Produces items ranging from dress and combat clothing to heavy duty equipment and ballistic items. In the design shop there are a number of state-of-the-art machines that are used to create high quality, factory producible items, e.g., ultrasonic cutter, computerized single needle, industrial bartack, keyhole and straight buttonhole, fusing machine, seam sealing machine and pressing equipment.
Welds urethane and other thermoplastic type materials in any shape for either inflatable or waterproof seam applications. The welding and seam tape machine can seal in circular shapes or with other designs and has option to apply seam tape over seams.
All-Fill Piston Filler and Food Yield Quantifier - Measures semi-solid food matrices to specific volumetric/gravimetric quantities for pilot scale food productions.
Dough Sheeter - Automatically or manually rolls out various types of bread, pizza dough, and pastries to a predetermined thickness, utilizing a stepped rolling mechanism to gently reduce the thickness of the dough with or without imparting excessive shearing forces.
High-Temperature/Short Time Extruder - Uses screw conveyors in which a dough/grain mass is conveyed along a barrel toward a perforated die plate. As it is conveyed, the dough is "cooked" and textured by a combination of shear, friction, and pressure. Food extruders are used to produce breakfast cereals, pasta, pet food, and a variety of puffed snacks.
Impingement Oven (Pizza Oven) - Cooks two to four times faster than conventional ovens by surrounding the food with small jets of hot air while moving the product through the oven chamber via a chain conveyor.
Meat Processing Chamber - Is a temperature regulated chamber that provides an environment for various types of meat production to include cutting, grinding, pureeing, flaking, and vacuum infusion.
Rheon Encruster - Co-extrudes dough and filling into various shapes (e.g., spherical, bar, and cylindrical) to create fully enrobed sweet or savory items (sandwiches, pies, and cookies). Product weight, filling, dough ratio, and length are flexible. Optional devices such as a solid feeder and double filling feeder are also available.
Starch Research and Baking Area - Offers numerous ovens, proofers/retarders, and dough forming equipment to provide virtually everything required for standard R&D and small scale productions for a variety of baked items.
Retorts - Provide dependable thermal processing and validation of all in-house productions utilized for product development efforts and field testing. Both steam and steam/water retorts are coupled with validator systems.
Nordenmatic Tube Filler and Sealer Machines - Are used in the annual production of highly specialized tube foods for the U.S. Air Force. These unique, special purpose rations provide shelf stable, nutritious components (entrées, fruits, puddings, and desserts) to meet the strict dietary requirements of pilots conducting demanding, high-altitude reconnaissance missions while fully encapsulated in pressurized flight suits. The Nordenmatic model NM400 is an automated aluminum tube filler/sealer used to fill and seal food product in aluminum tubes similar to those used for tooth paste applications. This apparatus is capable of filling and sealing up to 1,440 4.5-to-5.0-oz tubes per production run. Likewise, the Nordenmatic model NM250 is an automated plastic-laminate tube filler used to fill and seal food product in specialized plastic or laminate fabricated tubes. It can produce up to 800 4.5-to-5.0-oz tubes per production run.
Is used for electrochemical studies related to pulsed electric field processing and to genetic transfer experiments.
Removes moisture through sublimation, which directly converts water from a frozen state to a vapor. Removal of this unbound moisture is one of the most effective methods for producing a shelf stable product while retaining the product's inherent natural flavor and color.
Is a pressurized microwave system with electronic control of temperature and time for treatment of food materials and biological tissues.
Treats model food samples with electric current that induces heating patterns that mimic electrical circuits.
Isolates and produces target strains of "good" microorganisms and subsequently harvests various bacteriocins for use in food preservation research. Includes a vertical autoclave unit to ensure sterility of the fermentation vesicle.
High-Pressure Processing Unit - Studies the effects of pressures up to 80,000 psi and temperatures up to 70° C on food quality and microbial and enzymatic activity. The unit is lab scale with a 2-L capacity.
Avure PT-1 High-Pressure Kinetics Unit - Studies microbial spore inactivation kinetics at pressures up to 100,000 psi and temperatures over 100° C.
Provides a broad range of capabilities that incorporate the use of metal, wood, plastic, and composite materials. A high degree of precision is guaranteed with the use of the latest Computerized Numerically Controlled (CNC) machining and cutting equipment. A Computer Aided Design and Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAD/CAM) System will assist you with exact drawings and tight tolerances to ensure that the item will meet your needs. Capabilities include: