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After going through a long series of interviews and discussions on the latest industry trends and technology at Nepcon Shanghai in late April, it was quite refreshing to have had the opportunity to sit down and listen to a gentleman by the name of Jacob H. Paster, Vice President of RMD Instruments LLC, just before I left for the airport. I did what I could with the interview preparations, and this included a visit to RMD’s Web site to find out a little bit more of what they did. But nothing prepared me for the interesting discovery I was about to make when Paster took me on a journey of his company’s origin and history to its present involvementin the electronics industry. RMD started 34 years ago in the sensor business, mainly in the detection and provision of data. In the late 70’s, the company offered customized instruments for certain applications and one of them was in the medical industry, supplying radiation probes for the detection of bone cancer in patients. The company specializes in R&D, supporting a diverse staff of 60 highly talented people from various countries. All in all, RMD developed specialty instruments that were driven by need, and they worked very closely with government bodies in the US. In the early to mid-90’s, there was a merging of fields between biotechnology and other technical sectors, according to Paster, and he went on the explain RMD’s involvement using several biotech/medical terms that I had trouble grasping but found nonetheless, quite fascinating. The company was involved in projects that went looking for RX and IX markers in people with physiological problems. Radio-pharmaceutical was the term he used, and along the way he mentioned the lymph system as well. Companies he later mentioned included Tyco Healthcare and at this stage of the dialogue, even a novice could guess that RMD had plenty of expertise in the biomedical field. But the key to this story is the use of probe technology to solve measurement problems and–you guessed it–RMD was very good at that. Then came legislation from France and the US in 92’ calling for the eradication of lead in paint. Lead poisoning was clearly a high profile issue in those days, and the number of fatalities was troubling. So RMD was called in to develop an instrument that was capable of detecting the presence or absence of lead in paint. The rest, like they say, is history. RoHS came along last year, which called for the elimination of lead, among other substances in electronics, and it was natural for a company like RMD to use detection technology they had already developed and apply it in another industry. In this case, the electronics industry.. The point I am trying to make is simple–technology already developed does not have a shelf life and can be fine-tuned and utilized whenever the need arises. Even if it has been specially developed for a particular field or industry initially, the potential to make a difference in other areas should not be overlooked. The tide is shifting and industries have started and will continue to merge. And if this includes R&D synergies as well, then all the better it will be for our futures. | 
