We have discussed the development of automobile air conditioners since 1980 and the history of our plant in Franklin. I hope that my recollections will assist your studies or your work. At the time that I graduated from Purdue, which was in the spring of 1980, you rarely heard disputes about global warming or ozone layer protection. However, F.S. Rowland and M.J. Molina had raised the question of ozone layer protection in a Nature magazine article back in 1974. Now, 24 years later, we are urgently searching for an alternate refrigerant, synthetic or natural, as I have discussed. And I will concede that although I hope for a natural solution, I realize that using carbon dioxide will require pressures of as much as 120 atmospheres, and that means we have a lot of problems to solve. Remember, however, that we have solved serious problems in the past. We can do it again. For example, the interior phenomena of compressors has been heavily researched. We hear of new successes frequently, and we may expect more in this conference. The pressure requirement alone is not unique. Bulldozers operate with oil pressure above 150 atmospheres. Even in automobile air conditioners, migration or "slugging" sometimes results in pressures above 120 atmospheres. To analyze the interior phenomenon of compressors, experts from many disciplines are needed, but when you look at these problems one at a time, analysis and solution becomes easier. In this conference, where many professionals and learned men assemble under the leadership of the Herrick Laboratories, we may find ways to solve these technical problems within a short time period. Earlier, I called Herrick Laboratories the Mecca of compressor technology. Looking toward Mecca was one reason why Mitsubishi Heavy Industries chose to locate its United States production plant in Franklin, Indiana. Franklin is on Interstate 65, just about an hour and a half south of Purdue. Another, major, reason was the location of our market. Eighty-four percent of the United States automobile industry - that's our market - is located within an 625-mile radius of our plant. Our location is convenient to our customers and to our suppliers. What we have put in Franklin is the realization of a personal and company dream. We have built an advanced compressor company in the United States. I will say this to Professor Cohen and to my major professor, Dr. Soedel: I may not have been the best student, but I hope you see that I retained what you taught us in the best training ground, Herrick Laboratories, your classes and research projects. After I graduated from Purdue, it took six years until the first automobile scroll compressor was put into the market. It took another ten years until we started production in the United States, here in Indiana. What we have accomplished really is symbolic of the whole industry. Given time, determination, need and expertise, we have accomplished what we set out to do. I believe that in the future I will be able to say the same thing about the tasks now before compressor and refrigeration engineering as an industry. Facing a challenge to protect our environment, we used our time well, worked with determination and innovation and met the need. I hope all of you find your time at this conference this week to be time well spent. Much is happening and the aggressive, innovative minds that have gathered in this room, along with the resources here at Purdue, promise to produce a better world for everyone.
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