Timothy G. Clapp, PhD (tclapp@tx.ncsu.edu) is the Head of Textiles Extension Education for Economic Development and Professor of Textile Engineering in the College of Textiles at North Carolina State University. He directs all the College of Textiles educational programs for the Textile and Apparel industries. He teaches a graduate-level course for accelerating innovation using Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (TRIZ) methods. His research is focused on accelerating new product and process development using modern process improvement methodologies. He also teaches Six Sigma Quality Methods and Error Proofing workshops to textile, pharmaceutical, healthcare, and manufacturing organizations.

Through Dr. Clapp’s 19 years of research, he has published over thirty papers and generated eleven patents that solve apparel and textile manufacturing challenges such as 1) an automated guided laser cutting system for cutting fabric, 2) systems for grasping and manipulating limp materials, and 3) sensor systems to monitor seam quality on-line. He has developed strategies for accelerating the development of customized commercial equipment for the small, specialized manufacturer.