RESEARCHERS JOB IS TO PICK IDEAS THAT COUNT
A MERICAN researchers are not running out of
ideas. Their big job is to pick the ideas that
count. So said Dr. Fred Olsen, Vice President for
Research of Olin Mathiesoa Chemical Corpora
tion, at a recent talk before the Chemical and Al
lied Industries Conference of the Controllers In
stitute in Chicago.
Dr. Olsen pointed out that in Olin Mathieson
Chemical Corporation a system of checks and bal
ance has been set up, aimed at securing the big
gest returns from our research dollar.
"About 80% of the research dollar is spent on
projects of immediate or short-range concern and
related to the reduction in cost of manufacturing
processes, to the improvement in product quality,
and to such new products as are logical expan
sions of established product lines.
"The remaining 20% of our research budget is
devoted to Basic and Exploratory Research,” Dr.
Olsen said. "This research is in the hands of a
very small group of top-flight scientists. Com
pletely new types of chemical reactions and new
types of products are dreamed up and given pre
liminary trial in the laboratory. As soon as scien
tific feasibility is indicated, an estimate is made
of the market potentials for the new product. If
favorable, the project, even in this early stage, is
turned over to the Commercial Development De
partment which studies the profit-earning possi
bilities of the project and decides if the new
product is compatible with the expansion policies
of top management.”
Dr. Olsen concluded by saying that he and his
associates feel that Research takes and indeed,
should take "a strongly prejudiced view favoring
its own inventions.” In other words, researchers
must be optimists. But for this very reason. Re
search needs a "jury of our peers,” as Dr. Olsen calls
it, in this case the Commercial Development De
partment, whose members are impartial and can,
without prejudice, pass upon the commercial
soundness of a project. Thus, in turn, it protects
Research from wasting its energies in fields which
ate not going to prove acceptable either economi
cally or for reasons of management policy.
CONSTRUCTION OF NEW CELLOPHANE PLANT TO START
IN MARCH, 1955.
Construction of the second plant to manufacture
Olin cellophane is expected to start about March
1, 1955 on a site to be known as Olin, Indiana,
located on the Wabash River between Covington,
Indiana, and Danville, Illinois. The announcement
was made by M. L. Herzog, general manager of
the Film Division of Olin Mathieson Chemical
Corporation.
The plant will be engineered and constructed
for Olin Mathieson under contract with E. I. du
Pont de Nemours and Company. Olin’s first cello
phane plant at Pisgah Forest, N. C., has been in
operation for over three years.
Preliminary site clearing and grading have
started. Peak labor force during the construction
period will be upwards of 1,000.
In making the announcement, Herzog said it
was expected that the plant would be in operation
in the last half of 1956 and that approximately
600 persons will be employed at full production.
OLIN MATHIESON ACQUIRES INTEREST IN AIRCRAFT
COMPANY
Acquisition by Olin Mathieson Chemical Cor
poration, through an arrangement with Laurance
S. Rockefeller and associates, of a substantial in
terest in Marquardt Aircraft Company of Van
Nuys, Calif., was announced jointly today by John
M. Olin, chairman, and Thomas S. Nichols, presi
dent, of Olin Mathieson, and Roy E. Marquardt,
president of Marquardt.
Mr. Rockefeller continues as one of the princi
pal stockholders in Marquardt Aircraft, which is a
leader in the development of supersonic ramjet
engines for guided missiles.
The new relationship will offer many advantages
to both companies and will especially add to the
resources and facilities available to Marquardt Air
craft for expansion into other major projects re
lated to the national defense, according to Mr.
Marquardt.
Mr. Olin and Mr. Nichols stated that the acquisi
tion by Olin Mathieson rounds out further its
activities in the field of propulsion for guided
missiles and supersonic aircraft. In addition to its
own operations in the development and produc
tion of high energy fuels, Olin Mathieson has a
major interest in Reaction Motors, Inc., of Rock-
away, N. J., a developer and producer of rocket
engines.