Good spot, my feeling on a lot of these companies is that the relationships are there, the contacts are there, the need is there, the want is there... but Sigma basically turned around and said 'listen, let's get the product sorted, lets really fine tune this incredibly complex, never been done before, ground breaking product and get it commercialized and then we will be back'. The selection of GE and Honeywell as the partners to refine, test and develop the technology were a very wise choice.
Without the product in top notch order there wasn't really much to gain from half heartedly pushing it out there, the system is too complex to have only half working, in fact that would have defeated the entire point of PR3D.
Now we look like we are on the edge of a reliable, working, predictive quality control IPQA machine, suddenly these old contracts/customers/contracts come in to play as they will now have access to a revolutionary technology in an industry changing product in which companies have to be proactive in addressing how to adapt, and quickly.
It makes sense to me. And it makes the potential commercialization even swifter once it comes.