Academy for Entrepreneurial Leadership | Illinois

Ping Fu
Co-founder of Geomagic, Inventor of Digital Shape Sampling and Processing (DSSP) Software
Master, Computer Science

Photo Credit: College of Business

Made in USA
(Adpated from the College of Business 2006 Summer Newsletter http://business.illinois.edu/publications/ANN/ANN.2006Summer.pdf)

As American industries depart for low wage nations, US business leaders wonder how they can keep factories here open. One solution would be to pay equally low wages. Other observers think its time to write off manufacturing and look elsewhere for job growth.

But entrepreneur Ping Fu thinks technology can save industrial America. And she adds the unthinkable: that
globalization may be a “passing phase.”

She has a bird’s-eye view of the technology that may turn the corner for American industries— a three dimensional manufacturing process called Digital Shape Sampling and Processing, or DSSP. She commercialized this technology through Geomagic, the company she co-founded. Earlier this year, Inc. Magazine named Ping Fu its entrepreneur of the year.

DSSP software allows manufacturers to scan an object with optical beams and then transmit a three-dimensional image to a computer screen. From there it can be used to manufacture parts identical to the original or to quickly scan parts coming off a manufacturing line to make sure they are true to the original. And it can do these functions cheaply and with a minimum of human labor. When combined with computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing, American manufacturers will be able to operate their factories in a digital environment that makes factory workers extremely productive.

But the critical advantage of DSSP is that it allows manufacturers to cheaply create custom product - shoes, for example, that can exactly fit our feet once a DSSP scan is made of them.

Ping Fu grew up in China, but was deported to the US in the early 1980s after she was exiled by Chinese political authorities. Eventually, she found her way into computer science and enrolled in a graduate program at Illinois, where she conceived the idea that led to Geomagic. She refined her vision with her husband and co-founder, Herbert Edelsbrunner, a young Illinois faculty member and expert in algorithms and computational geometry.

While at Illinois, where she earned a MS in computer science, she also teamed up with OSBI Consulting, now called Illinois Business Consulting (IBC), a student-run program in the College that provides consulting
services to organizations of varying size. Staffed with MBA students as well as graduate students from across the Urbana campus, IBC focuses on projects that emphasize strategy, marketing, and finance.

The composition of IBC and its staffing illustrate one of the strengths of a multifaceted institution like Illinois, where an entrepreneur or company can turn to more than one college within the university to help capitalize
on bright ideas. Ping Fu praised the program and its then-director, Paul Magelli. “Paul was an inspiration. He was always encouraging, he made many fund-raising connections, and he lined up MBA students to help my company.”

“Ingenuity is purported to be a fundamental characteristic of entrepreneurs,” said Paul Magelli about Fu and Edelsbrunner’s solution of the complex mathematical problem that is the competitive advantage behind
Geomagic’s success. “That solution lead to her being named Inc’s Entrepreneur of the Year.”

Today, both China and the US emphasize mass production, but the system is bound up in layers of expense that balloon the cost of manufactured goods. As items roll off the assembly lines, they go to warehouses and then to stores. To encourage sales, billions of dollars are spent on advertising. Shipping adds additional costs. If a product never sells, the manufacturer eats all the costs.

In the custom economy, we would order what we want from nearby manufacturers that would ship the product to us. The costly middle steps would be eliminated. Some companies already use variations on that theme. Dell Computer, for example, builds custom computers that customers order over the Internet, eliminating unsold inventory.

“DSSP technology combines craftsmanship with mass production,” said Fu. “It allows companies to produce customized products people will love. It reduces costs because business would not be producing products that no one wants, and business would not be spending billions of dollars on advertising, supply chains, and inventory.”

She points out that DSSP can help manufacturing firms make custom-made products that are cheaper than mass-produced products. For example, if shoes made in the US cost $10 in labor and the same shoes made in China costs $2 in labor, the footwear made in China is not necessarily cheaper once shipping and inventory expenses are included in the final cost.

“In the short term, DSSP is being used in high-value, high-volume industries such as medical device and aerospace design,” Fu said. “In the long term, this is the second industrial revolution. We live in a 3D world, and this technology will fundamentally change the way we make, market, and use products.”

Visit Geomagic's website for more information