaptive

thermal compensation, so the full technology was never developed. However, the company

used this knowledge to develop its Atlas, Discovery, Endeavor, and ProGage factory-floor

CMMs.

COMPOSITE PERFORMANCE SCORE

(based on a four star rating) No Stars

Research and data for Status Report 92-01-0035 were collected during October - December 2001 and November 2002.

Enhanced CMMs Could Potentially Revolutionize

Manufacturing

A coordinate measuring nnachine (CMM) measures

shapes of known geometry by using a computercontrolled probe tip to map the surface of a part along a predetermined path. Whenever the probe contacts the

part surface, the computer control records the

instantaneous displacement of the probe with respect to each of the three orthogonal axes (x, y, and z). This

produces a measurement of the actual part in terms

that can be used to determine the deviation of the part

surface from the mathematically correct nominal

surface. Manufacturers use CMMs primarily for quality control purposes to ensure that actual part geometry

matches the intended specifications.

Because CMMs are made from aluminum, steel, and

other metals, they are susceptible to expansion and

contraction caused by changes in ambient temperature.

These thermal effects cause displacement of CMM

positioning and subsequent drift of the probe tip from its programmed path. This affects the precision of the

CMM's measurements. When precise dimensional

measurements are required, manufacturers usually

restrict the use of their CMMs to temperature-regulated

quality control labs.

SHEFFIELD AUTOMATION 301
This requirement has several drawbacks for highprecision parts manufacturers, who need to maintain

high-volume, high-speed, cost-efficient production of

first-quality parts in order to remain competitive. First, climate-controlled rooms are expensive to construct and maintain. Second, the quality control process is time-intensive, because the measured parts need to reach thermal equilibrium. To reduce scrap levels and

achieve labor efficiency, manufacturers require in- process feedback for immediate detection and

correction of dimensional error to avoid an entire production run of defective parts. Yet with existing

technology, manufacturers must periodically delay

production (or risk unacceptable scrap levels) to take

sample parts to the control room for inspection. In a

competitive business environment, a CMM that could

withstand the environmental instability of the factory

floor could potentially revolutionize manufacturing

methods. It could provide an early warning system for error and provide quality audits at every step of the process.

Current Thermal Compensation Techniques Are

Unsuccessful

Because thermal effects represent the single largest source of CMM dimensional error and apparent nonrepeatability of equipment, a successful thermal

compensation technique could provide appreciable

improvement in CMM precision, reliability, and

repeatability. In 1995, several existing techniques had

attempted to limit the problem of thermal effects. These

methods included using uniform materials for all CMM

components, rigidly clamping CMM scales, installing insulation pads and reflective foil to protect against

temperature change, and using a thermal insulating

enclosure and various measures to establish a uniform

temperature throughout the machine by active heat flow

control. Another approach involved gathering empirical

data on displacement under varying temperatures and

storing this information in a memory table in the original

software. Measurement output readings would refer to

this memory table to incorporate thermal error compensation according to an input temperature

variable. While this compensation method estimated

thermal drift reasonably well, it relied on trend

prediction rather than real-time knowledge of machine

and environmental conditions and, therefore, lacked the

precision of an online monitoring system. Thus,

available thermal compensation techniques merely

supplied stopgap solutions that improved measurement

precision to some degree, but failed to aggressively

tackle the thermal drift problem.

Enhanced CMM Technology Could Provide

Significant Cost Savings

The size of the CMM market, boasting sales of $1 .2

billion in 1995, indicated the importance of these

machines in improving manufacturing practices in various industries. CMMs have particular value in enhancing the efficiency of manufacturing processes in automotive, aerospace, and other transportation

industries. These industries accounted for $516 billion

in U.S. revenues and employed 1 .5 billion workers

according to 1997 Census Bureau statistics. In order to sustain industries of that size, U.S. machine tool makers needed to supply flexible, best-in-class CMM

tools to facilitate resourceful and effective manufacturing processes. For example, the loss of a

single complex jet engine component with high

accumulated value could cost up to $50,000 and delay

completion of an engine, leading to additional financial penalties. Giddings & Lewis projected that a factoryfloor CMM could save manufacturing industries

hundreds of millions of dollars by eliminating the costs associated with climate-controlled labs and by

enhancing CMM precision and speed required for defect prevention.

A CMMthat could withstand the environmental

instability ofthefactoryfloor couldpotentially

revolutionize manufacturing methods.

Giddings & Lewis, in cooperation with the University of Michigan, proposed a solution to enhance CMM

precision by developing advanced, adaptive

compensation technology for CMMs to allow them to adjust automatically to environmental changes without

loss of precision, thus removing a major roadblock to the use of CMMs on the factory floor. Giddings & Lewis was a small company without the resources to undertake high-risk R&D. Because they had already

invested $100,000 and were not able to obtain funding

from investors due to the project's high risk and longterm payoff, they submitted a proposal to ATP and were

302 SHEFFIELD AUTOMATION
awarded $755,000 in cost-shared funds. If successful,

the project would significantly advance the current CMM

technology and contribute to the knowledge base,

which would have great potential to positively impact

U.S. manufacturing productivity and cost-effectiveness.

Giddings & Lewis Incorporates Laser Technology

and Enhanced Software

Giddings & Lewis and the University of Michigan

proposed a unique but risky solution that addressed the

thermal drift problem. They intended to address the

problem from a software perspective instead of a hardware perspective. The research team would

attempt to simultaneously characterize four geometric

errors (horizontal straightness, vertical straightness,

pitch, and yaw) using an original invention provided by

the University of Michigan.

The invention had a high-resolution, compact-size, and

low-cost multi-degree-of-freedom geometric error measurement system for simultaneously measuring the

four geometric errors. The pitch and yaw error measurements were based on a new method of angle

measurement, namely angle measurement based on

the internal reflection effect. This method utilized the

characteristics of internal reflection of a laser beam in the vicinity of the critical angle of an air/glass boundary.

They used a differential detection scheme to reduce the

inherent non-linearity and measure by the reflectance. The reflectance would be calculated with an online

computer-numerical controller (CNC) equipped with

sophisticated software, which would account for any

positional deviations and would produce adjusted

measurements. In addition, the team would use a

stable, single-mode optic fiber beam, conditioned

through a collimation lens, for increased precision.

Giddings & Lewis and the University ofMichigan

proposed a unique but risky solution that

addressed the thermal drift problem.

Prior to the ATP project, state-of-the-art CMMs featured some type of geometric error compensation procedure

for adding microprocessor-enhanced accuracy (MEA) to measurement readouts. However, these systems

assumed that geometric error information would remain

static in field use. The ATP project aimed to improve

the precision of a CMM measurement readout obtained on the factory floor by including temperature-variant

error components in the measurement compensation

formula. To do this, they would construct a laser sensor

for online monitoring of changes in dominant error components and would develop a scheme to update

the information base in an MEA compensation system.

The research team outlined a unique technical plan:

1. Design and construct an optic fiber multi-degreeof-freedom laser measurement (MDFLIVI) system to monitor the change of multiple error components

simultaneously for each motion axis. Prior to the

project, several technical barriers hampered the use of non-interferometric laser technology for sensory

systems, including problems with laser beam drift, air turbulence, and low sensor resolution. However,

researchers at the University of Michigan had

discovered prior to the project that the use of the

internal reflection effect and a single mode optic fiber beam solved these problems. This breakthrough

cleared the way for the use of laser technology for a CMM sensory system. Thus, the team aimed to develop

a conditioning and delivery system for a highly stable single-mode optic fiber laser beam. This laser beam

would have superior pointing stability for use in a movement reference system that could provide highprecision angle and straightness measurements of CMM positioning on the x, y, and z axes. The system

contained a multiple channel data acquisition system to receive information from multiple position-sensing

detectors (PSDs).

2. Identify sound metrological (measurement) bases

for properly mounting the laser optical system on a CMM. The careful selection of stable bases for the

MDFLM system was imperative to the system's ability

to detect the changes of geometric error components

when the CMM experiences thermal distortion. To do

this, the team intended to develop an error-sensitivity

analysis model. They planned to accomplish this by

determining the sensitivity of various structural parts to environmental distortions and then by evaluating the

influence of these changes on the identified error sources. This model would inform the selection of a

solid base for the MDFLM system.

SHEFFIELD AUTOMATION 303
3. Develop adaptive compensation software, written

to process online error information from the

multiple channel data acquisition system. The

software would calculate the final positional and angular

deviation of a probe tip relative to the worktable

reference and would adapt the measurement reading

accordingly.

4. Develop a fast, stand-alone calibration device as

a byproduct of this project. This low-cost device

would provide simultaneous measurement of six geometric-error components to calibrate CMMs and

other machine tools, replacing existing devices that are

too slow for the calibration of multiple geometric-error

components.

Broad Economic Benefits To Result from Improved

CMMs

If successful, Giddings & Lewis' technical plan

promised broad-based economic benefits to CMM

builders and to various users, including automotive,

aircraft, aerospace, and off-road equipment industries, as well as thousands of their suppliers. The economic

benefits would result from increasing the quality and

cost-effectiveness of CMM inspection capabilities

through increased speed and reduced scrap.

Additionally, the project sought to expand the U.S. knowledge base by demonstrating a successful

application of non-interferometric laser measurement

methods and thereby increasing the acceptance of this novel technology. Through meetings with CMM

technology-sharing organizations, such as the

University of Michigan's Industry/University Cooperative

Research Center on CMMs, Giddings & Lewis defined a project goal: to establish a validated technology base

for its adaptive compensation method so that the

industry could initiate commercialization and bring

CMMs to the factory floor rapidly and efficiently,

compensating for errors associated with temperature

changes.

Significant Problems with Thermal Drift Affect

Prototype Viability

During the project, the research team developed two

prototype MDFLM systems using non-polarizing optics

and PSDs capable of measuring the four error

components simultaneously. The first prototype used

helium-neon laser beams and the second used diode

lasers. The second prototype was preferred, because it produced less heat. Later, the second system was also

able to measure the component of roll, an

accomplishment previously unattained by a laser- sensing system. Despite the development of the

prototype, its laser collimator (a device used to provide

desired beam diameter to meet specific beam delivery

requirements) and PSDs experienced problems with

thermal drift that dramatically impaired the performance

of these electro-optical components and hindered

validation of the tool concept.

Because this thermal drift prevented the full development of the system, Giddings & Lewis worked

to understand the thermal characteristics of the laser collimator and PSDs to reduce destabilizing drift. They

explored enhancements such as the addition of a

thermoelectric cooling system to stabilize the relatively

low-power PSDs (a design adaptation that created

better machine symmetry) and the construction of the

system using materials that have low coefficients of thermal expansion, such as Invar (an alloy of iron and

nickel).

However, Giddings & Lewis was unable to accomplish

these modifications within the ATP project's time and

funding limits. The University of Michigan continued

with this research and developed empirical models to compensate for thermal drift as a function of temperature within the laboratory environment.

Analyzing the experimental data indicates three

directions for future improvements in the main sources

of unresolved errors: 1 ) the inclination of the output

collimator of the laser beam, 2) the deformation of the

optical apparatus, and 3) the heat radiation of the

reference stage.

ATP Project Advances Laser Metrology Technology

Despite roadblocks that prevented the full development

of a laser-optical-sensing system for adaptive thermal

compensation, the project made significant strides in the area of laser metrology. During the project,

researchers confirmed the technical value of noninterferometric lasers by the use of single-mode optic

fiber laser beams, achieving an unprecedented beam

304 SHEFFIELD AUTOMATION
stability of less than one-tenth of a nnicrometer. The

project made another unique advance by validating the

ability of laser-sensing systems to measure the error component of roll.

Though the system that Giddings & Lewis envisioned in

its proposal for this ATP project was not fully realized,

the company later found ways to incorporate technology

developed during the project into its Atlas product to improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of its inspection capabilities. Developments under this project

also provided a knowledge base that researchers at the

University of Michigan utilized in a collaborative effort with the National Science Foundation to develop a

miniature-scale machine tool.

art CMM technology does provide factory-floor CMMs

and includes the MDFLM laser technology developed in this ATP-funded project, but it still has not achieved the

level of precision and the real-time thermal expansion

measurement technique originally proposed.

Giddings & Lewis was unable to accomplish

these modifications within the A TPproject's time

andfunding limits.

Additionally, researchers transferred findings from this project to the industry through paper presentations at major conferences, including a presentation by Dr. Jun

Ni of the University of Michigan at the 1995 Society of Manufacturing Engineers Laser Metrology Workshop

and publication of a reference book edited by John A. Bosch, Coordinate Measuring Machines and Systems

(Marcel Dekker, 1995). Bosch was a consultant to Sheffield Automation Giddings & Lewis at the time and

is the former president of Sheffield Measurement.

Conclusion

Although the Giddings & Lewis research team gained

extensive knowledge of and improvement in precision

for using lasers to define a metrological system for coordinate measuring machines (CMMs), persistent

problems with thermal drift rendered the multi-degreeof-freedom laser measurement (MDFLM) prototype

system incapable of adaptive thermal compensation.

Thus, the project highlighted areas that required further improvement and pointed to the need for continued

research and development of factory-floor CMMs. The

University of Michigan was able to develop empirical

models to compensate for thermal drift as a function of temperature in the lab environment. Current state-of-the

SHEFFIELD AUTOMATION 305
PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS

Sheffield Automation (formerly Giddings & Lewis)

Project Title: Enhanced CMMs To Improve

Manufacturing Processes (Development of an Adaptive

Compensation Technique for Enhancing Coordinate Measuring Machines (CMM) Accuracy)

Project: To incorporate an innovative laser optical system for monitoring minute dimensional changes in an

adaptive control system for CMMs in order to efficiently use them on the factory floor.

Duration: 5/1/1993-4/30/1995 ATP Number: 92 01-0035

Funding (in thousands):

ATP Final Cost $ 755 62%

Participant Final Cost 469 38%

Total $1,224

Accomplishments: Although Giddings & Lewis did

not fully develop a laser-optical-sensing system and

adaptive-compensation component, they did achieve the

following advances during this project:

o Validation of non-interferometric lasers with single-mode optic fiber laser beams for metrology applications, as confirmed by the achievement of beam stability within a margin of

less than one-tenth of a micrometer

o Development of a multi-degree-of-freedom laser measurement system capable of measuring the

error components of horizontal straightness,

vertical straightness, yaw, pitch, and roll

Commercialization Status: Giddings & Lewis was not able to develop a commercial-ready prototype from their work during this project. However, the company

applied technology developed during the ATP project to the later development of its Atlas, Discovery, Endeavor, and ProGage series CMMs.

Outlook: The outlook for this project is uncertain; however, research in CMM technology continues within the manufacturing industry. Today, U.S. machine tool manufacturers provide CMMs for use on the factory floor,

albeit without the high level of precision sought in this

project. For example, Giddings & Lewis' Endeavor Series CMMs, which incorporate the partial successes of the ATP

project, feature real-time temperature compensation in the range of +/-5° C, linear accuracy of up to 2 micrometers, and repeatability of 2 micrometers. This does not meet the proposal goals that intended to achieve "accuracy of straightness measurement" better than 0.5 micrometers and accuracy of angular deviation better than 0.05 arcsec.

(Precision of angular deviation is not cited in current company literature.) However, factory-floor CMMs are

currently available to assist the $500 billion U.S. discreteparts industry in the cost-effective manufacturing of highquality parts.

Composite Performance Score: No stars

Number of Employees: 300 employees at project

start, 150 as of November 2002

Company:

Sheffield Automation

721 Springfield Street Dayton, OH 45403

Contact: Jlm Henry

Phone: (937)259-5212

Subcontractors:

University of Michigan

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Research and data for Status Report 92-01-0035 were collected during October 2001 - December 2001 and November 2002.

306 SHEFFIELD AUTOMATION
Development of New Knowledge and

Early Commercial Products and Processes

Advanced Materials and Chemicals; Biotechnology; Electronics, Computer Hardware, or Communications; Information Technology; Manufacturing

Table A.1 Advanced Materials and Chemicals

Budd Company,

Design Center

ogy Develope{

Low cost disposable film bladder that acts as

a vacuum to hollow out parts made from slurry

process

iC. Products or Processes Commercialized

or Expected to be Commercialized Soon

Introduced capability to produce SRIM

structural impact bumpers in approximately

three minutes per unit which may be practical

for industries with low-volume output (heavy

Caterpillar

Incorporated

Functionally gradient materials for heavy

machinery

Developed a cost-effective processing

technology to enhance production

rEbert Composites

I Corporation

L.

Five-axis CNC machine that is capable of accurately tracking and machining composite

lineals on a continuous basis

Commercialized technology into composite

structures for electric power poles and lattice towers

EDO Specialty Plastics

(formerly Specialty

Plastics, Inc.)

Integral flange technology, heat-activated

coupling technology, an improved fitting manufacturing technology through intelligent

filament winding using optical sensors

Marketed resin transfer molded flanges,

reducers, and elbows and started to earn

revenue. Their chief customers are the Shell Exploration and Production Company, Exxon,

and Texaco, in the Gulf of Mexico

Ml

'"POTa'Motor Company Liquid composite molding process Commercialized process

General Electric Company

Monomer from corn that potentially could be

used in engineering thermoplastics

Unable to commercialize its technology

because of scientific and technical failures,

the company is continuing its research into creating a viable product

Honeywell (formerly

Allied Signal, Inc.) m

54-micrometers thick, metallic glass ribbons

with 60% reduction in core loss from that of conventional grain- oriented silicon steel; casting system providing higher cooling rates; established conditions for casting ribbon up to 80 micrometers thick; gained better understanding relationship between casting

Metallic glass ribbons are currently

incorporated into many products that are sold

worldwide

APPENDICES 309
A Awardee Name^

mm^'

mUF B. Technology Developed C. Products or Processes Commercialized|

or Expected to be Commercialized Soon |

conditions and ribbon properties; crafted 7.6

j cm wide, 75 micrometers tinick ribbon with 1 high-quality magnetic properties; constructed

equipment and processes for cutting thick

ribbon; incorporated process for annealing

spooled ribbon

jg^^gH^

Honeywell, Inc., Technology Center

Generated advanced process understanding

for neural network controls and sensors for complex materials and established the

groundwork for Honeywell's continued

development of neural networks

Continued to explore neural network

technology and developed related products,

such as its Profit Sensor software

Nanophase

Technologies

Corporation

Technology that enabled a 25,000-fold

increase in the development of nanoscale

materials and a 20,000-fold reduction in cost

NTC titania in cosmetic sunscreens; NTC

zirconia, ceria, and yttria in catalysts and

near-net-shaped ceramics; iron oxides

incorporated into cosmetic pigments, NTC

alumina in near-net-shaped ceramics and

electronic substrates

Norton Diamond Film Diamond-coating and pretreatment

technology for coating complex shapes

Commercialized a diamond-coated end-mill

product that it currently supplies to the

graphite, non-metallic materials, and metalrTiacninirig inciuoinso

Praxair Surface

Technologies, Inc. Advanced the coatings industry'sunderstanding of the newest form of physical

vapor deposition-Linear IVIagnetron Sputtering

li

None. Did not achieve all technical goals

Strongwell Corporation Large cost-effective, high-performance

composite shapes that last longer and are maintained more easily than the concrete and

steel that is now aging and deteriorating in the

country's infrastructure

Developed a manufacturing process to create

high-strength, advanced Fiber-reinforced

polymer (FRP) composites that could be used

in bridge and building construction

310 APPENDICES
Table A.2 Biotechnology

A. Awardee Name B. Technology Developed

f Genzyme Corporation Continued research for infectious

• (formerly GelTex disease

E Pharamaceuticals,

[ Inc.)

C. Products or Processes Commercialized or Expected to be Commercialized Soon

None. Changes in the healthcare marketplace led Genzyme to abandon its research

Hyseq, Inc.

Nanogen, Inc.

Nanogen, Inc.

Third Wave

\ Technologies, Inc.

Developed a prototype called the

HyChip TM that could sequence entire genes at a time

Developed a microchip-sized DNA

diagnostic system that uses electric current to actively hybridize DNA,

allowing for faster and less expensive

DNA diagnostic work

Developed a prototype microchip-sized

DNA diagnostic system and desktop

computer-sized workstation for analysis

Created process known as Cleavase

Fragment Length Polymorphism

(CFLP) that generates a distinct bar

code for every unique DNA sequence

None. Post-project business considerations have

delayed commercialization. Hyseq and Applied

Biosystems also spun off a majority-owned

subsidiary, Callida Genomics, Inc., to pursue the

DNA sequencing upon which Hyseq was founded. If Callida is a success, the company could bring new

drugs and sequencing methods to market in the next 10 years (the normal drug development timeframe)

The NanoChip® Molecular Biology Workstation is the

first product line in what Nanogen hopes will be a

long series of DNA diagnostic tools. Current

capabilities include detecting abnormalities in gene

sequences. Future diagnostic applications include

entries into the oncology, infectious diseases, and

genetic testing markets

Nanogen has commercialized the NanoChip®

Molecular Biology Workstation. An automated multi- purpose instrument that facilitates detection of known

sequences, such as in the analysis of Single

Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) and Short

Tandem Repeats (STRs) using the NanoChip®

Electronic Microarray. The unique, open-architecture

design permits researchers to define, select, and

build their own test panels

ThirdWave has moved beyond the CFLP and now

commercializes the proprietary Invader® Technology,

a molecular diagnostic tool that is quickly becoming

the industry standard

APPENDICES 311
Table A.3 Electronics, Computer Hardware, or Communications

W^^^ R TpchnoioQV DpvploDPd^^^^H H|p. Products or Processes Commercialized W/M

W"' Expected to be Commercialized Soon 91

ColorLink, Inc. Underlying technologies for a highefficiency, solid-state, electro-optic

tunable filter for color-sequential

imaging

Several technologies are being commercialized in the

television and monitor display industries. These

technologies include retarder stacks and custom

laminations

Digital Optics

Corporation

Integrated Micro-Optical System

(IMOS) for the production of low and

mid-volume opto-electronic devices

Photonic ChipTM

Displaytech, Inc. Developed a manufacturing process

for mass production of ferroelectric

liquid crystals (PLCs) for displays

Mass produced PLC display chip

Eagle-Picher

Research Laboratory

Developed blue and green prototype

lasers and LEDs exhibiting superior

output capabilities. Achieved success

in substrate development, laser and

LED output power, and substrate

quality

None. Eagle-Picher redirected its research into zinc

oxide-based lasers and LEDs

Elsicon (formerly

Alliant Techsystems,

Inc.)

Products and services related to optical alignment of Liquid Crystal

Displays (LCDs): pre-tilt analysis

system for LCDs, an R&D tool enabling the identification of the

process parameters for the optical

alignment of LCDs and devices,

measurement system for the voltageholding ratio, materials that support the

optical alignment of LCDs

Developed a platform for commercialization of the

products and services related to the optical alignment

of LCDs at Elsicon

Information Storage

Industry Consortium

(INSIC, formerly NSIC)

Developed technology for giant

magnetoresistive (GMR) recording

heads capable of writing and reading

10 gigabits per square inch

The GMR head technology received such broad and

fast industry adoption that it became the industry

standard in record time

Laser Power

Corporation

Development and improvement of Red

Green Blue (RGB) microlasers

Sold technology to Melles Griot to continue research

and development

MicroFab

Technologies, Inc. Development of a high-volume wafer

bumping prototype that demonstrated

dispensing of 40 to 120 nanometer

spheres of molten solders at temperatures of up to 220 degrees

Celsius, on-demand, and at rates up to 2,000 per second

Licensed technology for use in solder balls

312 APPENDICES
Awardee Name B. Technology Developed C. Products or Processes Commercialized or^^l

Expected to be Commercialized Soon ||

1 Micron Optics, Inc. Developed High-Speed Fiber FabryPerot Tunable Filters (FFP-TF) for communication networks

Commercialized improved FFP-TF (although all ATP

goals not met)

Physical Optics

Corporation

fI

'i

New type of diffuser light based on

holographic technology. The ATPfunded diffusers are twice as efficient as previous diffusers

Manufacturing holographic diffusers

f

) X-Ray Optical

; Systems, Inc. L^.^..

IVIanufacture of capillary x-ray optics,

polycapillary optics lenses, and

collimators

Commercialized machines that use polycapillary

optics lenses and collimators

1 aDiG A.4 inTormaiion \ ccnnoiogy

i^A. Awardee Nam^H B. Technology Develope^^^^ B C. Products or Processes Commercialized or K Expected to be Commercialized Soon

i 3M Company Health

Information Systems

Clinical Data Repository

f

Prototype is installed in healthcare facilities throughout the United States

Accenture (formerly

Andersen Consulting)

^merican Healthware

Developed and demonstrated the

functionality of a healthcare

information system that could control

costs, eliminate redundant care, and

give healthcare providers more time

with their patients

None. Changes in the healthcare industry, however,

made a centralized information infrastructure

irrelevant, and commercialization did not take place

] Systems

1i

Developed a Graphical User Interface

that are less complex than the Health

Care Plan System

None. Although the company failed to develop an

interface that could prompt physicians to use the care

plans in an effective manner, the company continued

its research into hospital information systems after the project ended in 1 997

Hynomics (formerly

Hybrithms

Corporation, formerly

Sagent Corporation)

Hybrid systems, automata, and control theory

Commercialized a workforce optimizer and people

scheduler for SAP; one of the largest enterprise

solutions providers

; KOOP Foundation,

[ Inc. Developed and demonstrated a business process reengineering

information technology application for use by the healthcare industry

None. Changes in the healthcare marketplace

prevented the Koop Foundation joint venture from

commercializing the ATP-funded technology

KOOP Foundation,

Inc. Developed an essential middleware

framework for the healthcare

information infrastructure

None. Aggressive cost cutting had not proved

successful for healthcare providers, and a universal

approach to healthcare delivery had faded from the

national scene

APPENDICES 313
A. Awardee Name B. Technology Developed C. Products or Processes Commercialized or Expected to be Commercialized Soon

Kurzweil Applied

Intelligence, Inc. Developed voice recognition software as a result of the ATP project

The technology has since been integrated into Lernout & Hauspie's VoiceXpress^'^ product, which

allows voice control of Microsoft and Corel Office

software products -SMA

MediaBin (formerly

Iterated Systems

Incorporated)

Produced prototypes of compressors

and decompressors using a combination of fractal and non-fractal elements.

None. Changes in the market made ISI's innovation

obsolete. By the end of the ATP-funded project in 1995, use of the Internet had become widespread,

thus reducing the need to store vast image libraries on PCs

PPD Informatics

(formerly Belmont

Research, Inc.)

Addressed the problem of data

integration by creating a software tool that would browse and automatically

extract healthcare data from scattered

databases without altering the existing

systems. The Table Trans and

Belmont Auto Coder products provide

these capabilities

PPD Informatics continues to market both Table

TransTM and Auto Coder to the clinical research

industry

Reasoning Systems,

Inc. Developed technology that reduced

the time, cost, and risk of reengineering across a wide variety of legacy systems

None. After a sharp drop-off in the transformational

software purchasing that had fueled its explosive pre- 2000 growth, a leaner Reasoning has refocused its business model, secured an additional $9 million in venture funding, and continues to commercially

market the software technology developed during the

ATP-funded project

Surgency (formerly

Benchmarking

Partners)

Created the Retail Working Group, the

first Internet-based retail business-tobusiness collaboration initiative that served as the forerunner to the

formation of the VICS CPFR

implementation manual and the

widespread use of collaborative

practices

Warner-Lambert purchased a pilot version of j^P^^^W

collaborative technology, and Kmart, Gillette Corporation, and others paid for executive briefings, access to collaborative process models, and

consulting services

TopicalNet (formerly

Continuum Software,

Inc.)

Developed MultiPlyTM, a technology

allowing business programmers to develop scalable business applications

without having to learn parallel

programming

None. Venture capital not available at the time

because the computer industry was focused on Y2K

compliance

TopicalNet (formerly

Continuum Software,

Inc.)

Developed a software tool using

projective visualization that would

enable the creation of future databases

TopicalNet's ATP-supported technology and its subsequent acquisitions have allowed the company

to provide its customers with traffic verification,

analysis, and research solutions for the World Wide

Web

314 APPENDICES
Table A.5 Manufacturing

A.AwardeeName B. Technoiogy Developed Products or Processes Commerc.al.zed or

Calmac Manufacturing

Corporation

Unable to develop an ejector

expansion refrigeration cycle (EERC)

to increase the efficiency of the cycle

by recovering some of the unused

energy in the compressed fluid

Expected to be Commercialized Soon

None. Scientific and technical failures prevented

Calmac from successfully developing the EERC

technology. Calmac did, however, advance the

refrigeration industry's body of knowledge for modernizing the vapor compression process, and

future industry efforts may potentially expand on the

inroads made by Calmac

Corning Tropel

(formerly Tropel

Corporation

Cylinder metrology instrument based

on diffractive optics to enable highspeed, in-process, non-contact measurement of complex shapes such

as cylinders and cones in a

manufacturing environment

Commercialized Cylinder MasterTM product

Dana Corporation Magnetic pulse welding process that combines a precision metal-forming

step with unconventional welding

aluminum and steel load-bearing

structures to enable welding tubular

steel to aluminum without depositing

additional metal. The process requires

precisely crafted and machined tubes

of metal bonded by heating generated

by a rapidly shifting magnetic field

After durability testing at OEM sites, Dana expects to commercialize the magnetic welding process for use

in manufacturers of U.S. and European vehicles

GE Corporate

Research &

Development

No technologies were successfully

developed as a result of this project

None. Although the company did not achieve its goal

of developing mercury-free fluorescent lighting for existing sockets, it did advance the state-of-the-art of mercury-free fluorescent lighting

Ingersoll Milling

Machine Company

Octahedral hexapod machine tools Sold three high-precision, multi-axis machine tools based on an octahedron frame and a "Stewart

platform" actuator

M&M Precision

Systems Corporation

Automatic computer-controlled error correction software, rotary-axis

technology enabling smoother and

faster gear measurements, and new

control technology enabling a smoother, more precise gear motion

during measurement

Commercialized the 3500-series measurement

machine

Perceptron (formerly

Autospect, Inc.) Using its Laser Ultrasonic technology,

developed non-contact method for online measuring of wet-paint

thickness to enable a high-quality

painting process for the automotive

industry

Sold prototype wet film measurement (WFM) system

to DaimlerChrysler. No commercialization after that

initial sale

APPENDICES 315
A. Awardee Name

Philips Laboratories

B. Technology Developed

Fabricated sealed cavities that contained a dose of mercury and

argon ambient. Created 3 electrode

microlamps:

C. Products or Processes Commercialized or Expected to be Commercialized Soon ^

None. Philips Lighting could not commercialize the

product at prices low enough to compete with

microlamps already on the marl<et, so the company

abandoned plans to bring a product to market

1 high-pressure mercury microlamp

1 high-pressure mercury microlamp

with arcs of 1 mm suited for projection applications

1 with electrodes on one side, a

design enabling the microlamp to be

illuminated using low electrical current for low-wattage applications

Sheffield Automation

(formerly Giddings &

Lewis)

Validation of non-interferometric lasers

with single-mode optic fiber laser beams for metrology applications and

development of a multi-degree-offreedom laser measurement system

Unable to develop a commercial-ready prototype

from their work, but applied technology developed to the later development of its Atlas, Discovery,

Endeavor, and ProGage series CMMs

316 APPENDICES
APPENDIXB

Reasons for Terminating ATP Projects

At the end of an ATP competition, projects are selected for award and ttie winners are announced.

l\/lost of tfiese projects proceed tlirougli tlieir multi-year research plans to completion. Some are not

earned through to completion for a variety of reasons. These projects are collectively called

"terminated projects.

Between 1990 and September 2004, there were 768

ATP awards issued, of which 77 projects ended before

completion. Below is a percentage distribution by

category of the reasons for termination.

Of the 77 terminated projects:

Change in goals

56 percent ended because of changes in the

strategic goals of the companies, changes in the

business climate or markets, changes in company

ownership, or other business-related facts.

Lack of technical progress

14 percent ended because of lack of technical progress, which sometimes occurs at go/no-go

decision points recommended by the participant(s).

Project no longer meets ATP criteria 12 percent ended because changes in scope,

membership, performance, or other factors meant

that the project no longer met ATP's technical and/or

economic criteria.

Lack of agreement among joint venture members

3 percent ended because the joint venture members

could not reach an agreement on some issues.

Financial distress

10 percent ended due to the financial distress of a key participant.

Early success

5 percent ended due to early success of the project!

Although projects may end early, it is not necessarily an

indication of total failure. Projects that ended early

produced important knowledge gains; involved

integrated planning for research, development, and

business activities that may have some benefit to participating companies; and entailed substantive crossdisciplinary contact among scientists and other

researchers, cross-talk among technical and business

staff, and negotiations among executives at different companies.

These characteristics still benefit the economy by

stretching the thinking and horizons of participants in the process. Companies may learn about new opportunities

and apply integrated planning of research and business

activities to other projects. In summary, terminated

projects may have some positive impact even though

they incur costs.

APPENDICES 317

Composite Performance Rating System (CPRS)

Star Ratings—First 100 Completed Projects

Projects are grouped by star rating, listed alphabetically. For a complete description of the CPRS

components and calculation procedure, please see: Ruegg, R., A Composite Performance Rating

System for ATP-Funded Completed Projects, NIST GCR 03-851 (Gaithersburg, MD: National Institute

of Standards and Technology, Forthcoming.)

HPi-oject Number HHH|Kroject l^^^nt'^i^^H^^^^H

^^^^Mt^/Lead Organ izati^^m^| K Data SetSHH^^^^^^^^oject Success ^

91-01-0243 Aastrom Biosciences, Inc. 1st 50 ****

&. 91-01-0146

Corporation

1st 50  

f 96-01-0263 ColorLink, Inc. 2nd 50 ** ** ^

91-01-0256 Cree Research, Inc. 1st 50   ^

91-01-0184 Engineering Animation, Inc. 1st 50 ** **

93-01-0085 Integra LifeSciences 1st 50   IP^

91-01-0041 Nanophase Technologies

Corporation

2nd 50 ** **

'^90-01-0154 National Center for Manufacturing

Sciences (NCMS) 1st 50  

94-05-0012 Third Wave Technologies, Inc. 2nd 50 ** **

92-01-0133 Tissue Engineering, Inc. 1st 50  

. 94-06-0024 Torrent Systems, Inc. (formerly

Applied Parallel Technologies, Inc.) 1st 50 ** **

91-01-0112 X-Ray Optical Systems, Inc. 2nd 50  

Amersham Pharmacia Biotech

93-01-0113 (formerly U.S. Biochemical

Corporation)

1st 50 ** *

91-01-0177 Auto Body Consortium 1st 50 ***

APPENDICES 319
Prrsiprt WymbGr Project Identifier

(Title/Lead Organization)^.^^^ Data Set Overall Project Success

1«;t 1 Ol 'sn \J\J ***

93-01-0055 Caterpillar Corporation 2nd 50 ***

95-01-0022

Corning Trope! (formerly Trope!

v-/orpui dllUl 1 ) 2nd 50 ***

Q9 ni ni '^R v^yiiUoUlt;, lliU. 1 ol \J\J ***

95-02-0055 Dana Corporation 2nd 50 ***

92-01-0115 Diamond Semiconductor Group,

1 1 p

1st 50 ***

yo-uz-uuo't l-'iyilcil VjpilOo OUl pUI dLlUI 1 9nH Rn ***

94-01-0402 DIsplaytech, Inc. 2nd 50 ***

90-01-0064

E.I. Du Pont de Nemours &

\jUl 1 ipdi ly 1st 50 ***

94-02-0025 Ebert Composites Corporation 2nd 50 ***

95-11-0012 EDO Specialty Plastics (formerly

OpUUIdlLy rldbllUo, IIIO.^ 2nd 50 ***

91-01-0178 Ford Motor Company 2nd 50 ***

92-01-0116

Honeywell (formerly Allied Signal,

Inc.) 2nd 50 ***

95-09-0052

Hynomics (formerly Hybrithms

Corporation, formerly Sagent

OUI pUI dUUI 1 )

2nd 50 ***

c/*T wo WVJ 1 O

1—|\/oon Inr* nyoci-|, iiiu. ^IIU 9nrl ^nou

***

92-01-0017 Illinois Superconductor Corporation 1st 50 ***

91-01-0016 Information Storage Industry

Pnnc;nrtiiim V_/1^l lO^I LIUI 1 1 ^N^^IP ^IINOIV./, fnrmprlv IvJIIII^Iiy M*^IP^ lNOIv./i 2nd 50 ***

91-01-096? PCnnin Pnmr^ratir^n 1 ol QU ***

Q^.ni-Dini \J 1 U 1 \J 1 1^1 iAUI^WcII irv\A/oil Ar\r\iioH Intollinonr'o Inr* Mp|Jllt;U II Ucjiiiycl IIILf 9nH t^n ***

93-01-0183 MicroFab Technologies, Inc. 2nd 50 ***

91-01-0224

IVyiolof^i liar ^imiil^tinnc Inr* IVIUIoUUIdl Oil 1 lUldUUI lo, IIIC (formerly Biosym Technologies,

Inc.)

1st 50 ***

320 APPENDICES
P^roject Number rlOJcCl IVJcllllllcl (Title/Lead Organization)

Data Set Overall Project Success

96-01-0172 Nanogen, Inc. 2nd 50

90-01-0166 Nonvolatile Electronics, Inc. 1st 50 ***

93-01-0071 Perceptron, Inc. 1st 50 ***

93-01-0205 Physical Optics Corporation 2nd 50

? 94-04-0024

PPD Informatics (formerly Belmont

Research, Inc.) 2nd 50

' 92-01-0123 Sage and 3M Corporation 1st 50 ***

94-02-0010 Strongwell Corporation 2nd 50 ***

1^

94-04-0046 Surgency (formerly Benchmarl<ing

Partners)

2nd 50 ***

97-01-0087

TopicalNet (formerly Continuum

Software, Inc.)

f~\ 1 r- r\ 2nd 50

93-01-0124

_ Vitesse Semiconductor Corporation 1st 50 ***

r 94-04-0027

3IVI Company, Health Information

Systems

2nd 50 •k-k

91-01-0187 AlliedSignal, Inc. 1st 50 **

90-01-0060 American Display Consortium 1st 50 **

91-01-0142 AstroPower, Inc. 1st 50 ** Wm 93-01-0250

wm

BioTraces. Inc. 1st 50 **

90-01-0210 Communication Intelligence

Corporation

1st 50 **

93-01-0211 Communication Intelligence

Corporation

1st 50 **

93-01-0091

Elsicon (formerly Alliant Techsystems, Inc.) 2nd 50 ieie

1^ 92-01-0022 FSI International, Inc. 1st 50 **

92-01-0074 Geltech Incorporated 1st 50 **

94-01-0147 Genzyme Corporation (formerly

GelTex Pharmaceuticals, Inc.) 2nd 50

^ 91-01-0034 HelpMate Robotics, Inc. (formerly

Transitions Research Corporation)

1st 50 **

APPENDICES 321
Project Identifier

ggj^ (Titie/Lead Organization)

Data Set Overall Project Success

H/i n't Laser rOwer v_fOrporaiion 9nH c:n znu ou

**

on ni 091

9

yu-u 1 -Uii 1 £. l_iyilL Myc, IIIU. 1 ol OU **

90-01-0121 Lucent Technologies Inc. 1st 50 **

93-01-0191

M&M Precision Systems

ourpUldUUl 1 2nd 50 **

yz-u 1 -uuOvJ iviainernaiicai i eonrioiogies irio. ict 1 SI ouRn **

y 1 -u 1 -uuoo iviicniydii iviuic^ouidr iiibuiui^ 1

1 blct ouRn **

0'5 yo-un-i

1 -uuz nn97/ IVIIOlUll V^pilOb, MiO. ziiu 9nH ou

**

yo-Uo-uuuy iNanogen, inc. znu 9nH ouRC\ **

y4-u 1 -uoo 1 iNonon uiamonu riim znu 9nrl RCl ou

**

y^-UD-UUZD Keasoning oysiems, inc. 9nri c;n znu ou

**

yu-u 1 -Kj^o^ oayinaw iviacnine oysiems, inc. 1 ct cin 1 SI ou

**

91-01-0263 Spire Corporation 1st 50 **

94-06-0034 TopicalNet, Inc. (formerly

L^oniinuurn ooiiware, inc./ 2nd 50

y^f-u 1 -uuDo union owiicn ana oignai, inc. 1 ct c:n

1 SI ou

**

y 1 -u 1 -uzD 1 vvesiingnouse riasma ^corporation 1 ot *^n 1 SI ou

**

cxA r\A nni 7 Mriicncdn nediinwdrc oysiems znu 9nH ouRr\ *

94-02-0040 Budd Company, Design Center 2nd 50 *

92-01-0132 GE Corporate Researcli and

ueveiopment 2nd 50 *

y 1 -u 1 -uuoy nuiicywcii, inc., i ecnnoiogy L/enier 9nH c:n zna ou

*

y^-u 1 -uuof iiiycrboii iviiiiing iviacnine v_<ompany 9nrl t^n zna ou

*

y't-UM—uuo ( l^OOD inrloti/-\n In^ r\*jv_'r rounaaiion, inc. 9nH Kn zna ou

*

Qcyo-

-1

1 nu-uuo/ nnR7 iw.j'-'r rounuaiion, inc. 9r<H c;n zno ou

91-01-0258 IVIicroelectronics Center of NC 1st 50

95-02-0005 Perceptron (formerly Autospect,

Inc.) 2nd 50 *

322 APPENDICES
pKroject Number

(Title/Lead Organization)

w

Data Set Overall Project Success

93-01-0045 Philips Laboratories 2nd 50 *

91-01-0267 PreAmp Consortium 1st 50 *

93-01-0109 Thomas Electronics, Inc. 1st 50 *

94-04-0025

Accenture (formerly Andersen

Consulting)

2nd 50

92-01-0055 Accuwave Corporation 1st 50

^ 91-01-0135 Aphios Corporation (formerly

BioEng, Inc.) 1st 50

91-01-0025 Armstrong World Industries, Inc. 1st 50 -

92-01-0007 Calmac Manufacturing Corporation 2nd 50

92-01-0109 Eagle-Picher Research Laboratory 2nd 50

PI' 92-01-0122 ETOM Technologies, Inc. (formerly

Optex Communications, Inc.) 1st 50

95-05-0031 General Electric Company 2nd 50 -

90-01-0126 Hampshire Instruments, Inc. 1st 50 -

91-01-0017 IBM Corporation 1st 50

. 92-01-0103 IBM Corporation 1st 50

91-01-0057 MediaBin (formerly Iterated Systems Incorporated)

2nd 50 _

f\*^ r\A r\A*^A 92-01-0124 NetOptix Corporation (formerly

Galileo Corporation)

1st 50

95-07-0006 Praxair Surface Technologies, Inc. 2nd 50

Sheffield Automation (formerly

Giddings & Lewis)

2nd 50

91-01-0071 Thermo Trilogy Corporation 1st 50

APPENDICES 323

II\\\II

If
mm

Pi' mm