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Do IT this week: Layering
Pocket of LCD industry in Kent has unique twist, treating curved surfaces like goggles to reduce glare
By Paula Schleis
Beacon Journal business writer
Published on Monday, Nov 02, 2009
Although liquid crystal display technology was invented at Kent State University, 99.9 percent of the products using it — from computers to televisions — are made overseas.
But a modern twist to the technology, invented by a Kent company, is finally creating some manufacturing jobs here.
AlphaMicron recently moved into KSU's Centennial Research Park, taking over 30,000 square feet of the incubator, nearly triple the space it had at its previous Martinel Drive office. The company invested $1.7 million in turning the former KSU bus garage into labs, a processing line, assembly room and offices.
It takes up so much of the incubator, there's only room for perhaps one other tenant, said Bahman Taheri, AlphaMicron's chief executive and an adjunct KSU professor who helped spin off the company using university research a decade ago.
The extra room will come in handy as AlphaMicron aggressively pursues new applications for its patented curved LCD technology, Taheri said.
AlphaMicron is already applying its product to rearview mirrors that automatically dim to reduce glare, as well as to ski goggles and motorcycle helmet visors that allow users to control the tint with a quick tap of a button near the temple.
The company also expects to introduce high-end sunglasses next year, hopes to evolve its laminate for car windows and greenhouses, and is developing pilot headgear for the U.S. Air Force.
About 10 of the 40 people on AlphaMicron's payroll are in the production division. The company mixes its own chemicals, applies its special LCD concoction to flexible plastic, and attaches the plastic to ready-made products.
The motorcycle helmet visors are new this year. They can be purchased as an after-market product by cyclists and easily attached to existing helmets, or come installed on new helmets through AlphaMicron's collaboration with four helmet companies.
The arrival of that product was timely, Taheri noted.
While the economy has depressed the ski and auto markets, energy costs have fueled growth in sales of motorcycles, Taheri said. As a result, AlphaMicron's overall revenue will grow this year. The company is on track to sell 5,000 helmet visors by the end of the year.
AlphaMicron's desire to keep manufacturing its products in Northeast Ohio has been supported by the state, which has contributed $10 million in Third Frontier funding to company projects.
The company has also received $5 million from the Air Force to develop the pilot goggles, and $900,000 from the U.S. Department of Energy for the window research.
Taheri said there needs to be a more cost-effective manufacturing process before technology that costs $100 to fit a helmet visor can be applied to something the size of a car's rear window.
The goal is to be able to laminate a window for $20 a square foot, he said. But the invention process isn't as easy as making an existing product bigger. Taheri compared it to the way it took a decade for LCD computer screens to evolve for flat-screen TVs, which only recently have taken over their market.
State and federal financial support and patience were important during the lengthy development process. Taheri noted it took Alpha-Micron nine years to learn how to put liquid crystals on a curved surface. Much of this
work could have ended up overseas, he said.
''This pocket [of the LCD industry] in Northeast Ohio is unique,'' Taheri said. ''It's a $100 billion-a-year industry and almost all of it is in the Pacific Rim. . . . But we went into an area where they couldn't do this, so we could operate without hindrance or competition.''
The chief difference is that Asian manufacturers — and their equipment — are set up to make flat-screen LCD products.
AlphaMicron was the first in the world to apply LCD to a flexible foundation, so since the equipment to do this had to be invented, why not keep the process here, Taheri said.
''There was a void, so we could create that infrastructure,'' he said.
Paula Schleis can be reached at 330-996-3741 or pschleis@thebeaconjournal.com.
Although liquid crystal display technology was invented at Kent State University, 99.9 percent of the products using it — from computers to televisions — are made overseas.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Akron, Oh
Posted 10:20 AM, 11/02/2009
lets hope in order to get a job with them I'll not have to have 2 degrees in Assembly
of the said product..
Orrville, Oh
Posted 03:38 PM, 11/02/2009
Demand: Every corporation, farmer, business, outsourcer sweatshop, and nonprofit, tax-exempt, organization and Church; uses technology and Americas resources to produce product and service; and markets the cost; in the wholesale and retail price of his or her product and service; Of every workers, consumers, and taxpayers living (including pension and health care); enabling parents to love, nurse, nurture, discipline, protect, and provide for every child (job) they conceive; and fund schools, infrastructure, national security, government services, and etc.; with money derived from wages or independent business profit.
This would enable; free, fair, and affordable commerce; Make funding schools, infrastructure, and etc. POSSIBLE; Make balancing every budget POSSIBLE; and Make union workers, consumers, taxpayers, and America’s grandchildren’s children LIFE AFFORDABLE!
Danville, CA
Posted 06:57 PM, 11/02/2009
Wolf, get a degree and skills and then relocate.
You'll get a job. I guarantee it but if you stick around there for something that may never materialize, you'll go broke. That's happened to several friends of mine who were afraid to leave Ohio for whatever reason. It pretty well destroyed their lives.
