MRO Today - “Test Kitchen” fosters product and process innovation

“Test Kitchen” fosters product and process innovation

Chemical developer releases guide on product innovation

In an era of outsourcing, when capital investment has lost ground as a key determinant of competitive advantage, many U.S. companies are looking to innovation to create a differentiated market position and growth.

Pressure Chemical Co., a product development firm specializing in chemical synthesis and process innovations, has recently compiled a “Guide to Chemical Product Development.”

Based on case studies representing a wide range of companies such as DuPont and Metabolix, a leader in applying metabolic engineering to natural plastics, the guide promotes methods to accelerate new product and process innovation.

“Companies from many fields -- pharmaceutical, plastics, electronics, fragrance, cosmetics, commercial food and aerospace – have been asking us how they can get to the prototype stage faster,” said Lawrence Rosen, chairman and CEO of Pressure Chemical Co..

For more than 40 years, Pressure Chemical Co. has operated an independent pilot plant, supplying high-value chemicals for a wide range of industrial applications. Because of its diverse expertise in many industries, Pressure Chemical Co. is called upon frequently by companies looking to reduce lead times and costs for new product and process development.

“After working with start-ups and large companies on hundreds of proven and novel industrial processes, we have found similarities among those clients who have been successful in accelerating product development,” Rosen said. “Companies that met their development goals maintained flexibility in their process options, built a development team featuring diverse backgrounds and adhered to a hands-off management policy.”

The “Guide to Chemical Product Development” describes the Concept to Commercialization (C2C) process, which leverages the knowledge and experience of facilities similar to the test kitchens used to develop new food products.

Rather than developing products on-site, as many companies have done in the past, innovative companies have opted to use a specialized product development facility.

These “test kitchens” offer a broad range of equipment and processes, providing a fertile work environment for new product development.

“Establishing multidisciplinary teams for product development has been one of the most effective ways to reach the prototype stage quickly,” Rosen added.

Rosen has been active in entrepreneurial issues nationally and in his hometown of Pittsburgh. He was awarded the American Chemical Society’s first Eugene B. Humphrey Small Chemical Business Entrepreneur of the Year award in 1998. Rosen has served as co-chairman and a board member of the Pennsylvania Chemical Industry Council and as a board member of the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association and as chairman of its Small Chemical Business Committee. He is treasurer of the Lawrenceville Corporation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the community development of Lawrenceville, a Pittsburgh neighborhood, and is a charter director of the Career Connections Charter High School, a Boys and Girls Clubs of Western Pennsylvania entity in Lawrenceville.