['_kci', 'is', 'euf', 'there.', '“\'I‘odn},"’', 'he', ':irlds,', '“the', 'supc‘rmnrkvt', 'has', 'be-', 'Bzyond', 'the', 'cusiomar', 'J', 'touk', 'it', 'to', 'your', 'customer', 'so', 'he', 'could', 'see', 'what', 'he', 'could', 'do', 'with', 'it,”', 'says', 'Monte', 'C.', 'Throdahl,', 'director', 'and', 'vice-presi-', 'dent', 'of', 'Monsanto', 'Co.', '“"New', 'products', 'todny', 'have', 'to', 'he', 'thou;slt', 'of', 'as', 'businesses', 'or', 'systems', 'rather', 'than', 'as', 'new', '78', 'BULNILS', 'VEEK:', 'March', '&,', '1972', 'COMe', "|\\n'cu_v", 'competitive', 'arena.', 's', 'gelting', 'tougher', 'und', '“Gone', 'are', 'the', 'days', 'when', 'you', 'developed', 'a', 'chemical', 'and', '»', 'i', 'toaghier,', '.', '..', '.', 'N', 'In', 'the', 'chemical', 'business,', 'the', 'neww-product', 'effort', 'has', 'sim-', 'shifted', 'from', 'a', 'scarch', 'for', 'major,', 'broad-use,', 'com-', 'pletely', 'new', 'materials', 'to', 'develaping', 'more', 'limited,', 'more', 'spe-', 'cialized', 'for', 'specific', 'industrics.', '“So', 'more', 'than', 'ever', 'beford,”', 'says', 'Magnus', 'K.', 'Robinson,', 'general', 'manager', 'of', 'the', '..', 'of', 'Shell', 'Chemical', 'Co.,', '“the', 'challenge', 'is', 'to', 'know', 'the', 'individual', 'needs', 'of', 'the', 'industry', 'you', 'market', 'to.', 'Before,', 'we', 'could', 'afford', 'to', 'be', 'farther', 'removed', 'from', 'specifie', 'markels', 'because', 'we', 'were', 'developing', 'more', 'fundamental,', 'materials', 'which', 'would', 'be', 'accepted', 'without', 'our', 'knowing', 'all', 'the', 'specific', 'end', 'markets.”', 'A', 'prime', 'example', 'is', 'Skell’s', 'Kraten,', 'a', 'thermal', 'plastic', 'rub-', '.', 'ber', 'develeped', 'a', 'fow', 'years', 'ago', 'for', 'the', 'shos', 'industry.', '"Once', 'we', 'made', 'the', 'basic', 'discovery,”', 'says', 'William', 'Overton,', 'Shell’s', 'manager', 'of', 'thermoplastics,', '*“we', 'had', 'to', 'find', 'specific', 'market', 'applications', 'beyond', 'the', 'shoe', 'industry.”', 'This', 'involved', 'modi-', 'fying', 'the', 'product', 'and', 'developing', 'other', 'new,', 'but', 'now', 'more', 'synthetic', 'rubber', 'products,', '.', '“We', 'went', 'to', 'the', 'pharmacoutieal', 'and', 'hospital-supply', 'people,”', 'says', 'Overton.', '“Thay', 'szid', 'they', 'could', 'use', 'a', 'lot', 'of', 'Kraten', 'in', 'making', 'small', 'rubher', 'articlss', 'used', 'in', 'medical', 'ap-', 'plications', 'if', 'it', 'could', 'be', 'made', 'to', 'withstand', 'temperatures', 'up', '.', 'to', '240F', 'for', 'stevilization', 'purposes.”', 'Shell', 'then', 'fed', 'this', 'back', 'ta', 'its', 'product', 'researchers,', 'aund', 'they', 'have', 'now', 'come', 'up', 'with', 'amaterial', 'that', 'is', 'being', 'tested', 'with', 'customers.', 'Such', 'an', 'emphasis', 'has', 'brought', 'higher', 'product', 'rescarch', 'and', 'development', 'costs,', 'since', 'Shell,', 'Dow,', 'Du', 'Pont,', 'and', 'other', 'chemical', 'companies', 'most', 'now', 'develop', 'speeialized', 'products', 'for', 'more', 'limited', 'use,', 'and', 'they', 'must', 'eome', 'up', 'with', 'more', 'of', 'them.', '“You', 'risk', 'virtually', 'having', 'to', 'make', 'a', 'new', 'product', '{or', 'every', 'different', 'application', 'by', 'every', 'different', 'type', 'of', 'industrial', 'custoieer,”', 'says', "Shell's", 'Robinson.', '“By', 'the', 'time', 'you', 'finally', 'develop', 'the', 'product', 'designed', 'for', 'a', 'specific', 'market,', 'you', 'may', 'find', 'that', 'the', 'market', 'has', 'moved', 'on', 'you,', 'and', 'that', 'its', 'needs', 'have', 'chianged', 'enough', 'to', 'make', 'your', 'new', 'product', 'unnecessary.', 'Before,', 'when', 'your', 'product', 'develop-', 'ment', 'was', 'directed', 'toward', 'more', 'fundamental', 'goals,', 'you', 'e', 'knew', 'that', 'if', 'you', 'reached', 'your', 'goal,', 'you', 'had', 'something', 'that', 'was', 'good.”', 'Donald', 'J.', 'Morfece,', 'president', 'of', 'Swindell-Dressler', 'Co.,', 'the', '.', 'Pittsburgh', 'engineering', 'and', 'construction', 'company,', 'feels', 'that', 'industrizl', 'comparies', 'should', 'go', 'one', 'crucial', 'stap', 'fur-', 'ther.', '“I', 'don’t', 'think', 'it’s', 'just', 'a', 'matter', 'of', 'developing', 'new', 'produets,”', 'he', 'says.', '“It’s', 'looking', 'beyond', 'your', 'customer', 'to', 'the', 'ultimate', 'nser.', "You've", 'got', 'to', 'be', 'constantly', 'taking', 'the', 'pulse', 'of', 'your', 'customer’s', 'customer.”', 'That,', 'of', 'course,', 'is', 'where', 'Du', 'Pont', 'came', 'acvopper', 'with', 'Corfam,', 'the', 'synthetic', 'shoe', 'leather', 'that', 'flopped', 'aflter', 'a', '$100-million', 'investmeat.', 'Du', 'Pont', 'recognized', 'the', 'need', 'for', 'a', 'leather', 'substitute', 'that', 'would', 'have', 'all', 'the', 'properties', 'of', 'leather,', 'such', 'as', 'hreathability,', 'low', 'care,', 'and', 'so', 'on.', 'What', 'Du', 'Pont', 'fziled', 'to', 'foresee', 'was', 'the', 'willingness', 'of', 'consumers~es-', 'pecially', 'women—to', 'put', 'up', 'with', 'nonbreathable', 'and', 'less', 'du-', 'rable', 'shoe', 'materials', 'for', 'style', 'or', 'fad', 'reasons.', 'At', 'the', 'same', 'time', 'that', 'markets', 'are', 'fragmenting', 'into', 'smaller', 'picces,', 'new-product', 'planuers', 'are', 'also', 'trying', 'to', 'think', 'bixg', 'and', 'o', 'to', 'a', '"systems”', 'approach.', 'More', 'and', 'more', 'applinnce', 'makers', 'are', 'color-cadiag', 'their', 'products', 'and', 'selling', 'them', 'in', '“sets”', 'Houscwives', 'can', 'now', 'buy', 'drapes,', 'blankets,', 'bedspreads,', 'sheets,', 'pillow-cases,', 'and', 'towels—all', 'in', 'one', 'pattern.', 'Sundberg-Ferar,', 'Inc.:', '"This', 'portable', 'can', 'opener', 'fits', 'on', '@', 'kitchen', 'cabinet', 'top', 'und', 'opens', 'cans', 'from', 'the', 'bottom,', 'letting', '!', 'the', 'contents', 'fall', 'into', 'a', 'cooling', 'utensil.', 'The', 'cans', 'and', 'lids', 'are', 'i', 'automatically', 'retrocted', 'and', 'fed', 'into', 'a', 'metal', 'shredding', '!', 'wmechanism.', 'The', 'shredded', 'metal', 'then', 'dvops', 'into', 'a', 'bin', 'that', ':', 'can', 'be', 'removed', 'periadically.', 'The', 'cutire', 'appliance', 'is', 'sound-', 'i', 'progfed', 'by', 'an', 'insulating', 'materiul,', 'and', 'no', 'kandling', 'of', 'the', 'can', 'is', 'reguired', 'after', 'opening.”', '.', '.', '¢', 'materiuls.', 'Now', 'you', 'develop', 'a', 'material,', 'figure', 'out', 'how', 'to', '!,', 'make', 'a', 'dimethyl', 'doorknob', 'out', 'of', 'it,', 'and', 'then', 'go', 'out', 'and', 'sell', '.', ';', 'someone', 'on', 'the', 'dimethyl', 'doorknob', 'business.”', 'o', '4', 'Monsanto,', 'for', 'instance,', 'developed', 'a', 'synthetic', 'ribbon', 'and', '.+', '1', 'hit', 'on', 'the', 'idez', 'that', 'it', 'might', 'make', 'a', 'substitute', 'for', 'grass.', 'The', 'zo.npany', 'then', 'designed', 'a', 'mounting,', 'padded', 'base,', 'and', '7', 'finally', 'a', 'drainage', 'system.', 'The', 'finished', 'product', 'was', 'Astro-', 'turf.', 'More', 'recently,', 'Monsanto’s', 'chemists', 'came', 'up', 'witha', '|', 'material', 'that', 'could', 'be', 'used', 'for', 'bottling', 'a', 'carbonated', 'soft', '.’', 'drink,', 'Before', 'going', 'to', 'bottlers,', 'however,', 'the', 'company', 'de-', 'signed', 'the', 'machines', 'to', 'manufacture,', 'sterilize,', 'fill,', 'and', '&-', 'nally', 'cap', 'the', 'bottle.', 'Now', 'Lopac', 'bottles', 'are', 'being', 'test-mar-', 'keted', 'by', 'Coca-Cola', 'Co.', 'Throdahl', 'estimates', 'that', 'Monsanto', 'spends', 'three', 'times', 'as', 'much', 'today', 'preparing', 'a', 'product', 'for', 'market', 'as', 'it', 'did', 'a', 'few', 'years', 'ago.', 'i', 'iy', 'The', 'aim', 'is', 'pinpointed', 'Nor', 'are', 'computers', 'just', 'computers', 'anymore.', 'Now', 'a', 'total', 'system', 'is', 'designed', 'around', 'a', 'computer', 'and', 'used', 'in', 'indus', 'trial', 'processes', 'and', 'as', 'part', 'of', 'gcash-transfor', 'systems', 'in', 'banks,', 'department', 'stores,', 'and', 'so', 'on.', '“We', 'have', 'to', 'make', '*', 'surc', 'thut', 'the', 'whole', 'éntity', 'is', 'there,”', 'says', 'Donald', '0.', 'Ned-', 'denreip,', 'vice-president', 'for', 'worldwide', 'product', 'development', 'at', 'Univac', 'Div.', 'of', 'Sperry', 'Rand', 'Corp.', '“That', 'means', 'develop-', 'ing', 'the', 'hurdware', 'and', 'software,', 'controls,', 'and', 'managemant', 'tools', 'ner:z:sary', 'to', 'make', 'sure', 'that', 'from', '&', '¢', 'of', 'operation.”', 'sy', 'In,', '3']