INDUSTRY

Consumer products giant Procter & Gamble Co. will collaborate with the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) through the center's Private Sector Program.

P&G plans to use the high-performance computers at NCSA for simulations aimed at improving its products. The FORTUNE25 company previously has used supercomputers to optimize package design for Folgers coffee, keep Pringles potato chips from flying off conveyor belts, and improve production lines for Pampers diapers.

"When consumers get products home, the products need to perform as expected. I need Charmin to be soft but strong. Diapers that breathe yet contain. Moisturizing lotions that stay put when applied but are easy to squeeze," says Tom Lange, P&G's director of corporate research and development modeling and simulation. "Modeling and simulation let us replace slow and expensive learning cycles with faster and cheaper virtual realism."

"We're delighted to partner with a global company that has exhibited interest in using high-performance computing to increase quality in both production methods and design," said Merle Giles, head of NCSA's Private Sector Program. "To think that high-performance computing is used to build better airplanes but also to make our Crest toothpaste better shows just how far supercomputing has reached beyond the traditional industrial sectors of defense and manufacturing."

NCSA's Private Sector Partner Program puts the center's expertise and technological innovation to work on the real-world challenges faced by business and industry, enabling companies to reap the benefits of early access to breakthrough technologies. NCSA's partners include Boeing, Caterpillar, John Deere, Microsoft, Motorola, Rolls-Royce, and State Farm.