Consumer Products Division
The Consumer Products Division is a small but crucial entity within Nanite Systems. It was founded originally in 1986, by the efforts of Medical Division CEO April Voet and her long-time colleague Koichi Santei.
Dr. Voet's original vision for the department was in providing remote colonies with everyday goods where few other corporations had established presence. The company's dominance in military supply means that NS supply vehicles often know how to navigate warzones and other volatile regions where few other companies and NGOs dared to tread. Starting in the mid 1980s, the company began partnering with a wide range of businesses to bring their products to these areas, enriching and supporting isolated worlds. In January 1986, Dr. Voet proposed that many of the company's interests could be better served by internalizing development and offering a range of products derived from the existing wealth of ADRG, TPAG, FRG, and BSD research. After its founding in November of that same year, Dr. Voet led NSCP and NSMD simultaneously briefly, laying out a basic business plan for the fledgling department, before handing it over to Dr. Koichi Santei in January, 1987.
On two occasions, the CPD has been incorporated independently; from February 1989 to 1994, and from its revival in 2014 to the present day. From May 1994 to September 1997, all Consumer Products activities were managed centrally until the remaining supply contracts came to a conclusion.
Almost since its inception, the CPD's fortunes have been closely tied to the successes and failures of the SXD project, which originally started under the short-lived One Small Step Group and later continued under the Recreational Cybernetics Group. It was due to the market failure of the SXD that the CPD went bankrupt, and renewed interest in quasi-sentient humanoid robotics that led to its re-creation. The division is viewed to this day as a risky venture, however, hence its continued operation as an independent unit.
The new CPD maintains few other services of its cargo-hauling ancestor, although its outlets on more remote worlds continue to sell products and technologies derived from military research, such as the civilianized NS-115 Scout and NS-112 Aide.
Dr. Voet's original vision for the department was in providing remote colonies with everyday goods where few other corporations had established presence. The company's dominance in military supply means that NS supply vehicles often know how to navigate warzones and other volatile regions where few other companies and NGOs dared to tread. Starting in the mid 1980s, the company began partnering with a wide range of businesses to bring their products to these areas, enriching and supporting isolated worlds. In January 1986, Dr. Voet proposed that many of the company's interests could be better served by internalizing development and offering a range of products derived from the existing wealth of ADRG, TPAG, FRG, and BSD research. After its founding in November of that same year, Dr. Voet led NSCP and NSMD simultaneously briefly, laying out a basic business plan for the fledgling department, before handing it over to Dr. Koichi Santei in January, 1987.
On two occasions, the CPD has been incorporated independently; from February 1989 to 1994, and from its revival in 2014 to the present day. From May 1994 to September 1997, all Consumer Products activities were managed centrally until the remaining supply contracts came to a conclusion.
Almost since its inception, the CPD's fortunes have been closely tied to the successes and failures of the SXD project, which originally started under the short-lived One Small Step Group and later continued under the Recreational Cybernetics Group. It was due to the market failure of the SXD that the CPD went bankrupt, and renewed interest in quasi-sentient humanoid robotics that led to its re-creation. The division is viewed to this day as a risky venture, however, hence its continued operation as an independent unit.
The new CPD maintains few other services of its cargo-hauling ancestor, although its outlets on more remote worlds continue to sell products and technologies derived from military research, such as the civilianized NS-115 Scout and NS-112 Aide.