HOW MANUFACTURING EXTENSION SERVICES CAN EFFECTIVELY UTILIZE ACADEMIC FACULTY TO ASSIST SMALL MANUFACTURERS
Jeff Lebow, P.E. is the Manager of the Technology Linkages Office (TLO) of the Georgia Tech Economic Development Institute, where he helps small manufacturers utilize Georgia Tech faculty and other resources. He has over 15 years experience in industry and has made over 30 technical presentations. The Faculty Liaison Program gives the client a low-risk introduction to the faculty member, and facilitates good working relationships, the cornerstone of technology transfer. This work can occasionally lead to private consulting for the academic faculty member, or research contracts for Georgia Tech.
Presented at Annual Meeting, Technology Transfer Society, Cleveland, OH, July 1996.
Georgia Tech's industrial extension service, part of Georgia's NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) affiliate, developed a formal program to increase the interactions of academic faculty members and small manufacturers (clients) statewide. It gives the client a low-risk introduction to the academic faculty member, and makes it easy to develop good working relationships, the cornerstone to technology transfer. This work can occasionally lead to private consulting for the academic faculty member, or research contracts. While the conditions at Georgia Tech are somewhat unique, many of the ideas presented can work in other settings. This paper discusses how to make such a program work, and offers practical tips for working with academic faculty members. Some successful case studies will also be presented.
In 1990 Georgia Tech's industrial extension service began a formal program to increase the interactions of academic faculty members and industry.
Now part of the Georgia Manufacturing Extension Alliance, Georgia's affiliate of the NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) program, the industrial extension service has been successful in utilizing university academic faculty to assist small manufacturers (clients) statewide.
In October, 1994, Georgia Tech created the Technology Linkages Office (TLO) to manage this program. To date, over 100 projects have been initiated. While the conditions at Georgia Tech are somewhat unique, many of the ideas presented can work in other settings.
This paper will discuss how to make such a program work, and offers practical tips for working with academic faculty members. Some successful case studies will also be presented.
Georgia Tech was founded in 1885 with the mission of public service to the citizens of the state. Even to this day, businesses in the state know that if they have a problem, they should call Georgia Tech. They may not know specifically who to call, and that is where the Georgia Tech Economic Development Institute fits in.
The Georgia Tech Economic Development Institute (EDI) is the public service arm of Georgia Tech. One of its oldest programs is the industrial extension service, which began in 1960 with one office. Today, there are 18 offices state-wide, and over 40 full-time field engineers. In 1994, the industrial extension service became part of the Georgia Manufacturing Extension Alliance, Georgia's affiliate of the NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership program.
At the same time, the Technology Linkages Office (TLO) was created to serve as a central point of contact linking industry to academic faculty and other outside resources. Through the Faculty Liaison Program, Georgia Tech academic and research faculty are compensated for providing up to 3 days of technical assistance to a client company.
The academic faculty at Georgia Tech are well aware of this public service tradition. They are typically very willing to work with companies of all sizes to solve problems in very practical and applied ways. Ultimately, to effectively assist companies through an extension service, academic faculty must have this desire.
Establish a Point of Contact --The Technology Linkages Office (TLO)
The function of the TLO is to match needs with resources, and serve as a central point of contact to facilitate interactions between Georgia (manufacturing) companies and Georgia Tech. Just as the Federal Lab Consortium for Technology Transfer designates a point of entry for each Federal lab, the TLO functions in the same way.
Set-up Compensation Structure
State law or university policy may dictate how compensation for academic faculty members can be structured. In the case of Georgia Tech, state law fixes the salary earnings of academic faculty members to the amount covered by their academic appointment. This means that their salary would be reduced by the amount of any direct salary paid by the TLO.
Therefore, the Faculty Liaison Program has been structured to compensate academic faculty members $440 per day in non-personnel, discretionary funds. (An additional bonus of 20% of this amount is also earned by the academic department, and handled the same way).
These funds are held by the TLO, and used to pay for travel, materials and supplies on behalf on the academic faculty member. This method also saves a great deal of administrative paperwork, since no funds have to be transferred between different academic department accounts -- a purchase order or travel authorization are the only transactions necessary.
Secure Sponsor Approval
In the case of Georgia Tech, funds from the NIST MEP program are used to compensate faculty members. This should be cleared with NIST (or any other sponsor) in advance. NIST allows subcontracting without special approval if the amount is less than $25,000, which makes it easy to hire faculty from other universities and research institutions when needed.
Know the Available Resources
Getting to know the available resources, especially academic faculty is very challenging. As a practical matter, one will probably have to do this in parallel with finding experts to solve problems. There are on-line tools, such as the Best database, that can be used to identify experts, but they may not be up to date nor include everyone that is available.
It helps when the TLO manager is very familiar with the university, and has demonstrated the ability to be a good people networker. Over time, one can build on the knowledge of other academic faculty members, who are almost always able to suggest an appropriate expert.
Meet with Academic Departments
It is helpful to pro-actively meet with academic faculty members to publicize the Faculty Liaison Program. This can be done in a 10 minute talk, or with a one-on-one meeting with a department chair. Each time I have presented at a faculty meeting, it has led to further referrals and additional projects.
Orient Field Staff
Georgia Tech's approach to assisting manufacturers has been to use full-time field engineers to assess and define the needs. The field engineers then utilize a linkages specialist (the TLO) to identify and contact appropriate academic faculty resources at Georgia Tech. In this sense, the TLO acts as a "medical specialist", who will most often be called in by the "primary physician" (field engineer). After the specialized work is done, the "patient" is handed back to the primary physician. Note that the "primary physician" is ultimately responsible for case management.
For this approach to be successful, all of the field staff who will be using the program will need an orientation.
First Point of Contact -- Requests for Assistance to the TLO
A typical situation is an incomplete description of a request for assistance from the field. Using a form (Appendix A) ensures the capture of all essential information, which will save lots of time.
There are three types of requests for assistance from the field, each taking increasing amounts of effort:
| Effort required | Type I | Type II | Type III |
| Needs administrative processing |
X |
X |
X |
| Needs identification of resource |
X |
X |
|
| Needs local project management |
X |
||
| Estimated TLO time over project life |
up to 1 hr. |
up to 8 hrs. |
up to 25 hrs. |
CHALLENGES IN OPERATING / MANAGING THE PROGRAM
It will take some time to get a faculty liaison program off the ground. Even when the program is established, there are still many aspects to manage:
TIPS FOR WORKING WITH ACADEMIC FACULTY
It is helpful to understand the interaction from the point of view of the academic faculty member:
When first offering the opportunity:
Qualify the faculty member by assessing:
After offering the opportunity to an academic faculty member:
After getting a tentative OK from the academic faculty member, make the project logistics easy for them:
INCENTIVES FOR ACADEMIC FACULTY
When designing a program to compensate academic faculty for their assistance, here are possible incentives:
Georgia Tech Faculty Liaison Program
Under this program, academic faculty members earn $440 per day in non-personnel, discretionary funds. Although this amount is typically less than many academic faculty members can earn through private consulting, discretionary money is very valuable in a university. Discretionary funds can be used for travel, materials, supplies and equipment (especial computer software and accessories).
In addition to the amount paid to the academic faculty member, an amount equal to 20% of their earnings is earned by their academic department. This gives the academic departments some incentive to let their faculty participate, as well as notify them of work by department members. While no academic faculty member ever earned tenure for assisting small manufacturers, we believe it reflects well on them with the department chair.
POTENTIAL PROBLEMS WHEN UTILIZING ACADEMIC FACULTY
Working with academic faculty members also has its challenges and potential problems.
Setting realistic expectations for clients is the most important step of this process -- they are not normally used to the academic world. The TLO sets a context by explaining that Georgia Tech will provide a low-risk, limited work experience with the academic faculty member (and pay the initial costs). Ideally, we hope that this makes it easy to develop good working relationships, the cornerstone to technology transfer.
It is important to make sure the client is serious about this project -- otherwise, a lot of time and money will be wasted. Ideally this is done before the academic faculty is ever contacted.
We also notify clients up-front about the scope of work, and what costs are being covered. They are told to contact the field engineer or the TLO if they have a question.
We have had the experience of a client "adopting" a faculty member, and constantly calling them to ask questions. This can also lead to a situation where the scope keeps growing, and can never be completed. When that happens, the TLO must step in and protect the academic faculty member.
Confidential Disclosures and Contracting Issues
Occasionally, confidential disclosure agreements may be requested by clients. This always adds time, but when requested, they must always be reviewed (and signed) by the university attorneys. In the case of a public university, academic faculty may even be prohibited from signing such disclosures, since they lack the authority to obligate the state. When there is a confidential agreement in place, it is always helpful to limit the number of people involved in the project -- it is also important to clarify the role (if any) of students on a project.
If a client is contemplating a (university) contract, be sure to qualify them well in advance. Universities are typically risk-adverse, and may require unusual payment terms. By verifying your clients' credit rating and discussing it in advance with the university contracting administrators, satisfactory terms can usually be worked out.
One last warning, contracting with a university can be very intimidating for a small business, and take a long time. Intellectual property is typically a point of contention. If this project does not involve any intellectual property, be sure to let the university attorneys know this up front -- it should greatly simplify the process.
Due to the inherent characteristics of contracting with universities, a private consulting arrangement may best suit your client. When this happens, the TLO expects the client and the academic faculty member to reach their own private agreement.
Concrete expertise
Client manufactures a do-it-yourself garden stepping stone kit so families can save children's handprints, etc. The kit weight was causing excessive freight charges.
The TLO was contacted by a south Georgia field office to find a concrete expert. Within 5 days, a two hour meeting was held on campus with "Professor L." The client received advise on a more appropriate filler material to specify, ways to increase the product strength, and a way to cut costs 50%. TLO project cost: 1/4 day of coverage.
Product improvement
Client makes suspended access equipment, and wanted to update their product line. They contacted a Georgia Tech researcher who referred them to the TLO.
A half-day meeting was held on campus with representatives from Industrial Design, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Marketing. After presenting many different ideas, the client was able to set some priorities, and requested a proposal. Within one month, the client contracted for a marketing study, and industrial design.
Plastic molding and testing
A chemical additive salesman developed a coupling agent to allow the bonding of dissimilar plastics. This allows plastic waste to be recycled without extensive sorting.
The client wanted time on an injection molding machine to run trials, and have Georgia Tech test the parts. These results would be used to show potential investors for a plant.
It took a month to exactly define the need, locate "Professor M" in Chemical Engineering and plan how to do the experiment. Between the molding machine breaking, and everyone's' schedules, it took 2 months to conduct the first trial. Due to a misunderstanding, the client brought raw materials in pellet form, when powdered form was needed. After an unsuccessful day, more specific plans were made, and the second trial was conducted 2 weeks later. The trial was successful, and took another week for "Professor M" to have the parts tested and results summarized. TLO project cost: 4 days of coverage.
Analytical testing
Client manufactures compact disks. They needed to analyze the composition of aluminum raw materials to assist with a quality issue and to develop specifications for a new domestic aluminum vendor.
The TLO was contacted by a field engineer who made the request and sent samples. The TLO discussed the need with the clients and sponsored testing at the Georgia Tech Research Institute Materials Analysis Center. Within five days, the client had their results. TLO project cost: 3 days of coverage.
Working with academic faculty members can be successful, but has its special challenges. Tailoring requests for help to their specific situation, and hand-holding through the project is required for success.
Likewise, clients need help to effectively utilize academic faculty members. This is one of the important value-added services provided by industrial extension service programs.
Having a central point of contact to work with academic faculty members also simplifies the process, and helps the industrial extension service build effective working relationships.
This information is required to initiate a faculty liaison project.
GEORGIA TECH ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE (EDI)
FACULTY LIAISON PROGRAM
REQUEST FOR HIRING GEORGIA TECH FACULTY OR OTHER OUTSIDE RESOURCES FOR
ASSISTANCE TO GEORGIA FIRMS AND COMMUNITIES Rev. 9/5/95
Date: ________________________________
EDI staff:________________________________ Regional Office:_______________________
Firm name:_______________________________ Past customer: Yes No
Firm contact:______________________________ No. of employees_____________
Firm phone no.: ____________________________ Project record created: Yes No
Description of problem:
Type of assistance requested:
Benefit to company:
How do you want to be involved in this project:
How do you want TLO to be involved in this project: (Type I, II or III)?
Is it necessary to have a confidential disclosure agreement? Yes No
Have you already lined up a faculty member? Yes No
Do you need help finding an appropriate faculty member? Yes No
Will there need to be a visit to the company? Yes No
If travel, estimated travel time from campus:________________________________________________
Faculty Assigned:_______________________________________ Phone:___________________
Return this form to the Technology Linkages Office
The Georgia Tech Project on Industrial Modernization - www.prism.gatech.edu/~ps25/mod.htm
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