1. What are LatchTool Group/LTG technologies?
  2. What is LTG's Open Business Model?
  3. Is LTG Microhydraulics a threat or an opportunity?
  4. Whom do you ask for an evaluation?
  5. Why has it taken so long?

  1. What are LatchTool Group/LTG technologies?

  2. LTG microhydraulics are closed hydraulic systems with integrated fluidic controls.
  3. FastFlow valves are fluidic controllers that are:
  4. Small: no valve bodies, they are rings, springs, and latching things...
  5. Fluidic: respond quickly to changes in system pressures.
  6. Efficient: stay opened or closed without power1; large annular pathways trump frictional drag.

  7. What is LTG's Open Business Model?

  8. LatchTool Group will license its technology for specific end-use applications.
  9. Exclusivity, terms and territory are negotiable - time to market driven relationships.
  10. LTG will strategically partner with industrial players.
  11. Partners may receive rights of first refusal on applications research.
  12. LTG will strategically outsource manufacturing for mission critical parts and assemblies.

  13. Is LTG Microhydraulics a threat or an opportunity?

  14. To applied technologists, it is an opportunity to learn a non-conventional approach to hydraulics.
  15. To the established makers and users of hydraulics it is a material competitive challenge... it is a threat that could ultimately question their viability.
  16. To those that thrive on innovation and innovative new products... it is an unparalleled opportunity.

  17. Whom do you ask for an evaluation?

  18. When you ask your engineers what they think, please keep in mind that LTG technologies are a new paradigm in hydraulics...
  19. It is not fair to ask them how it works... it is unconventional and outside current fluid power/hydraulic mind sets. It will take time to understand. You would not expect an electrical engineer 80 years ago working with vacuum tubes to explain a transistor circuit.
  20. Ask instead for levels of excitement and what immediate applications they foresee.
  21. Ask if the technological risks are particularly daunting. Where given the go-ahead and support of your organization and the cooperation of LTG, they would be reluctant to move forward.
  22. Time to market is LatchTool's overarching driver. The technology transfer phase in a partner/licensee relationship will address the technological subtleties of how and why.

  23. Why has it taken so long?

  24. Innovation takes time2. It has taken LTG time to:
  25. Identify key technological obstacles and discover solutions,
  26. Prove the solutions reliable and optimal,
  27. Prove there are no hidden or fatal flaws in the systems,
  28. Prove the technology is robust and holds up over time,
  29. Prove the sustained resourcefulness of the LTG development team,
  30. Prove the key technological claims can be patented,
  31. Prove the versatility of the technology as a basis for new products,
  32. Prove the manufacturability of the technology,
  33. Develop a defensible IP portfolio and strategy,
  34. Develop the business model and assemble the team to execute, and
  35. Overcome resistance to change and innate skepticisms.
1The Apollo 13 made it back to earth because the valves in the exploded oxygen generator did not require power to keep them opened or closed...
2Intel was founded in 1968 and its first microprocessor was introduced in 1971, IBM selects Intel for its PC's in 1981.
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