Donald E. Flinchbaugh Memorial Scholarship
Purpose
The purpose of the Donald E. Flinchbaugh Memorial Scholarship is to encourage students, in both study and practice, to successfully combine technology, engineering and manufacturing with business and entrepreneurship.
Application
The scholarship will be awarded annually to an engineering student completing the Integrated Product Development program that best demonstrates a propensity for entrepreneurship and a capability to perform.
Rationale
Economic and job growth is perpetually fueled through the design, manufacture and sales of new products and technology. More than a century of America’s economic success was built upon the backs of entrepreneurship and manufacturing. That spirit has lost its way not because of a lack of capital, a global economy or even a lack of entrepreneurs, but a lack of those with the skills, vision and will to bring new manufactured products to market.
Manufacturing is vital to the United States economy. While fixing existing manufacturing resources is essential to survival, the fuel for new growth is the manufacturing of new processes, products and technologies. Manufacturing is responsible for 62% of all exports and 67% of all R&D, both major factors in the long-term economic success of a nation. $1.00 spent in manufacturing creates an additional $1.43 economic output outside of manufacturing, whereas that same dollar in service yields only $0.71.
Decades ago, it was simply enough to build a better product and success would follow. Today, due to increasingly complex dynamics in markets and within companies, more is needed – not just individuals, but teams; not just engineers, but marketing and finance; not just will and spirit, but opportunity; and not just intelligence, but guts.
The scholarship is created in support of this mission with the goal of encouraging this direction within the student body of Lehigh University and with the hopes that other universities will follow.
History
Donald Flinchbaugh was not a Lehigh graduate nor was he even a college graduate. But from what he learned in his career he successfully built manufacturing businesses which provided many jobs for people and also provided for one of his two sons, James D. Flinchbaugh, ’65, to Lehigh who in turn sent his grandson, James W. Flinchbaugh, ’94, to Lehigh.
This practice of starting businesses to manufacture products extends throughout the family history beginning with Donald’s father, Frederick Flinchbaugh, who founded The Flinchbaugh Mfg. Co. in 1898 to design and build engines for farming and agricultural applications.
Frederick’s sons continued the tradition, including Weldon who invented hydraulic equipment to test the nose cone of the Apollo spacecraft and cars with the first four-wheel hydraulic brakes and rotating headlamps. Donald founded companies such as Flinchbaugh Products, a defense contractor still in business owned by a large defense firm, and Flinchbaugh Engineering, Inc..
Donald had two sons, James D. Flinchbaugh (Jim), engineer and entrepreneur, and John Flinchbaugh, attorney. Jim (Lehigh 1965) ran Weldon Machine Tool for 25 years creating the first CNC grinder and winning two R&D100 awards for advances in machine tool technology and also co-founded Flinchbaugh Engineering, Inc. Jim had two sons, James W. Flinchbaugh (Jamie), engineer and entrepreneur, and Michael E. Flinchbaugh, English and Journalism teacher. Jamie (Lehigh 1994) co-founded Rev! Motorcycles which acquired and now operates as Cobra Motorcycles, a manufacturer of youth high-performance race motorcycles and also co-founded the Lean Learning Center, a national consulting and education firm for a wide range of industries.