Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Rubber News
Subscribe
  • Login
  • Register
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • Digital Edition
    • End Markets
    • Special Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Resin pricing news
    • Videos
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • CEO Issue
    • Diversity
    • Best Places to Work
      • 2022 winners
    • Processor of the Year
    • Rising Stars
    • Women Breaking the Mold
  • Opinion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Kickstart
    • One Good Resin
    • BRICS and Plastics
    • All Things Data
    • Viewpoint
    • From Pillar to Post
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Fake Plastic Trees
  • Shop Floor
    • Blending
    • Compounding
    • Drying
    • Injection Molding
    • Purging
    • Robotics
    • Size Reduction
    • Structural Foam
    • Tooling
    • Training
  • Events
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Editorial Livestreams
    • Ask the Expert
    • Plastics News Events Library
    • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Plastics News Caps & Closures
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
    • Plastics in Automotive
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Reuters Responsible Business Europe 2022
    • Reifenhäuser Technologies Livestreams
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Numbers that Matter Live
    • Plastics in Politics Live
    • Sustainable Plastics Live
    • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
  • Resin Prices
    • All Resins
    • Commodity TPs
    • High Temp TPs
    • ETPs
    • Thermosets
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
    • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
    • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Historic Thermosets
    • Historic Recycled Plastics
  • Rankings & Data
    • Injection Molders
    • Blow Molders
    • Film Sheet
    • Thermoformers
    • Pipe Profile Tubing
    • Rotomolders
    • Mold/Toolmakers
    • LSR Processors
    • Recyclers
    • Compounders - List
    • Association - List
    • Plastic Lumber - List
    • All
  • Directory
  • Custom
    • Sponsored Content
    • Conair Sponsored Content
    • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
    • ENGEL Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Classifieds
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
June 12, 2000 02:00 AM

Panelist briefing brings suppliers into loop

Roger Renstrom
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Print

    LONG BEACH, CALIF. — A top Navy aerospace materials research official urged caution regarding use of thermoplastics. "It all comes down to cost, schedule, performance and risk," said Dale Moore, who directs aerospace materials research and engineering for the Naval Air Systems Command in Patuxent River, Md.

    "You've got to be pragmatic about these new technologies. ... We tend to jump on the next bandwagon without thinking through it. A lot of Murphies out there can bite you," Moore said in a keynote speech at the Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering conference, held May 21-25 in Long Beach.

    In an interview, Moore criticized use of resin transfer molding in aerospace applications by other branches of the military. A few years ago, "some organizations decided to pursue that with vigor," but the Navy held to a higher standard, he said. "We've been extremely judicious in the RTM application."

    Rapid extraordinary change and big-picture thinking are terms he used in summarizing a morning-long discussion about future advanced materials.

    "I see developments in the future that allow us to do tremendous things," he said "Make sure people know the impact of materials we have today and in the future because it is remarkable."

    The panelists' views reflected various changes.

    William Kessler of Lockheed Martin Corp. said his company "is fundamentally going to change the way we do business with the supplier base."

    The old model with suppliers was "an arm's length agreement [with a] lot of inefficiencies and waste," said Kessler, who is vice president of enterprise productivity with Lockheed Martin's aeronautical systems business in Marietta, Ga.

    The new model will feature integrated relationships that move materials quickly, reduce lead times and meet customer commitments.

    "Our competitiveness strategy must be adaptable to external change," he said.

    Lou Montulli, a former White House senior policy analyst, advised defense contractors to reinvent themselves by looking at commercial opportunities for their technology.

    "Defense will be around, but you can prospect if you become an entrepreneurial technology company," said Montulli, chairman and chief executive officer of Greenland Corp. of Oceanside, Calif.

    "Just set up a program to look at the commercial world and pick the low-hanging fruit."

    He noted that the Internet, personal computers and cellular telephones "all started in the military" with contractors having "first knowledge, first use, first control and you had patent rights."

    Publicly traded Greenland makes software and machinery for financial service applications, including money orders.

    Transforming concepts to reality is difficult, said Robert DeGange, vice president of worldwide sales and marketing with Advanced Glassfiber Yarns LLC.

    "Growth companies are recognizing that collaboration is the way to grow," DeGange said.

    Advanced Glassfiber is a Aiken, S.C.-based joint venture formed by Groupe Porcher Industries and Owens Corning in September 1998. The joint venture is developing fiber-filled exhaust systems, and wondering how to expand on the concept, according to DeGange.

    A government official said composite fabricators have not taken advantage of a program that funds prototype projects. A Commerce Department incentive program "left $20 million lying on the table last year" for lack of enough qualified proposals, according to Cita Furlani, acting deputy director of the advanced technology program within the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, Md.

    Proposals are judged equally on scientific and technological merit and broad-based economic benefits. Intellectual property is safeguarded, Furlani said.

    "We are not in the same ballpark as NASA or Naval Air, but we've got money and it is available," she said.

    NIST clients have included Strongwell Corp. of Bristol, Va., for development of a bridge over a creek in Blacksburg, Va.; an automotive composites consortium on concepts going into the Chevrolet Silverado truck; and Advanced Technical Products Inc.'s Lincoln Composites unit in Lincoln, Neb., for work on risers for offshore oil exploration.

    RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
    C-sert designs thread repair inserts with lifetime guarantees
    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]

    Most Popular
    1
    Metro Plastics Technologies sold to NY investment firm
    2
    Layoffs underway at Home Products International
    3
    Plastics Pioneers inducts seven members
    4
    Connecticut-based Inline Plastics buys Michigan-based Cam Packaging, opening first Midwest plant
    5
    FRX Polymers going public through reverse takeover
    SIGN UP FOR TO RECEIVE THESE EMAILS AND ENEWSLETTERS
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe today

    Subscribe to Plastics News

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.

    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI 48207-2997

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1723

    Resources
    • About
    • Staff
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Media Kit
    • Data Store
    • Digital Edition
    • Custom Content
    • People
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Sitemap
    Related Crain Publications
    • Sustainable Plastics
    • Rubber News
    • Urethanes Technology
    • European Rubber Journal
    • Tire Business
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2022. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Processor News
        • Injection Molding
        • Blow Molding
        • Film & Sheet
        • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
        • Rotomolding
        • Thermoforming
        • Recycling
      • Suppliers
        • Machinery
        • Materials
        • Molds/Tooling
        • Product news
        • Design
      • More News
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
      • Digital Edition
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • Special Reports
        • CEO Issue
        • Diversity
        • Best Places to Work
          • 2022 winners
        • Processor of the Year
        • Rising Stars
        • Women Breaking the Mold
      • Newsletters
      • Resin pricing news
      • Videos
    • Opinion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Kickstart
      • One Good Resin
      • BRICS and Plastics
      • All Things Data
      • Viewpoint
      • From Pillar to Post
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
      • Fake Plastic Trees
    • Shop Floor
      • Blending
      • Compounding
      • Drying
      • Injection Molding
      • Purging
      • Robotics
      • Size Reduction
      • Structural Foam
      • Tooling
      • Training
    • Events
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Injection Molding & Design Expo
        • Plastics News Caps & Closures
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
        • Plastics in Automotive
      • Industry Events
        • Injection Molding & Design Expo
      • Injection Molding & Design Expo
      • Livestreams/Webinars
        • Reuters Responsible Business Europe 2022
        • Reifenhäuser Technologies Livestreams
      • Editorial Livestreams
        • Polymer Points Live
        • Numbers that Matter Live
        • Plastics in Politics Live
        • Sustainable Plastics Live
      • Ask the Expert
      • Plastics News Events Library
        • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
        • Plastics in Healthcare Library
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
      • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Resin Prices
      • All Resins
      • Commodity TPs
        • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temp TPs
        • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
      • ETPs
        • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Thermosets
        • Historic Thermosets
      • Recycled Plastics
        • Historic Recycled Plastics
    • Rankings & Data
      • Injection Molders
      • Blow Molders
      • Film Sheet
      • Thermoformers
      • Pipe Profile Tubing
      • Rotomolders
      • Mold/Toolmakers
      • LSR Processors
      • Recyclers
      • Compounders - List
      • Association - List
      • Plastic Lumber - List
      • All
    • Directory
    • Custom
      • Sponsored Content
      • Conair Sponsored Content
      • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
      • ENGEL Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified