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M4 Sciences Signs Agreement with Belgium-based NV Bekaert SA

Dépèche transmise le 26 septembre 2011 par Business Wire

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--James Mann, CEO of M4 Sciences LLC, announced that M4 Sciences has signed a technology sub-license agreement for its Modulation-Assisted Machining (MAM)® technology.

“The technology sub-license agreement resulted from the success of more than two years of engineering co-development together with Bekaert. Bekaert will be implementing Modulation-Assisted Machining in a new process for materials manufacturing and a major technical and commercial breakthrough for the technology”

Mann and officials from NV Bekaert SA, a global company headquartered in Belgium, signed a long-term agreement that will give NV Bekaert SA access to M4 Sciences' MAM® technology and related patents.

Bekaert is the world's largest independent manufacturer of drawn steel wire products and a technological leader in advanced solutions based on metal transformation and coatings. With combined sales of €4.5 billion, customers in more than 120 countries and a global production platform, the company's focus is on building its product portfolio as in its internal production processing and equipment design.

"The technology sub-license agreement resulted from the success of more than two years of engineering co-development together with Bekaert. Bekaert will be implementing Modulation-Assisted Machining in a new process for materials manufacturing and a major technical and commercial breakthrough for the technology," Mann said.

M4 Sciences anticipates that the work with Bekaert could open new market opportunities.

"As a result of the agreement, we have strengthened our strategic relationship with Bekaert and created a foundation for sustaining our business growth. More importantly, we have worked together with Bekaert to implement MAM technology in an entirely new application of precision machining," Mann said.

In 2009, M4 Sciences introduced the first commercial TriboMAM® system that superimposes a low-frequency oscillation in machining processes, and the company received the 2010 R&D 100 Award.

The machining technology developed by M4 Sciences was discovered at Purdue University, School of Industrial Engineering and licensed through the Purdue Research Foundation's Office of Technology Commercialization. Mann, also a co-author of the patents, co-founded M4 Sciences in 2005 at the Purdue Research Park of West Lafayette.

"M4 Sciences continues to make a tremendous impact in the ultra-precision machining processes used in the global metals processing industry," said Joseph B. Hornett, senior vice president, treasurer and COO of the Purdue Research Foundation, which manages the Purdue Research Park. "The agreement with Bekaert is another example of how Purdue discoveries are moving through commercialization to the creation and growth of new companies."