We are proud that The New Directions Group's vigorous style and special skills have made meaningful contributions to our client's successes. The following examples both demonstrate these successes and reveal the spirit in which we approach our work.

rie Press: Two higher technology new products create growth in new markets. As a major manufacturer of mechanical and hydraulic forging presses, our client was plagued by a depressed market for their products. A new product with growth potential that would utilize their sophisticated and capital-intensive manufacturing capabilities was needed. Within six months we explored many options and zeroed in on two emerging capital equipment product opportunities. Our first recommendation, large-scale force amplifying manipulators, was based on our clients position in forging presses, but greatly expanded their capabilities to move into new markets. Several units have already been sold to their traditional customers and the company is optimistic about future sales prospects to new markets.

The second product opportunity which we recommended was originally thought to have potential only in the longer term. However, our client was delighted by the response to their initial marketing.

tlantic Cement: A waste material becomes a profitable new business. Cement kiln dust is one of the largest volume waste materials produced in the industrialized world. When our client, the operator of one of the world's largest cement plants, was faced with mounting concerns about cement kiln dust disposal, they turned to us for help. Through the Custom Think Tank process we discovered, in two months, that cement kiln dust was a potentially useful commodity with several recognized applications. However, each application required extensive market development to capitalize on local conditions and demands. We concluded that a highly entrepreneurial business unit was required to develop these potential markets for the dust. We directed a search which successfully solicited and screened entrepreneurial candidates from within the client's organization. The selected intrapreneur was charged, with our help, to write a business plan detailing the tactics by which the cement kiln dust could be profitably marketed. Three months later, with market studies, cost studies and financial studies concluded, the Board of Directors approved the formation of the new business unit. The new business earned profits almost immediately and now profitably sells all of the cement kiln dust produced. The project exceeded our client's expectations and we were presented with a cash bonus for our success.

T&T Consumer Products Division: A protective culture accepts two new ventures. In their research laboratories, some of our client's leading-edge thinkers had produced working prototypes of two products that merged advanced telecommunications and interactive computer processing capabilities. Properly developed, they might become major new business opportunities. However, as a company just emerging from a regulated monopoly environment, our client had limited experience in launching new ventures and asked us to help. One prototype was for Videotelegames - games that are played over telephone lines against another human, not against a computer chip. The other prototype was called Realtex a videotex based system intended to provide real estate brokers and home buyers with improved information about homes for sale. As compelling as these concepts might be, our client had a cultural defense mechanism against commercializing new ideas which, like these, lay outside of their basic telephone network businesses. Despite this obstacle, a few aggressive managers were determined to commercialize these business concepts. We conducted a Corporate Culture Assessment which pin-pointed organizational obstructions to implementation. We incorporated our findings into numerous presentations required to "sell" these business ventures to top management and described how our client's operating systems and procedures could be modified to increase the chances of success for these and other significant new ventures. Both ventures are presently being implemented and are on target with business plans which project significant revenue for our client.

ord Motor Company: A technology assessment leads to a major investment in new manufacturing facilities. Contemporary automobiles make extensive use of specialized sensors to provide data input to electronic engine control computers. Our client recognized that their existing method of manufacturing the necessary variety of sensors in the millions of units required each year was inherently inefficient and chartered us to identify a "common base technology" which would allow them to more efficiently produce all required sensor types. From the outset we recognized that there was an inescapable interplay between state-of-the-art sensing technologies, sensor assembly configurations, the manufacturing processes used to make sensors, and the selection of engineering materials. Any solution would have to take all of these factors into account. We conducted a series of Custom Think Tank Sessions to explore new developments in each interrelated aspect of the task. We concluded that sensor packaging, the method by which a sensor is electrically interconnected to and protected from the environment, was the most critical design factor. Further, we concluded that maximum manufacturing efficiency gains could be realized by standardizing on a basic sensor configuration which could be readily tooled for automated assembly while accommodating a range of active sensing elements based on different technologies. Next we developed eight fundamentally different sensor packaging options. Following a critical analysis of these options, we selected a set of sensor designs, sensor packaging methods, materials, and sensor manufacturing equipment that appeared to meet all of the objectives. Our recommendations were backed-up by a series of illustrations depicting how the next generation process would work. As testimony to the pragmatism of our recommendations, our client commissioned the development of a multi-million dollar production line based on our manufacturing concept.

BB Motors in Sweden asked us to rethink electric motor design and manufacturing.

We assembled two teams of internationally respected motor experts from our Knowledge Network whom we challenged to apply their expertise in physics and material science to develop a series of rotor and stator designs, which could yield superior electrical and mechanical performance while reducing overall manufacturing costs by a minimum of 30%.

After working with The Knowledge Network experts for 8 weeks, we developed an initial portfolio of 150 designs, which we brought to 3 internal ABB development teams, for further evaluation and work. Over the course of 18 months, we worked with the internal teams to develop a series of 11 workable designs with applications for AC motors, DC motors, servo motors, and other industrial motor applications.

Subsequently one of the designs was chosen as a key element in the ABB/BMW Electric Vehicle Development Program.