STI's President, since 1997, is C. Kyle Shofner, son of Betty Jo and Fred, its Vice President of Sales/Service is Kipp W. Julius, and its Senior Software Engineer is Zhang Yupeng. Both of these people have been with STI for more than 8 years and 5 years respectively, and have played key roles in the developments of modern fiber quality measurements for cotton classing.

Kyle holds the BS degree in Industrial Engineering for the University of Tennessee/Knoxville, the MS degree in Textile Engineering from North Carolina State University/Raleigh, and has completed all requirements for the PhD in Textile Technology and Management, also at NCSU, except for submission of the doctoral dissertation. Fred holds BS, MS, and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Tennessee/Knoxville and was Professor of EE at that institution for 20 years, in full and adjunct capacities, before devoting his full attentions to the Family businesses.

Mr. Julius attended Middle Tennessee State University and studied marketing in the Business School there. Mr. Zhang received the BS Degree in Computer Science in July 1997 from Beijing University for Posts and Telecommunications and the MS Degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering in August 2001 from the University of Tennessee/Knoxville. His MS Thesis work was preparatory for the proprietary work on image-based Color and Trash to be used here.

Two other of the Shofner Family firms are Process Particulate Monitors, Inc., whose business is aerosol monitoring, notably cotton dust, and ModuFil, Inc., whose business is dust control. Evidently, the Shofner Family's businesses represent a major commitment to and involvement within the cotton textile industry. Fred and Kyle and their STI Colleagues have published regularly and hold, between them, over 50 patents. Kyle is a fourth generation inventor.

Among the textile-related inventions that have been patented and successfully reduced to commercial products are:

• Portable Continuous Aerosol Monitor, PCAM
• Handheld Aerosol Monitor, HAM
• MicroDust and Trash Monitor, MTM
• ModuFil
• Lint Trap
• Advanced Lint Cleaner for Gins and Mills
• Advanced Fiber Information System, AFIS
• Mantis
• Modular Environmental Conditioning Apparatus, MECA
• Rapid Conditioning, RapidCon and RapidAir
• RapidTester
• IsoTester and GinWizard

The RapidTester™

The RapidTester is one of STI's most recent inventions and is without question its most comprehensive and ambitious undertaking. The RT is a robust and flexible platform for multiple modules of fiber quality measurements. The platform includes internal, UltraRapid Conditioning, which enables the RT to operate anywhere, without an expensive, external AC system or rapid conditioning system. Every data product is based on new, in some cases, revolutionary, technology.

The invited technical papers, "Cotton Classing in the New Millennium" and "New Fiber Classification Methods," Bremen Germany, March 2000 and March 2002, are major position and business plan papers. In those papers we describe and list the fiber qualities that we think will be in common use for cotton commerce in 2020. Importantly, we present the case for in-gin classing and optimal controls of the ginning process (feedback, "Gin Wizard ™" ) and optimal control of the marketing process (feedforward, "Digital Cotton Warehouse™"). We also introduce the concepts of internet classing and internet trading.

STI has targeted gin-based and warehouse-based fiber quality measurement applications in the United States, Australia, and Brazil for its initial offerings. One reason is that, unfortunately, Mill Customers will primarily be outside Western Countries, who have irrationally lost most of their spinning and apparel industry. Recognizing this terrible trend led STI to the gin- and warehouse-oriented focus. Another reason is to assist the remaining US producer-ginner segment in maintaining viability.

All of the Customers and potential Customers, at this early point in the introductions, are showing remarkable enthusiasm for the concepts. Some of the concepts, noted above, are genuinely revolutionary in impact on the manner is which cotton is ginned and marketed. Internet classing based on high fidelity images is one such concept. Internet trading based on Gin-based Classing data is another.

In conclusion of this Section, STI's focus on gins and warehouses has not been to the exclusion of government classing offices and spinning mills. Significant efforts have been expended to understand and appreciate USDA/AMS needs as AMS begins moving to gin-based classing. Some considerable progress in that direction is noted.