LAKE SUZY, Fla. (Dec. 18, 2003) – WINSLOW® LifeRaft Company, the world’s leading manufacturer of life rafts, reduced the time it takes to produce a raft from seven days to one day and increased productivity by 600 percent, thanks to assistance from the NASA-funded Space Alliance Technology Outreach Program (SATOP).

WINSLOW LifeRaft was founded in 1941 as the New York Rubber Company in upstate New York and originally constructed life rafts for the Allied Forces. After World War II, the company relocated to Florida and was acquired by John C. Winslow, who produced the first marine and aviation life rafts for the private sector. Today, WINSLOW manufactures a wide range of award-winning aviation and marine life rafts for use by Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, and world-renowned sailing and powerboat competitors.

Even as business boomed, however, production was hampered by the time it took to cure the adhesive that bonds the myriad pieces of the life rafts together. The cure time was a slow seven days, creating a backlog of inventory waiting to cure.
Bill Graham, WINSLOW’s chief engineer, tried to find an adhesive that would not require such an extensive curing time, but that would exceed FAA requirements. “At about the same time, I heard about a NASA program that helps companies with technical challenges. I needed some help, so I went on the Internet and found SATOP,” Graham said.

SATOP provides free engineering assistance to small businesses with technical challenges through the donations of time and expertise from 40 Space Alliance Partners, such as Lockheed Martin and The Boeing Company. SATOP matched WINSLOW’s technical challenge with Ernie Banks, a Boeing senior materials and processes engineer at Kennedy Space Center.

After testing many different adhesives, Banks determined that the adhesive WINSLOW had been using still was the best for their application. He then concentrated on methods to improve the curing process. Banks performed an experiment with two identical sets of raft material test strips. Both sets were assembled with that same adhesive, but one set was air cured and one set was heat cured in an oven. Banks discovered that in addition to reducing the curing time, the heat cure also increased the seam strength.

"This project proves that sometimes a company’s current processes and materials can be improved if they can tap into the right expertise and are able to think outside the box," said Banks, who has worked on numerous Requests for Technical Assistance for SATOP.

“These results were beyond our wildest dreams,” Graham said. “By using the heat cure recommended by Ernie, we have increased production 600 percent, reduced storage space, increased seam strength, and are now able to respond much faster to customer demand. We couldn’t have asked for more from SATOP.”
For more information about WINSLOW LifeRaft Company, visit www.winslowliferaft.com .