The Advanced Technology Program Assessing Outcomes (2001) / Chapter Skim
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Enhanced R&D Efficiency in an ATP-funded Joint Venture
Enhanced R&D Efficiency in an ATP-funded Joint Venture
Pages 223-238
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From page 223... ...
The increased research efficiency led in turn to reduced cycle times for both new project development and new process development. Collectively, the result has meant productivity improvements for member companies, diffusion of the technology to other producers, and improved competitive positions for participating companies in the world market.
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From page 224... ...
wire board suppliers to meet the needs of customers, making it unnecessary for them to rely on foreign suppliers. The ATP selection board found that the proposed project met technical and economic criteria, and it announced the PWB joint venture in the first group of 11 ATP award winners.
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N Link, Advanced Technology Program: Economic Study of the Printed Wiring Board Joint Venture After Two Years, report prepared for the Advanced Technology Program, April 1993; and A
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From page 226... ...
Less Competition, More Cooperation Characteristics of the joint venture member companies are summarized in Table 3. An important point to note is that AT&T, Hughes, IBM, and Texas Instruments, although in the same broadly defined industry, are not head-to-head competitors.
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In contrast to all of the other companies, AlliedSignal was a major supplier of materials (e.g., glass cloth, laminates, resins, copper foil) to the PWB industry.
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Surface Finishes Team: Soldering defects that occur during assembly require repair. The goal of the Surface Finishes Team was to develop test methods to use during fabrication to determine the effectiveness of various materials used during the soldering process and to develop alternative surface finishes.
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developed a revolutionary new interconnect structure and demonstrated its feasibility in production. CONCEPTUAL APPROACH TO THE ANALYSIS OF RESEARCH COST SAVINGS, EARLY PRODUCTIVITY GAINS, AND OTHER EFFECTS In a survey conducted during this study, participants in the joint venture were asked to quantify a number of related metrics comparing the end-of-project technological state to the technological state that would have existed at this time in the absence of ATP's financial support of the venture.
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The survey instrument considered these related categories of direct impact: Scale, Scope, and Coordination Efficiencies: Estimated Work Years Saved by Carrying Out the Research as a Joint Venture; Testing Materials and Machine Time Savings; · Other Research Cost Savings; · Cycle-Time Efficiencies: Shortened Time to Put into Practice New Procedures and Processes; and · Productivity Increases in Production. The survey also considered two broad categories of indirect impact: · Early Technology Transfer to Firms Outside the Joint Venture; · International Competitiveness Issues; and · a third category, Other Company Impacts.
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From page 231... ...
The other one-half would not have been started because of the cost and related nsk. Tasks that would not have been started without ATP funding included: development of alternative surface finishes, projection imaging evaluations, revolutionary test vehicle designs, plasma process monitoring equipment, PTH modeling software, and approximately 25 others.
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Other Research Cost Savings In the 1993 study, members were asked a catchall question relating to all other research cost savings associated with the research areas that would have been started in the absence of ATP funds, excluding labor and research testing material and machine time. In 1993, these other cost savings totaled $1.5 million.
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At the end of the project, members estimated that shortened time to practice was realized in about 80 percent of the research tasks that would have been started in the absence of ATP funds, and the average time saved per task was 11 months. Members did not quantify the research cost savings or potential revenue gains associated with shortened time to practice.
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The work of the consortium made these improvements possible." A third member of the Steering Committee reported: "Our company has reduced solderability defects by 50 percent due to the efforts of the surface finishes team on the PWB interconnect program. The defect levels decreased from 4 to 2 defects per 1,000 solder joints due to reduced variation in tin alloy and contamination at the solder reflow process (note that there are more than 1,000 solder joints per PWB.~" And a fourth member commented: "The data collected from the NIST ATP program for improved registration and productivity gains were presented to the Defense Electronic Supply Center to convince them to allow single ply prepegs in construction of military PWBs.
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At project's end, participants had presented 214 papers related to the research findings from the PWB project, 96 at professional conferences, and had additional papers scheduled for presentation. Members of the joint venture offered the opinion that such transfers of scientific information benefited the PWB industry as a whole by informing other producers of new production processes.
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From page 236... ...
Likewise, members perceived that the domestic PWB industry as a whole has increased its competitive position in selected world markets as a result of the accomplishments of the joint venture. With regard to the venture' s impact on the industry share in the different segments of the world market, most respondents indicate that the project increased the industry's share in every market segment, with the strongest positive responses in the computer and military segments.
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From page 237... ...
The increase in research efficiency in turn led to reduced cycle times for both new project development and new process development. Collectively, the result has meant productivity improvements for member companies and improved competitive positions in the world market.
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From page 238... ...
1993. Advanced Technology Program: Economic Study of the Printed Wiring Board Joint Venture After Two Years.
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