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INDUSTRY & BUSINESS
Sylvania Swells R&D Chemical and metallurgical division gets own lab; emphasis is on phosphors, semi-conductors A . MILLION-DOLLAR added boost for chemical a n d metal applied research and development—that's what Sylvania has anted u p for its new laboratory at Towanda, Pa. First separate divisional laboratory, the new unit supports the chemical a n d metallurgical division's operations. Special emphasis will be on semi-conductor, hot-strength metal, and phosphor development, areas for which Sylvania sees a rosy future. Transistor sales alone may hit the $1
billion mark within the next eight or nine years, predicted Sylvania senior vice president Marion E . Pettigrew at dedication ceremonies. Military and industrial demands (mainly for guidance systems and computers) will play an important part in this surge. At Towanda, adjacent to the division's silicon and germanium production units, researchers will work on lower cost methods to make and purify these metals, as well as explore new semi-
Ultraviolet emission-excitation radiometer {right ) is part of advanced equipment in Sylvania Electric's new laboratory
An operator feeds molybdenum rod into a specially modified gas fired furnace in the new building's metallurgical pilot 28
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plant. This is part of the swaging process, an operation that reduces diameter of rods and rounds them off before drawing
conductor materials. Gallium arsenide a n d indium phosphide show t h e most promise n o w for future use, says George L. Moran, vice president a n d divrision general manager. Hot strength metals a n d alloys d e velopment for use in missiles, satellite launchers, jet engines, a n d atomic r e actors is another prime target ft>r t h e n e w research center. Currently, Sylvania supplies molybdenum for t h e Polaris missile's engine parts. T h e d i vision makes both tungsten and molybdenum at t h e T o w a n d a plant next t o the n e w laboratory. Sylvania, a leading producer of fluorescent powders for television a n d lighting, will carry o n phosphor R&D as another major activity of t h e n e w laboratory. This n e w unit is a division research organization and, as such, operates differently from the company's main research setup a t Bayside, Long Island { New York ) . At T o w a n d a , researchers are just concerned with t h e division's products a n d development items; Bayside carries out the over-all, long-range research for the whole c o m p a n y . Equipment at T o w a n d a includes both chemical a n d metallurgical pilot plants. Products developed here may move directly into production. In addition to its pilot plants, t h e n e w research center houses engineering offices a n d laboratory facilities for more than a h u n d r e d people. T h e center w a s dedicated t o t h e memory of John B. Merrill, a former Sylvania vice president a n d first general manager of the division, killed in an air tragedy in 1955.
more than half a r e engaged in basic or fundamental research. Outlays for this purpose, however» represent only a small share of t h e companies* budgets. Greatest proportion of industrial research expenditures is for applied research a n d development. N ! C E reports that 126 companies participating in t h e survey s p e n d more than o n e half of their budget on a p plied research, a n d that 6 2 devote nearly all of it to that purpose. A third t y p e of research activity, neither basic nor applied, has to d o with quality control, product "services, trouble shooting on customer complaints, a n d supplying technical information. Eightynine companies b u d g e t e d sums for this purpose. Many firms in the survey disclosed that they a r e engaged in efforts to o b tain better m a n a g e m e n t control of research activities, Budgets hove been
set u p by 7 1 ' · «if the firms surveyed to effect control over expenditures. As a rule, t h e s e budgets carry detailed breakdowns of research expenditures assigned t o specific projects. On t h e whole, plans of industrial concerns for future R&D were favorable. In reply to t h e board's question « it was indicated frequently that research p r o g r a m s would b e expanded in t h e years a h e a d . T h e companies indicated a belief that research expenditures e v e n t u a l l y achieve important results. But N I C B , in summarizing t h e survey, says t h a t the task of determining the u l t i m a t e value of individual research results "is a difficult a n d a t times impossible task for many companies.** More t h a n half of t h e participants, t h e board says, h a v e n o m e t h o d for assessing the v a l u e of their research after its conclusion, m
C & E N I n d e x of StocK Prices
Research Outlays Up O n e half of companies in NICB survey equal or exceed 1 9 5 7 expenditures MAJOR PART
of 140 industrial
con-
cerns surveyed by t h e National Industrial Conference Board indicates t h a t their research and development expenditures will equal o r exceed those in 1957. A previous survey by American Management Association covering 8 0 0 companies revealed t h a t b u d g e t e d spending for this purpose in 1958 is u p 10r/< (C&EN, Sept. 15, p a g e 2 5 ) . NICI^s study shows 5 9 firms report higher outlays for research, while 5 0 expect to equal t h e 1957 totals. On another question submitted t o 159 companies, the results show that OCT.
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