Materials Science and Engineering Forging Stronger Links to Users (1999) / Chapter Skim
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3 Linkages Between the MS&E and End-User Communities
3 Linkages Between the MS&E and End-User Communities
Pages 44-68
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From page 44... ...
The committee divided the typical user chain for the materials production cycle into four main sections to simplify the description of linkages between materials-based industries (Figure 3-1~. The first section, materials suppliers, includes companies that produce the raw or semifinished materials used in the 44
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From page 45... ...
The third section, original equipment manufacturers, includes both assemblers of major subcomponents (e.g., Lucas or Bendix for the jet-engine industry; Delphi or Nippondenso for the automotive industry; ReadRite or Seagate for the computer-component industry) and the main assemblers and distributors of final end-use products (e.g., GE, Pratt and Whitney, or Rolls-Royce for the jetengine industry; Ford or Honda for the automotive industry; Compaq, Apple, or IBM for the computer industry)
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From page 46... ...
In many cases, primary materials suppliers are supplemented by specialty materials suppliers, which produce more advanced materials. Specialty materials suppliers can often be classified as "value-added distributors." For example, jetengine alloys require specialty materials suppliers because they are a complex and carefully controlled combination of many elements combined by special processes and equipment.
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From page 47... ...
Three potential methods that should be investigated are: mechanisms for larger original equipment manufacturers to assist and encourage materials suppliers to conduct R&D (e.g., guarantees to use the new technology) ; government programs, such as the Advanced Technology Program, to help defray some of the costs of industrial R&D; and tax incentives to encourage investments in R&D and reduce the risk to the supplier companies.
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From page 48... ...
Parts suppliers are predominantly contracted by OEMs to make specific parts and subassemblies according to approved specifications and procedures. For example, Howmet, the jet-engine parts supplier, buys components of a superalloy material from materials suppliers and casts the material into single-crystal turbine blades for GE Aircraft Engines and Pratt and Whitney for insertion in their engines.
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From page 49... ...
Once industries become more established and materials/process technologies have been optimized, however, OEMs tend to become assemblers and to reduce R&D on new technologies in favor of evolutionary process improvements. Note the similarities, for instance, between the first 30 years of progress in the automotive industry, when great leaps in technology were made and new records for production and vehicle speed were constantly being set, and the computer industry over the past 30 years.
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From page 50... ...
Three potential methods that should be investigated are: mechanisms for larger original equipment manufacturers to assist and encourage parts suppliers to conduct R&D (e.g., guarantees to use the new technology) ; government programs to help defray some of the costs of industrial R&D; and tax incentives to encourage investments in R&D and reduce the risk to the supplier compames.
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From page 51... ...
Because of the scale and complexity of current economic and technological systems, MS&E and end-user communities will have to be more aware of, and concerned about, life-cycle patterns of material use beyond simple disposal and recycling. Material technologies that are useful and benign at a small scale or in the context of a laboratory pilot process can have social, economic, and environmental implications in practice that must be taken into account by materials professionals.
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From page 52... ...
In the highly evolved, complex, service-dominated economies characteristic of developed countries today, it is becoming increasingly important for materials professionals to be sensitive to the social, economic, and environmental context within which materials and products are designed, produced, used, and managed at the end of their life cycles. Fortunately, the developing field of industrial ecology is based on a life-cycle, systems-based view of materials from initial acquisition; to formulation, processing, and manufacturing; to distribution as a material or part of a product; to operational use; to recycling as part of a refurbished product, assembly, subassembly, component, or material; and, eventually, to disposal as waste.
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From page 53... ...
Recommendation 3-6. To ensure the appropriate design, production, use, and end-of-life management of materials and products in the future, industrial ecology should be made an integral part of the education and expertise of both MS&E researchers and product designers.
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From page 54... ...
Still, arsenic-bearing compounds have been widely dispersed into the environment through an unexpected channel. Each year, 5 billion board feet of pressuretreated wood are protected from termite damage and dry rot using chromated copper arsenate, which accounts for 90 percent of worldwide arsenic demand.
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From page 55... ...
Materials scientists and engineers, as well as environmental professionals and regulatory communities, have tended to look for environmental solutions in the early phases of materials life cycles the manufacturing processes and manufactured products. But the example of silver contamination suggests that social, regulatory, cultural, and other factors also influence how products ultimately flow through the environment.
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From page 56... ...
The committee found that many of the concerns about relationships between industry and academia could be alleviated by better communication and data sharing, more compatible equipment, a stronger policy for interaction, more industry access to research results, more compatible time scales, and more compatible objectives and reward schemes.
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From page 57... ...
Increasing adjunct professorships for industrial scientists and engineers at universities and developing arrangements for Ph.D. and masters students to conduct their research in industry facilities would increase and improve personal interactions between the two communities.
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From page 58... ...
. Industry Access to Research Results The fourth weakness in industry-university linkages is the inaccessibility of many university research results.
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From page 59... ...
In the jet turbine industry, however, it may be many years between new product sign-offs. In the electronics industry, however, most of the technology is developed in response to a market pull, as embodied in an industry road map, so much of the new material/process comes to Phase 3 quickly.
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From page 60... ...
Industry and universities should develop mechanisms to increase personal interactions and communications and to determine an appropriate balance of training and education to ensure the continued success of the MS&E R&D community, as well as satisfying the needs of industry.
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From page 61... ...
it provides investigators with greater access to the increasingly expensive and sophisticated equipment required for materials research. A center of excellence provides industry with a single location from which to anticipate relevant research results and a pool of recruitable students with immediately applicable skills and experience working in teams.
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From page 62... ...
Universities should consider establishing centers of excellence as a mechanism for "marketing" their research, promoting customeroriented research at their universities, improving the chances of successful technology transfer, and improving linkages to industry. INDUSTRY-GOVERNMENT LABORATORY LINKAGES Government laboratories also play an important role in industrial research because they conduct a broad spectrum of R&D throughout Phases 0, 1, 2, and 3 of the materials/process development timeline.
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From page 63... ...
Potential mechanisms for increasing personal interactions include fostering more joint research projects; increasing the flexibility of exchange programs between government laboratories and industry; and organizing seminars and workshops to introduce government laboratory personnel to the complexities, intricacies, and economics of commercial manufacturing. Most industry representatives at the jet-engine workshop were extremely concerned about changes in the DOD laboratories.
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From page 64... ...
Although, in general, industry is opposed to government interference in commerce, the committee found that industrial participants in the workshops did not believe that product regulation was a major deterrent to industrial competitiveness because all companies must comply equally with new regulations. In fact, regulation can stimulate innovation by motivating companies to conduct cooperative, precompetitive research and by helping them overcome the cost barriers that limit the introduction of new materials/processes.
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From page 65... ...
program brings individual engineering faculty members and industry into close working contact. The GOALI program provides funding for industry engineers to work in academia on collaborative projects.
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From page 66... ...
These programs should focus on involving both original equipment manufacturers and suppliers in the selection and management of research projects. CONSORTIA The formation of consortia to conduct precompetitive research is a relatively recent phenomenon that started in 1984 with passage of the National Cooperative Research Act.
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From page 67... ...
The main mechanism by which consortia operate is through industry road maps, frameworks for setting priorities in materials research. Road maps have been very useful for establishing goals and priorities that have led to the development of advanced technologies in newer industries, such as electronics.
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From page 68... ...
Thus, road maps must be treated as living documents rather than set guidelines. Unless consortia vigilantly maintain and update their road maps, the competitive advantage they provide will be lost.
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