Here are a few examples of companies that SATOP has assisted:

ZENO:
Tyrell Inc., a start-up medical technology company, needed an improved heating element for a newly developed product that treats individual acne blemishes. Through SATOP, Tyrell gained access to The Boeing Company’s engineering expertise that provided a heating element design that met its requirements for resistance to oil and acids, low power consumption and low cost to produce, at less than $1 per unit. Through the use of SATOP’s recommendation, Tyrell was able to reduce its manufacturing cost by 40 percent. The product received FDA approval and is utilized in dermatologists' offices worldwide and is sold in Walgreens stores across the country. Tyrell went from $0 in sales before SATOP’s assistance to over $3,000,000 a month. In 2005, ZENO was chosen by Popular Science Magazine to receive the “Best of What’s New” award.

Mission Technologies:
Mission Technologies Inc. is a small business developing a compact unmanned aerial vehicle system for the U.S. Army. The company needed help in reducing the product’s overall weight in order to meet the Army’s requirements. Engineers at NASA Johnson Space Center provided design modifications that reduced the weight of the launcher from 37 pounds to less than 10 pounds, thereby meeting the specified weight requirements. Because of SATOP’s assistance, Mission Technologies successfully delivered 36 UAVs to the Army.

Industrial Innovations:
James Carmouche of Industrial Innovations came to SATOP for help with a structural analysis of a revolutionary tool he developed for removing telephone poles from the ground. His new tool, named the Master Extractor, is able to remove telephone poles much more rapidly than traditional extraction methods. A SATOP engineer looked at Carmouche’s drawings and the materials from which it was made. He provided him with recommendations regarding where the tool would need to be further reinforced due to the extremely high loads being applied to it. Carmouche is now successfully marketing the tool to a wide array of customers.

For media inquiries, contact Kathryn Cooper at 281.486.5535.