PA Plastics SourceNet Symposium
Henry Thorne
Chief Technology Officer, Thorley Industries
Henry Thorne is an innovator who enjoys great thoughts and trying to turn them into reality. A graduate of the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University in the early 80s, Mr. Thorne worked at General Motors (GM) for five years engineering robotic systems including the largest and most reliable robotic arc welding assembly line ever created producing five miles of linear arc weld per day for the frames of most of GM’s cars. He founded Cycle Time Corp. in 1990 where he created the first Graphic User Interface for industrial robots now used on over 5,000 robots within the Big Three Automotive group and the first fully automated “Tool Center Point” calibration system, which is licensed exclusively to the largest robot company in the world, ABB Robotics, Inc.
In 1995, Mr. Thorne turned his attention to mobile robots and created the first personal robot, CYE, which was sold by Probotics, Inc. and then later by The Educational Robot Company. Mr. Thorne founded Aethon in 2001, to commercialize a larger and more capable mobile robot, the Tug, which is used to autonomously deliver supplies of all kinds from hospital ancillary departments to nursing units. In 2005, Mr. Thorne co-founded Thorley Industries to innovate and drive business in existing consumer markets where the continued decline in the cost of electronics enables the delivery of new benefits at standard price points. The first Thorley Industries creation is “4moms” (www.4momsonline.com), a juvenile product company with a line of revolutionary infant bathing products.
Abstract
From Concept to Reality: Success in Product Development
This presentation will detail the steps required to avoid the common pitfalls of new product development in order to efficiently and effectively make your way to market. Building a strong and balanced development team is the first step in minimizing the obstacles that often prevent success. Also, the discipline to adhere to a structured product development path is an equally critical component of the process. We will demonstrate the important role that proper industry alliances played while chronicling the progression of the 4moms Cleanwater Infant Tub from conception through reality.