Category Archives: Ann Yasuhara

John Springrose: “Prototype your imagination”

Ann Yasuhara, Business, Healthcare, Technology & Innovation, , , , , , , ,

Sometimes a better chamberspeaker says what they said to a U.S. 1 reporter as published in the previous issue. Not so this time. Diccon Hyatt’s interview with John Springrose was way different from his talk at the Princeton Regional Chamber breakfast this morning. Springrose’s company (formerly inDimension3, now Philadelphia-based Koine) pioneers in 3D printers, more aptly named “rapid prototyping machines.”

An IBM-er turned investment banker, Springrose  began with a “then and now” show of how innovation increases productivity, even though jobs are lost along the way. For instance, IBM’s first middle market computer, System 32, cost $40,000 and had only 5k of memory but in 1975 it could replace accounting functions. Checkers were replaced by self checkout and scans, tellers by ATMs, German auto workers by robots, and so on. “Innovation does lead to productivity,” he tells students, “and it forces us to think.” Be an innovator or run the risk of losing your job.

Examples of how a rapid prototyping machine can work: High school student gets an idea for jazzing up the wine drinking experience. Prints a prototype of a new wine holder, gets it manufactured in China, sells several hundred units on ebay for $40 each, total cost of each unit $1.89, accomplished this in less than a month. Product: a wine bottle holder that is lit from underneath, sending colors through a bottle of white wine. Cool. True story.

A plant “goes down” for lack of a part? A 3-D printer could make that part in a snap. A corporation could have a rapid prototype machine in the lobby and greet clients is greeted with a logo or miniature product from their company. Now that’s hospitality.

Three-D printers like toys can cost as little as $700 but, to be reliable, one should cost at least $5,000 for business use. Customers are mostly overseas. Springrose worries that the U.S. is getting left behind.

In addition to plastic, products can be in wood, metal — “anything that will melt.’ His industry today is where IBM’s System 32 computer was in 1975. “You give me the industry, I give you the use,” he offered.  “Prototype your imagination,” he challenges. “If you think about it, you can do it.”

As for the difference between the interview and the talk — the reporter dug into the not-so-successful early stage of Springrose’s company, when it was making cheap printers that were not reliable and got scathing online reviews. That’s why Springrose moved to the high end. More than 700 startups make 3 D printers but just three– including Koine — are working on business-quality tools.

Springrose has a very personal interest in the medical applications for his devices. He looks forward to the day when a rapid prototyping machine can print out a liver or a kidney. That’s because he has lived through a liver transplant. But printable organs won’t happen any time soon. Springrose came without a demo machine because — the day before, he demoed to doctors at Jefferson — and they broke the machine.

Photo: L to R, Grant Somerville (chamber program committee), John Springrose, Peter Crowley (chamber CEO).  

Princeton Friends Meeting will hold a memorial service to celebrate the life of Ann Yasuhara on Saturday, July 5, 2014, at 2 p.m.

A memorial service in the unprogrammed Quaker tradition is a Meeting for Worship to remember the life of a loved one who has died. Personal connections and the experiences of shared grief and celebration are at the heart of the service.

Friends and family gather in silence, in the presence of the Spirit.. Everyone is invited to follow Friends’ practice of speaking out of the silence to share a memory or other significant message about Ann. A period of silent reflection is urged after each message to allow all to absorb what has been said. Though participants in the meeting may cry, the Quaker memorial is not a somber affair, but rather a celebration of the life that was lived.

Joe Taylor will lead us in welcome and an invitation to friends Meeting for Worship. He will close the service with a handshake.

After the service, all are invited to the First Day School building. Friends have prepared refreshments and a table of visual memories entitled “The Gardens of Ann Yasuhara — plantings of friendship, art, music, wisdom teachings, and pathways of peace.” There is a guest book for sharing written memories and an opportunity to take home a book from Ann’s collection. The books will be on a table in the Library.

pnc arms out

Memorial Donations

Ann Yasuhara cared deeply for the causes of a number of organizations. If you would like to make a donation, please see the list of institutions below whose mission Ann wholeheartedly supported. 

AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION FOUNDATION, INC. 125 Broad Street, New York, New York. https://www.aclu.org/

AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE to support its IMMIGRANT RIGHTS PROJECT 89 Market Street, Newark, New Jersey. http://www.afsc.org/office/newark-nj

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL 322 8th Avenue, New York, New York. http://www.amnestyusa.org/

CENTER ON CONSCIENCE AND WAR 1830 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, D.C.http://www.centeronconscience.org/

CENTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS 666 Broadway, New York, New York.http://ccrjustice.org/

DELAWARE & RARITAN GREENWAY ASSOCIATION One Johnson Place, Princeton, New Jersey. http://drgreenway.org/giving.html

DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS USA 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, New York http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/

GREENPEACE FUND, INC. 702 H Street NW, Washington, D.C. http://www.greenpeacefund.org/

FRIENDS COMMITTEE ON NATIONAL LEGISLATION EDUCATION FUND 245 Second Street NE, Washington, D.C.http://fcnl.org/

THE FRENCH HOUSE, INC.  633 North Frances Street, Madison, Wisconsin.http://uwfrenchhouse.org/

LATIN AMERICAN LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATION FUND, INC.669 Chambers Street, Trenton, New Jersey.http://www.laldef.org/

MADISON MUSEUM FOR CONTEMPORARY ART. 227 State St, Madison, WI 53703. http://www.mmoca.org/

MERCER STREET FRIENDS 151 Mercer Street, Trenton, New Jersey .http://www.mercerstreetfriends.org/

NATIONAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COUNSEL40 West 20th Street, New York, New York.http://www.nrdc.org/

PENDLE HILL 338 Plush Mill Road, Wallingford, Pennsylvania. http://www.pendlehill.org/

PHILADELPHIA YEARLY MEETING 1515 Cherry Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.http://www.pym.org/  

PHILADELPHIA YEARLY MEETING BEQUESTS COMMITTEE 1515 Cherry Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

PRINCETON MONTHLY MEETING OF THE RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF FRIENDS 470 Quaker Road, Princeton, New Jersey. http://www.princetonfriendsmeeting.org/

PRINCETON PUBLIC LIBRARY Princeton, New Jersey. http://princetonlibrary.org/

SWARTHMORE COLLEGE Swarthmore, Pennsylvania.  http//www.swarthmore.edu/

TRAINING FOR CHANGE PO Box 30914, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. https://www.trainingforchange.org/

UNION OF CONCERNED SCIENTISTS 2 Battle Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts .http://www.ucsusa.org/

A.J. MUSTE INSTITUTE 339 Lafayette Street, New York, New York, to benefit the work of the WAR RESISTERS LEAGUE .     http://www.ajmuste.org/

Gandhian Foundation 4510 Kinsessing Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to benefit the EARTH QUAKER ACTION TEAM.http://eqat.org/about-eqat

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