A tighter fit results in higher-quality vehicles and reduced costs. The new technologies have been incorporated by suppliers in assembly line equipment and put to use in 6 of 10 Chrysler plants and 16 of 31 General Motors plants in the United States and Canada. The project team has also published a manual on the new technologies to help extend their use throughout the supply chain and the aerospace, appliance, metal furniture, and other industries that use automation to assemble metal parts. The technical achievements of some of the completed projects were honored by outside organizations, including trade associations and technical journals. The new knowledge and technologies are being disseminated widely to promote broader application across the economy and further broad-based benefits.
Dissemination takes place in several ways.
For instance, inventions that are both novel and useful can be patented and licensed to others for their use. For some projects, patent applications have been filed but the patent has not yet been granted. Products can be reverse engineered to determine the technology embedded in them. The substantial number of products thus far released to markets will further the dissemination of new technical knowledge. Other parties can not only use them but attempt to discover how they work by observation and testing.