M4 Sciences signs agreement with Belgium-based NV Bekaert SA

Under a new sub-license agreement, M4 Sciences Inc. main technology, Modulation-Assisted Machining (MAM)® technology, will be used by NV Bekaert SA, the world's largest independent manufacturer of drawn steel wire products and a technological leader in advanced solutions based on metal transformation and coatings. M4 Sciences is based in the Purdue Research Park of West Lafayette and Bekaert is headquartered in Belgium.

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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – James Mann, CEO of M4 Sciences LLC, announced that M4 Sciences has signed a technology sub-license agreement for its Modulation-Assisted Machining (MAM)® technology.

Mann and officials from NV Bekaert SA, a global company headquartered in Belgium, signed a long-term agreement that will give NV Bekaert SA access to M4 Sciences' MAM® technology and related patents.

Bekaert is the world's largest independent manufacturer of drawn steel wire products and a technological leader in advanced solutions based on metal transformation and coatings. With combined sales of $4.5 billion, customers in more than 120 countries and a global production platform, the company's focus is on building its product portfolio as in its internal production processing and equipment design.

"The technology sub-license agreement resulted from the success of more than two years of engineering co-development together with Bekaert. Bekaert will be implementing Modulation-Assisted Machining in a new process for materials manufacturing and a major technical and commercial breakthrough for the technology," Mann said.

He added that while the specific details of the technology's commercial application and the agreement remain confidential, M4 Sciences anticipates that the work with Bekaert could open new market opportunities.

"As a result of the agreement, we have strengthened our strategic relationship with Bekaert and created a foundation for sustaining our business growth. More importantly, we have worked together with Bekaert to implement MAM technology in an entirely new application of precision machining," Mann said.

In 2009, M4 Sciences introduced the first commercial TriboMAM® system that superimposes a low-frequency oscillation in machining processes, and the company received the 2010 R&D 100 Award. In precision drilling MAM technology allows up to a 500 percent increase in productivity for manufacture of precision parts for orthopedic implants and in automotive, aerospace and industrial power-train products, fuel systems, and hydraulic devices.

The machining technology developed by M4 Sciences was discovered at Purdue University, School of Industrial Engineering and licensed through the Purdue Research Foundation's Office of Technology Commercialization. Mann, also a co-author of the patents, co-founded M4 Sciences in 2005 at the Purdue Research Park of West Lafayette.

"M4 Sciences continues to make a tremendous impact in the ultra-precision machining processes used in the global metals processing industry," said Joseph B. Hornett, senior vice president, treasurer and COO of the Purdue Research Foundation, which manages the Purdue Research Park. "The agreement with Bekaert is another example of how Purdue discoveries are moving through commercialization to the creation and growth of new companies."

M4 Sciences, based in the Purdue Research Park of West Lafayette, specializes in designing and developing advanced technologies and systems for ultra-precision machining. In 2011, M4 Sciences received the Tibbetts Award from the US Small Business Administration for demonstrating exemplary performance in technology development and commercialization. M4 Sciences also received the 2010 R&D 100 award for product development. M4 Sciences has received Small Business Technology Transfer Research and Small Business Innovative Research awards from the National Science Foundation to support MAM research, and the state of Indiana awarded M4 Sciences a grant from the 21st Century Research and Technology Fund to promote commercialization of MAM technology for precision drilling.

The Purdue Research Park (http://www.purdueresearchpark.com) has the largest university-affiliated business incubation program in the country. The Purdue Research Park has four sites in the State of Indiana. They are Purdue Research Park of West Lafayette, Purdue Research Park at AmeriPlex-Indianapolis, Purdue Research Park of Northwest Indiana and the Purdue Research Park of Southeast Indiana. The nearly 200 companies located in the park network employ about 4,000 people. In 2004, the Purdue Research Park of West Lafayette was named Outstanding Science/Research Park by the Association of University Research Parks.