Using tools as low-tech as a tape measure and calipers, and as high-tech as a 3D body scanner, Anthrotech of Yellow Springs is compiling data about the physical characteristics of U.S. military personnel. The goal is to ensure optimal fitting of everything from clothing to tank interiors to office spaces.
The company received a three-year, $6.1 million contract for quantifying body sizes last fall. As a result, it recently hired and trained 21 new fulltime employees, all skilled technicians, to conduct the measurements. "They're already out in the field," says Dr. Bruce Bradtmiller, president.
The 3D scans enable analysis of a range of features of the personnel's head, body and feet.
The 60-year-old company previously had five fulltime and six part-time employees. It temporarily used extra space in Yellow Springs for training purposes but no capital expansion is expected.
Bradtmiller says Anthrotech performed a major study of body data for the Marines in 1966, and a similar one for the Army in '87-88, with pilot study in '07-'08.
"People do change over time," Bradtmiller says.
So does the makeup of the military, as more reserve and National Guard officers are activated, and as more women take on a wider range of roles.
Other users of the kinds of measurements Anthrotech performs – these "anthropometric surveys" – include, for example, makers of diapers, prosthetic limbs, eyewear, cars and trucks, safety equipment, furniture and apparel.
Anthrotech's roots are with Antioch College; the company originally was called the Anthropology Research Project.
Source: Dr. Bruce Bradtmiller, Anthrotech
Writer: Gabriella Jacobs