Can the Ingenuity of Big Wave Surfers Save American Manufacturing?

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn., March 28, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- "The economy." When will it recover? And, what will it take to pull out of this nose-dive? It will take American ingenuity!

Ken Thurber, author of Big Wave Surfing, Extreme Technology Development, Management, Marketing and Investing, says today's leaders need to recognize the tides of continual technological change.

"Traditional manufacturing in this country has sailed," says Thurber. "We'll need to grab onto the big wave surfers who create technology and develop innovative manufacturing schemes. We can rebuild our economy but we must embrace change and disruption."

According to Thurber, up to now, big wave surfing has been a uniquely American technology experience. "That may be changing," he says. "A major part of our standard of living is based on having, conceiving, exploiting, and developing the best and most advanced technologies. The idea that America can sustain its traditional manufacturing base with our labor rates is simply an unrealistic dream. Yet we can succeed."

One such pioneering manufacturer that offers hope for other U.S. manufacturers is SeaMicro in Santa Clara, CA. SeaMicro manufactures low power server technology and ships the world's most energy efficient 64-bit x86 server, the SM10000-64™. According to the company this server reduces power and space by more than 75 percent without the need for any software modifications.

SeaMicro accomplishes this by using Intel's most advanced Atom processor and their own Internet-optimized server design. Their big competitors use volume manufacturing and offshore vendors to create their value but eschew space and power concerns. SeaMicro uses on-shore manufacturing at NBS, a Santa Clara contract manufacturer. The value proposition is outstanding. SeaMicro claims that the energy efficiency and space savings of their products will save the user nearly $4 in space and power costs over a three-year period for every $1 they spend on the SeaMicro product. Couple that savings with designs that are optimized for the Internet and the company appears to be a model for the future of U.S. manufactured products. Company management understands the need to remain flexible and innovative as well as the need to partner with other like-minded companies.

A similar small company that is innovative and agile is Minnesota-based ReconRobotics, a manufacturer of small robots designed for harsh environments. Manufactured and designed in the U.S. this company addressed a need for small, low-cost robots that can be placed in harm's way and give emergency response units, law enforcement and military units advanced situational awareness.  

ReconRobotics is one of the fastest-growing companies in the robot product space and maintains a dominant position in the area of low-cost small robots. Again, one of the key attributes of the company is the use of innovative manufacturing techniques and rapid product turnaround for new designs.

Thurber says like the physical surfers who ply the big waves at a beach like Mavericks this new concept of manufacturing won't "always be pretty and in fact it may be downright dangerous. There will be winners. There will be wipeouts and losers. But if we don't boldly embrace the next wave, the innovation economy, then profound structural changes will occur in American society."

Are we ready for new innovative manufacturing? Big Wave Surfing answers that question.

About the Author:

Kenneth J. Thurber, Ph.D., is a renowned computer architect and has developed technology and systems worth billions of dollars. He developed the concept of "technology big wave surfing" to empower readers to understand and harness the opportunity of an ever-changing technological marketplace.

PS. Your readers are sure to enjoy their plunge into the ocean of technological possibility in Dr. Thurber's Big Wave Surfing!

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SOURCE Kenneth J. Thurber, Ph.D.