Nanoproducts Now (Almost)

Oct. 17, 2006

Within the next three years, 58% of manufacturers will have nanomanufacturing products on the market.

There's hard and fast evidence that the nanotechnology industry is shifting out of the hype stage into the commercialization stage. According to the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS), which studied the adoption of nanotechnology in the U.S. manufacturing industry, 58% of the nearly 600 survey respondents indicate they will have nanomanufactured products on the market within the next three years.

The top commercialized products already on the market include semiconductors, nanowires, coatings, and thin films, according to the NCMS.

Commercialization of Nanotech Timeline

Already Marketing -- 18%
Within 1 Year -- 10%
1 to 3 Years -- 30%
3 to 5 Years -- 24%
Beyond 5 Years -- 18%
Source: NCMS

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About the Author

Jill Jusko

Bio: Jill Jusko is executive editor for IndustryWeek. She has been writing about manufacturing operations leadership for more than 20 years. Her coverage spotlights companies that are in pursuit of world-class results in quality, productivity, cost and other benchmarks by implementing the latest continuous improvement and lean/Six-Sigma strategies. Jill also coordinates IndustryWeek’s Best Plants Awards Program, which annually salutes the leading manufacturing facilities in North America.