DuPont Co.'s Protection Solutions unit says it is adding two more fireman-shaped Thermo-Man sensor-laden testing dummies and fire-resistant-fabric development centers, in Singapore and Brazil, to the three now in service in Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, and Spruance, Va.
The new labs are a sign DuPont still invests in product development, as it shaves $250 million from its $1.9 billion-a-year research budget and cuts 5,000 jobs as it prepares to merge with Dow Chemical.
Thermo-Man -- the name recalls Burning Man, the annual tech punk party in the Nevada desert, as well as the accidents DuPont is paid to help prevent -- is "a life-sized, instrumented mannequin covered with heat sensors," which DuPont says it developed "with the U.S. Government to help protect military personnel from burns." It also shows off DuPont flame-resistant fabrics like Nomex.
ThermoMan "effectively simulates what will happen to the wearer in a real-life setting," Russell Shephard, chairman of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) subcommittee on firefighting, said in DuPont's statement. The company says 3 million firefighters, and at least a few Nascar drivers, wear Nomex and its other fire resistant fabrics.