Students close the deal


MAE undergrads sell product designed in class

Spring break for undergraduates is normally spent soaking up sun, sleeping in until noon, and getting Mom to do your laundry. Yet, for four students in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE), spring break meant a trip to Southeast Asia, sharp suits, tough business dealing, and signing a contract that could make them quite a bit of money.

Eugene Kung '02, Sherwood Forlee '02, Timothy Chang '02, and Flavio Poehlmann '02 signed a license agreement with Manica -- Thai Corp., based in Bangkok, Thailand. The agreement says that Manica will manufacture a hair dryer the students created, which incorporated aromatherapy into the normally tedious task of blowing one's hair dry. The students created the Aromadry^® for Professor Dan Nosenchuck's MAE321: Engineering Design course in the fall of 2000.

Professor Nosenchuck, who has many business associates in Southeast Asia, saw promise in the idea.

"I spoke to some people. Interest heated up, and so I said to the guys, 'It looks like the time is right,'" Professor Nosenchuck said.

The important lesson the students learned on their excursion was that it is market demand, not engineering elegance, that makes a sellable product. They wisely decided to do some market research before choosing a design, surveying public opinion as to what they'd like from a new hair dryer.

"A lot of people mentioned the 'burned hair' smell," said Sherwood. "So we said, Okay, what can we do with that?"

At the time, they didn't know they'd received such a valuable response.

The students designed a sturdy casing for the fragrance, which slides onto the dryer, below the turbine, so that fragrance wafts out as air blows through the machine. The user thus floats into a dreamland, surrounded by billowy clouds of delectable aroma. The design isn't fancy. It isn't high-tech. In fact, as engineers, the students were somewhat abashed at the simplicity of their design. Nonetheless, it's fun, so consumers like it. And it's cheap to make, so manufacturers like it.

"A simple solution ended up being cheap," said Tim. He explained that while some ideas are revolutionary--from an engineering perspective--many of these ideas remain on paper because the costs cannot be overcome, or there is no demand for the technology. "The work is almost in vain," Tim said.

Flavio concurred, saying that the business side of the project brought a new perspective to engineering.

"I viewed it as the link to reality," he said.

In Kowloon, Hong Kong, the four met with a roomfull of poker-faced bigwigs at the Helen of Troy distributing company, which ships products with Revlon and other brand names painted on the side. The students presented their design, focusing on its simplicity, cost-effectiveness, and market appeal. At the completion of a chilly meeting, the bigwigs said, 'Let's do it.'

"We really didn't know until that moment," said Eugene. "They didn't really discuss much."

So, it was off to Bangkok to bang out a licensing agreement with Manica, the manufacturing company. During this trip the four students were reminded that they'd been transported out of the safe, just fairy-tale land of the classroom and into the brass knuckles world of real business.

They recalled that the CEO of Manica gave them a quick lesson in business tactics.

"When we weren't talking about the contract, we could see that he was a very nice person," said Flavio. "It's just important that when you start talking about money, remember that in this case, you aren't dealing with a friend. You are dealing with somebody who is there at the top of the company for a reason. It was like playing basketball one-on-one. You are friends, but you still want to win the game."

Eugene said that the licensing agreement was very daunting. There was a lot of stuff we didn't understand," he said. "I was thinking, 'Are they paying us half as much as they should be paying us?'"

Though Flavio enjoyed the excitement of these dealings, general consensus was that they'd rather be engineers than businessmen.

"I'd rather be doing something with my hands," said Sherwood.

Still, all the students agreed that the experience was invaluable, and they felt privileged for the opportunity.

Professor Nosenchuck was impressed with the success of the trip, and pleased at his students' savvy in such an unknown situation.

"These guys are made of a lot of steel," he said. "They're going to succeed."

Above, Timothy Chang and Eugene Kung do a bit of sight-seeing in between their business meetings. Below, from left, Timothy Chang, Flavio Poehlmann, Sherwood Forlee, and Eugene Kung take a breather after their meeting with executives from Helen of Troy.