OIC supports UCF and Orlando small business innovation

Pink Lotus Technologies (PLT) is a small, minority/woman-owned Central Florida business that participates in the business incubator program. When Maryann Kilgallon, CEO of PLT and creator of the Peace of Mind Monitoring (POMM) connected care platform, needed a part developed before expanding into new markets, UCF suggested she get in touch with the OIC.

MaryAnn was blown away on her first visit. She says, “I was like a kid in a candy store. Machines everywhere. I didn’t realize how large the facility was. During a tour I saw them working on government and NASA projects. These are $100 million dollar projects. This is a very professional team that knows what it’s doing. I feel so grateful for their interest in helping my small company.”

The OIC and POMM adopted a low cost, collaborative development approach. The OIC schedules the development work in short intervals around work on larger projects. POMM will be charged a minimal fee for final part materials. Curtis Herron is the plastic additive department lead and works with MaryAnn on clip development. He says, “An additive manufacturing development approach is less expensive for both the OIC and POMM. We initially made a one-piece prototype using Elastic 50A resin for fit and feel evaluation. After the part is finalized, additive manufacturing will be used to produce an injection mold insert to support manufacturing using the final, more durable material. This will also prove out the mold design before moving to large quantity production.” Clip development is one of the final steps before the product is offered commercially in October.

“Projects like this give us a tie in the local community and with UCF. Because of the high set up costs for onboarding customers, we designate funds to help with some of these smaller projects,” says Richard Andres, business development. This project showcases how the OIC can quickly prototype a part for injection molding at a lower cost than previously possible.