Steve Jones has a first class degree in metallurgy, a PhD in solidification theory and an MBA. He is a long serving member of TWI staff, with research experience in arc welding, automation, manufacturing, plastics, composites, microtechnology, friction and forge welding, lasers, technology transfer and knowledge management. His current research activity centres on corporate memory, innovation mechanisms and the use of expert networks to support industry change.
Richard Smith joined TWI's journals group from the University of Waterloo, Ontario in 1977. He graduated in metallurgy at the University of Cambridge, where he also gained a PhD in fracture, and carried out post-doctoral projects on the fracture toughness of high strength weld metals and aluminium armour. He is currently TWI's Regional Technology Transfer Services Manager, and has been involved in delivering a range of regional, national and European funded technology transfer projects. He has considerable experience of working with small and medium sized companies and with business support networks and organisations. He is a Chartered Engineer and a Senior Member of The Welding Institute.
When this happens the rules of the game are fundamentally altered, and companies that do not react are left out in the cold. Steve Jones and Richard Smith look at the idea of disruptive change, drawing examples from the activities of TWI, which has been responsible for generating several such changes in technology over the past six decades.
For most of human history change has been gradual, and significant changes have come along rarely. Whole lifetimes could pass without notable alteration in the rhythms of life and commerce. This isn't the case now.
In today's fast moving, and increasingly global world the pace of change is unrelenting. Waiting for certainty is itself a risky business, especially where competitors may be able to move in with new technologies or business approaches that render existing methods invalid.
Of course, managing risk is easy when you look backwards, and we all secretly long for quieter times, but what happens if something really major comes along? How do you recognise the next big thing, how do you take that risk, and how do you cope with the consequences?
Why are disruptors dangerous?
Disruptive change has happened before. The wheel, the iron sword, the steam engine, railways, electric telegraph, car, aeroplane and a myriad of other lesser disruptors have shaped the current world. A respectable theory to explain disruptive technology has been established, but it's still easier to recognise these events in retrospect.
Disruptors are difficult to recognise for several reasons. In their early stages, disruptive technologies cost more than current technologies. They're risky because they challenge the current way of doing things. They also challenge existing thought patterns. Because they're new, customers don't know they want them, market surveys don't reflect their existence, the skills and standards base isn't ready to accommodate new ways of working, and everyone involved in supply and use of the threatened technology has problems in taking the new development seriously. They're busy trying to earn a living.
But the new approach inevitably takes hold somewhere, and when it does, obsolescence and collapse of the old order can be rapid. The history of manufacturing industry is littered with the wreckage of such sudden failures. Remember steel rope powered diggers, destroyed by hydraulic drives, and telex, later destroyed by fax, which was in turn supplanted by e-mail. And what about the floppy disc?
Where do they come from?
New ideas come from a variety of sources, but in the case of TWI, there is a long established history of their development via applied research. Even long term Industrial Members whose dealings over several decades have been confined to a narrow field are frequently surprised by the breadth of innovation and development work underway at TWI.
It's understandable. Why should a manufacturer of arc welding consumables be interested in friction stir welding? The truth is that, when such a key Industrial Member did investigate FSW, besides famously thinking at the time it was a joke, decided to explore its capabilities.
Friction stir now provides a substantial income stream for that company and it has never regretted the diversification.
Over the last 60 years, TWI has generated a stream of new ideas that have changed technology, and also changed the world that technology builds. From the fatigue rules that permit safe operation of oil rigs and bridges, to CO 2 welding used for car repair, laser cutting, and electron beam welding for safe disposal of nuclear waste, TWI has produced a steady stream of innovations that have changed the way whole areas of industry operate.
To achieve this performance, TWI works hand in glove with its membership: over 2000 companies drawn from all industry sectors around the world. This exposes TWI researchers to the real issues and problems facing industry, showing them the hot areas, and giving them the space to develop solutions, often before industry is aware that a solution is needed.
Friction stir welding: a disruptor in action
Take friction stir welding, invented by Wayne Thomas, a senior scientist at TWI, in 1991. This process uses a spinning tool, not unlike a milling cutter, to generate frictional heat in a workpiece. By pressing the tool into contact with a seam to be joined, the base metal heats up, and once it reaches about 80% of its melting point, it's very soft and deforms easily. By keeping the tool rotating and moving it along the seam, the plasticised material is literally stirred together, forming a weld without melting, with low energy use, with no consumables and, most importantly, without distortion.
So far, so good, but what's it for? That question wasn't so easy to answer back in 1991, but interest from TWI member companies started to reveal the potential of the invention. Boeing took up the new idea, recognising that it could solve endemic problems with conventional tungsten inert gas welding in its space programme. By 2001 the first friction stir welded rocket fuel tanks were launched, achieving a staggering reduction in welding cost from $34 a linear foot to 24 cents!
Nowadays, a scant 14 years after the initial inspiration, friction stir is making headway into mainstream civil aircraft construction, displacing adhesives and rivets. It's also found in fast ferries, railway rolling stock and even the latest Bang & Olufsen speakers. Mazda is using a variant of the technology for car spot welding. Some 120 licences and more than 1200 subsidiary patents have been granted, giving TWI access to an ever-expanding network of contacts, all of whom are speeding use of the technology across the industry base.
Where next?
To date, most FSW applications have been in aluminium, but the Holy Grail for current development is welding steel. Imagine distortion free steel fabrication, in a world where 20% of construction costs for, say, a supertanker, are associated with distortion control.
TWI is developing this technology under sponsorship from Yorkshire Forward in its Yorkshire Centre. A new building to house the most powerful FSW machine in Europe is under construction and many partner companies are working with TWI to extend use of the process even further. As it spreads, the process is making inroads into many industries, disrupting current practice, but bringing new prosperity in its wake.
Welding instead of stitching?
A similar new set of opportunities is emerging from the invention of laser welding of fabrics by TWI, working in partnership with Gentex Corporation in the USA. This process relies on use of a chemical that absorbs laser light preferentially, causing materials to heat up and bond when irradiated. The aim of this development, in addition to many applications in plastics assembly and packaging, is to replace sewing with automated manufacture. The impact on the clothing industry could well be profound, especially as automated manufacture will further the aim of incorporating electronic devices into clothing, thus making possible easier communications, health monitoring, and access to information systems.
Metal Surface Sculpture: towards the ultimate composite?
An increasing number of products rely on use of multiple materials, which is fine from a design point of view. Unfortunately, the Achilles heel of such designs can be the joints between materials, and this is especially true when composites or plastics have to be joined to metals.
A recent advance in electron beam technology offers a way forward. Surfisculpt TM is a new way of forming projections on the surface of metals components. A beam of electrons is moved across the surface in a precise pattern, controlled by magnetic lenses. As the beam moves, it melts the surface, and a combination of vapour pressure and surface tension forms projections with closely controlled geometry. These projections make an ideal basis for laying up composite, generating joints that have around double the energy absorption to failure of a conventional adhesive bond.
The process is in its infancy, but is already attracting interest from a wide circle of potential end users, including companies in the aerospace, automotive, process plant and healthcare sectors.
These examples are just a few of the many ideas currently under development at TWI. They aren't magic, just the result of combining experts with a broad range of industry contacts, and then giving them the freedom to develop ideas. Every now and again, a disruptor will emerge, and when it does, it's important to recognise it and plan a response.
There may not be much time to act.
