National Research Council of the National Academies Publishes Book on Accelerating Technology Transition (December 2004)
Diran Apelian headed a National Materials Advisory Board Committee on Accelerating Technology Transition that resulted in a workshop in Washington on November 24-25, 2003. The workshop, which was attended by industry leaders, researchers (especially research managers), and staff from federal agencies, examined how new high-risk materials and production technologies are quickly adopted by successful integrated design/manufacturing groups they identified approaches that could accelerate the use of new technologies in defense systems. As a result of the committee’s work, the NRC published a 50-page report on workshop conclusions and recommendations.
A recent Editorial by Margaret W. Hunt of ASM in Advanced Materials and Processes (V. 163, N0.2, February 2005) says the following about the Report:
"Countless gallons of ink, endless numbers of kilobytes, and months of time have been dedicated to discussions of the decline of manufacturing in the United States. One of the major challenges is how to effectively transition innovative technology, especially new materials, into commercial production. The transition is sometimes called 'bridging the valley of death,' because so many promising technologies never make it through this interminable process. The companies that respond quickly can bridge the valley and prosper in the world economy, but those that do not are often doomed. In an effort to help the defense industry slash transition time, the Committee on Accelerating Technology Transition of the National Materials Advisory Board held a workshop to address how to accelerate technology transition into military systems. The committee has issued a 50-page report on workshop conclusions and recommendations, titled 'Accelerating Technology Transition: Bridging the Valley of Death for Materials and Processes in Defense Systems'. Among its many findings, the report identifies three best practices that increase chances for success and decrease the risk of failure: developing a viral process for technology development; increasing reliance on functional requirements rather than on specifications; and developing a mechanism for creating successful teams. The 'viral process' is defined as 'infectious and self-propagating, for technology development through the quick, iterative prototyping of materials and products, with free and open communication; agile manufacturing processes; and effective modeling of materials, processes, system performance, and cost'. This 'viral' approach is appealing because it embodies an attitude of making things happen, of doing whatever it takes to make sure that all members of the team understand their roles in the project as well as the contributions of other team members. The report says that the key to rapid technology development is to virally incorporate knowledge into the development process and to modify the materials and the fabrication processes as needed. This means that agile manufacturing processes are essential for all stages in materials development, from research to prototyping and pilot production. In addition, effective modeling of materials and processes is a critical part of viral development. The difficulty is that it is only after the selected materials are fabricated into products that complexities are revealed, and the materials and/or processes must then be modified. Therefore, predictive models are needed that will enable rapid redesign of the fabrication processes. However, models must incorporate relevant economic factors if researchers and system developers are to truly optimize manufacturing conditions. Although this report is primarily focused on the defense arena, it does offer some useful insights that may help other industries 'bridge the valley of death'. One of its most useful contributions is to make sure that people keep thinking about better ways to do things, a process that keeps the manufacturing enterprise moving forward".
You can read the report online, download the entire report or separate chapters, or buy a hard copy on The National Academies' website.
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