Under the leadership of Dan Forthoffer, corporate director of R&D, Phillips Industries and Phillips Connect are transforming their R&D capabilities to meet the current and future challenges facing vehicle operators in the evolving transportation industry, the company noted in a recent press release. This expanded initiative supports Phillips Industries, Phillips Connect, and Phillips Europe, and works collaboratively across all business units to bring the best solutions to Phillips customers.
Forthoffer focused on gathering engineers from not just the trucking industry, but also from the aerospace (NASA), defense, networking technologies, ADAS, and passenger car industries. Core teams within the new R&D organization are focused on the conceptualization and feasibility phase of product development.
A foundation of the R&D organization is a quality group and a proprietary test regime known as the Phillips Trustmark Quality Requirements Validation Routine. Each product must adhere to the testing regime before launch, preserving and building on the Phillips quality reputation as new products and systems are developed. It combines industry-standard testing and additional testing methodologies found in real-world applications, providing further assurances based on actual field experience.
Forthoffer joined Phillips in 2021 with more than two decades of innovative vehicle engineering experience including battery electric and hydrogen fuel cell vehicle technologies, telematics, advanced control systems in the national defense and aerospace sectors, and advanced research and testing competencies. He earned a B.S.M.E. with advanced energy storage emphasis from Wayne State University in Detroit, and an M.S.A.E.T. (Masters, Alternative Energy Technology Engineering, Joint Mechanical/Electrical Engineering Masters). Forthoffer holds multiple patents for transportation products and methods and is currently chairman of the TMC S1 Future Truck/Trailer Electrical Interface Task Force, an SAE contributor, and a governor of H.D.A.T.C.
