Developing profitable new products and processes is the major mission of corporate laboratories. Professors justify their research grants aimed at developing new knowledge by describing how the research can eventually result in new products and processes to create new business, improve health, or protect the environment. Government labs justify their research in the same way.

In order to ensure that products going into the market meet the highest standards, many manufacturing companies have a designated division that tests the quality of its material. Brian Newell heads one such division.