LSP Technologies Celebrates 25 Years of Making Your World a Safer Place
DUBLIN, Ohio, Feb. 10, 2020 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Today marks the 25th Anniversary for LSP Technologies, Inc., a Dublin-based company that pioneered the commercialization of a technology using high energy lasers designed to make the world a safer place.
LSP Technologies is a story of American ingenuity with a most unusual beginning. The founder of LSP Technologies, Dr. Jeff Dulaney, originally set out to become a carpenter. "My road to becoming a physicist started when I couldn't get into the apprenticeship program for carpentry," stated Dr. Dulaney. It was that setback out of high school that led him to attend Sinclair Community College on scholarship.
Sinclair professors encouraged him to continue his education, so he entered the undergraduate physics program at Miami University. "I am grateful to my professors at Sinclair and Miami. They encouraged me to achieve more than I could have imagined at that point in my life by going on to obtain my Ph.D. in physics from the University of Pittsburgh," he noted.
After graduation, Dr. Dulaney joined Battelle Memorial Institute in Columbus, Ohio, and became Technical Unit Leader of Battelle's high energy laser group. Dr. Dulaney felt compelled to start LSP Technologies Inc. in 1995 in order to get a fledgling technology called laser shock peening out of the lab and into the real world. Laser shock peening is used to make metal parts much stronger by inhibiting the initiation of cracks and corrosion.
To support the startup company, Dr. Dulaney assembled a small group of scientists, engineers, technicians, and experts in materials and metals. Together, they tackled their first big technical problem, to help the Air Force make the B-1 bomber flight-ready by preventing engine failures caused by foreign object damage on the 1st stage jet engine fan blades.
Laser peening the fan blades for the B-1 bomber was the first production application of laser peening, the first of many successes in the company's mission of "Making Your World a Safer Place." Not only did laser peening make the B-1 aircraft safer, it also reduced maintenance costs on the jet engines by more than $10 million per year.
LSP Technologies is now responsible for more than 70 laser peening patents. Through cross-licensing agreements, the company's patent portfolio exceeds 130 laser peening patents. As the LSP Technologies team advanced the technology and made it more cost-effective, applications for laser peening expanded into commercial aviation, power generation, maritime, automotive, and other market sectors.
"LSP Technologies has doubled in size to over 60 employees and tripled in sales over the past few years, due in large part to the growth of our talented engineering team and our focus on building the Humble, Hungry, and Smart culture that was the key to unlocking that growth," said Dr. Dulaney.
"We also pivoted our business model from laser peening services in our facilities to selling laser peening equipment. That allows our customers to laser peen their own parts in their own factories. We were able to leverage funds from Ohio's Third Frontier Program to design and develop a robust, production-ready laser peening system: the Procudo® Laser Peening System," he said.
The Procudo® System was the first-ever laser peening system available for commercial sale or lease. LSP Technologies has now sold Procudo® Systems to customers on three continents. "We are very proud to be proliferating laser peening technology around the world," Dr. Dulaney said.
The rapid growth of our Company in recent years has earned LSP Technologies a place on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing privately held companies in the United States and the Fast 50 list of Business First, a ranking of Central Ohio's fastest growing small businesses.
Dr. Dulaney is extremely optimistic about the future of LSP Technologies. The company is currently working to solve big problems on commercial aircraft, U.S. military aircraft and combat vessels, and even inside commercial nuclear reactors.
"It is hard to believe how far we have come in 25 years. I am honored and grateful to be working with such talented people to solve significant, real-world problems that benefit our country and our world from right here in central Ohio," he said. "We thrive on the challenge of developing another first!"
SOURCE LSP Technologies, Inc.
