WOW

Though their disciplines and discoveries differ, that's the unanimous reaction to the accomplishments of our inaugural Pittsburgh Innovators Awards.

BY MICHELLE PILECKI

Factory in a Box Fortune magazine called it "the manufacturing counterpart of a McDonald's hamburger outlet." Its developer, Gene Kirila, compares it to "a 3-D fax."

"It" is virtual engineering composite (VEC) technology, which makes possible small factories that can be set up almost anywhere to turn out a variable set of products from the same basic units, run by just a handful of people and controlled by computer. Oh, and it's fast, inexpensive, efficient and environmentally friendly. VEC technology is already a big hit in making the hulls of recreational boats, but its far-reaching potential is what prompted Fortune magazine to spotlight Kirila, 38, as one of its "Heroes of U.S. Manufacturing," and this magazine to name him as one of our "40 Under 40" to watch in 2000.

VEC technology is revolutionary in two key ways. One is its "floating" mold. Rather than fabricate a permanent (and expensive) mold from metal or some other rigid material, this method uses a flexible laminated shell whose specific shape is supported by water under pressure and can be easily changed to produce a range of products from composites. In this particular application, the materials of the composite are thermoset, i.e. solidified with a chemical reaction, rather than thermoformed, melted and reinforced using high heat and pressure.

The other paradigm shift is the VEC process. The hundreds of manufacturing variables are supervised and controlled by software that Kirila compares to a computer operating system. Running the "factory" are just a few workers, who don't need advanced training but have access to real-time troubleshooting via computer link to a central office in Greenville, Mercer County.

Minneapolis-based boat-maker Genmar, which now owns the technology, figures the process reduces styrene emissions by 80 percent, is four times faster than standard production methods, and produces a hull that's both stronger and lighter. Genmar is one of the world's largest manufacturer of recreational boats.

"We're looking at different applications now," Kirila says. The next step is molding neoprene to produce wetsuits; cabs, hoods and other parts for combines and other agricultural equipment; and housing and basic infrastructure for Third World countries. "We could produce complete roofs and sidewall sections, water-retention tanks, sewage-containment units -- if it can be molded, we can make it," says Kirila.

The Mercer County native is concentrating his current energies on planning and business development at his newest company, GK Ventures. When he and engineer Robert McCollum got VEC working at Kirila's second start-up, Pyramid Composites (his first, when Kirila was a student at Youngstown State University, was Pyramid Fitness, which made exercise machines), they couldn't attract the $50-million-plus the company needed, he sold it to Genmar Holdings. VEC Technology Inc., still in Greenville, is now Genmar's R&D unit. GKV is devoted to helping the next "little guy with a big idea" to move it quickly through the market, from manufacturing in China to the major big-box retailers in the U.S.

"We're trying to coach entrepreneurial effort," Kirila explains. He calls this company initiative $19.95. Another initiative is GNR, for genome nanotechnology and robotics. "We've found Pittsburgh to be a real hotbed in these fields, and we want to commercialize some of the applications."