There’s a good chance that if you are a snacker, you have tasted a ‘popped’ chip. These snacks can be sweet, savory, or salty bites derived from corn, rice, potato, chickpeas or other combinations of starches. The starches are formed into micro pellets, which are then “popped” using high temperature and pressure to create snack ‘chips’. Since no frying or baking is required, a popped snack gives the impression of being a healthier choice. While that’s a discussion for another time, we do know that the snack business is expected to grow steadily as consumers look for variety in their snack options. Competition among producers for space in the snack aisle is fierce. With that, the equipment needed to produce a quality product to meet that demand is critical. Currently, most of the equipment manufacturers are located in Europe or Asia.
Sigma Design’s Engineered Solution
A local U.S. business contacted Sigma Design Company to inquire about manufacturing a better pop machine, here in the U.S. The company was finding it difficult to meet demand with their existing machinery and was desperate for design improvements. This project required the type of unique and custom problem-solving solutions for which Sigma Design Company is known. The Sigma team knew their design experience would create a machine with improved operator access and result in cycle time reduction, increased chip output, and reduced changeover time. After many months of discussion and hammering out the details, the customer was still reluctant to take that ‘leap of faith’. We get it. Companies come to Sigma Design Company to solve difficult and confounding design problems. Each one is a custom project and often not easy. Convinced that the snack machine had potential, Jerry Lynch, owner of Sigma Design Company said we seem to be at a stand-off here, let’s make this machine even though the customer was not yet all in and prove we have the skills they need.
Hydraulic Power Unit
Pop Chip Dies
Testing has begun on the newly completed “Chip Popping Press”, a single station, self-contained, hydraulically and pneumatically driven heated food press. The press is designed to produce different sized triangular and circular shaped chips by easily changing die packs and dosing plates.
It’s time for a follow up snack chat with our customer!
In her third collaboration with Sigma Design Company, ceramics artist Rebecca Manson created “Crowded Bed”, a landscape sculpture featuring a riot of delicate, ceramic flowers balanced upon graceful, metal branches made from tubular stainless steel. Each stem was torched, twisted, and arched to replicate its fluidity in nature. Every flower was hand crafted by Manson, with each one displaying amazing botanical detail. Working with Sigma Design Company’s fabrication team, the artist spent hours placing over 300 delicate ceramic blossoms on the stems. The team worked on creating a sense of movement within the sculpture, replicating the way plants will move with a breeze or turn toward the sun.
The sculpture was a custom creation for the winery, Donum Estate in Sonoma, California, The prestigious Donum Collection is one of the world’s largest accessible private sculpture collections.
Manson worked with the landscape architects at Donum to build a fluid relationship between its context (the cutting garden) and the sculpture. Donum is all about bringing together wine, nature, and art. “The wine enhances the art, the art enhances the wine, with nature being the backbone of the whole experience. To me this piece is all about the senses, and Donum is truly the perfect home for it”, says Manson.
So how does an artist get from concept to fabrication? Manson called Sigma Design Company. When asked how working with Sigma helped her overall practice as an artist, Manson replied, “It’s been an incredibly rewarding collaboration. It’s liberating and empowering to incorporate logic and scientific thinking into my practice. Mystery can lead to anxiety when I’m figuring out new things, sometimes. Sigma helps me to unlock the mysteries and therefore feel much more in control.”
Creating enough structural strength without sacrificing movement was an artistic and engineering challenge. Continuous testing of the stems; their geometry, and their ability to hold varying weights of blooms was one such ‘mystery’ that Sigma Design Company was able to solve for the artist.
From industrial design to art fabrication, let Sigma Design Company be your one stop engineering design and fabrication partner! Links to 2 other projects by the artist:
Sigma Design Company has extensive experience in designing, developing, optimizing, and manufacturing equipment for clients in the demanding Ag-tech and Food Processing industries. Whether you are looking for a solution aimed at the fast-growing ag-tech indoor vertical farms sector, or developing a product for the food processing industry, Sigma will leverage our years of experience to take your concept from an idea to finished product – on time and on budget.
Sigma Design collaborated with a multinational food and beverage giant to develop a nutrient dosing system for their newly developed indoor hydroponic agriculture farm. We used our extensive background in fluid handling systems across many industries to perfect a water and nutrient dosing system in a well-packaged and well-engineered skid to fit the final dimensional layout required at their facilities. Pumps were selected after Sigma Design reviewed components suggested by our customer; our background helped us optimize some components to better fit expected operating conditions. Services Performed: Fluid handling skid design, component selection and optimization, metal fabrication, hydrostatic pressure testing, design optimization.
When you are developing new products, details matter. That’s when you might need a team of professionals to help. At Sigma Design Company, a One-Stop Design, Engineering, and Manufacturing resource, we are known for precision in the fabrication of new products. One glance at our well-equipped welding workspace or the machining station tells the story of our commitment to precision, quality, and working through those challenging details. With over 1,000 completed projects, we have assembled a team with a wide variety of skills and competencies. We’re told that it is the variety of projects that keeps the work interesting to our team, and with that interest comes creativity. Our customers rely on that creativity to forge solutions to their product challenges.
We recognize that interesting, creative work must also be supported by training and investments in technology. We have invested in training and certifying our welding team. Our welders are AWS and ASME certified for GTAW, SMAW, GMAW welding of aluminum, stainless steel, and carbon steel. Recently Sigma invested in updating its welding technologies in order to produce high end fabricated products for our customers.
To see the results of our investments in action, please view the following fabrication video. The careful application of honed skills and a look at the final product are worth watching until the end!
Novel, new products are conceived, designed, engineered, and manufactured – right here in the USA – at Sigma Design Company’s 20,000 sq ft. corporate, state of the art facility in Middlesex, New Jersey.
NJ Manufacturers Continue to Look for Ways to Compete Across the Globe Despite Challenges New and Old.
By Jim Pytell, Managing Editor • From the March 2022 issue of New Jersey Business Magazine
The manufacturing industry has deep historical roots that run throughout New Jersey. In fact, while it is known as the Garden State, New Jersey is actually home to what was the first planned industrial city in America: Paterson. As such, the state played a key role in the start of the American Industrial Revolution, and to this day, manufacturing is still a vital part of New Jersey’s economic prowess.
Home to more than 9,000 manufacturing businesses, including some 2,000 more when considering its STEM and engineering firms, New Jersey’s manufacturing industry employs nearly 340,000 residents, according to data from the New Jersey Manufacturing Extension Program (NJMEP). Additionally, in 2021, the industry contributed $54.4 billion, or nearly 10%, to the state’s GDP. However, while manufacturers in New Jersey were deemed essential businesses at the start of the pandemic two years ago, they were not immune to the challenges brought on and amplified by COVID-19.
“Collaboration and participation will be essential for any business looking to grow [in 2022],” says John Kennedy, CEO of NJMEP. “As supply chain disruptions, cyberthreats, workforce shortages, and financial pressures remain, only the strategic, productive and efficient will thrive.”
Supply Chain
One of the newest and most significant challenges that manufacturers face today is the disruption to the supply chain.
Kennedy says that manufacturers will likely need to prepare for a year where supply chain disruptions remain constant until at least the latter half of 2022, with US Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo being quoted in November saying that US supply chains will take “some number of months” to normalize.
“We are no different than anyone else,” says Gerard Lynch, CEO of Middlesex-based Sigma Design Company. “We have seen delays, specifically on electronics and automated components that are almost exclusively made in Asia. They have gone from two-to-four week delivery cycles to 24-plus week delivery cycles.”
Lynch adds that last year, Sigma even lost two separate million dollar specialty food equipment development projects solely due to lead times out of its control.
“Those were body blow punches,” he says. “We are now spending a lot more time on expediting purchase orders and anticipating project needs. We are even taking the risk of building increased inventory levels on some of the long lead items such as programmable logic controllers and touch screens, for example, in order to have a buffer stock.”
At the beginning of the pandemic, some manufacturers decided to take matters into their own hands when items such as personal protective equipment (PPE) and hand sanitizer were in high demand.
Chris Gallo, general manager of Linden-based Phillips 66 Bayway Refinery,says that the company’s on-site refinery lab began producing its own sanitizer solution to help keep employees safe until external supplies were made available.
“More recently, we had difficulties getting a chemical component needed for the making of polypropylene, an in-demand polymer resin we produce at Bayway that is actually used in COVID-19 PPE. Again, our workforce was resourceful, and an alternate supplier was found, allowing for production to continue uninterrupted,” Gallo says. “We have [continued to] work to find alternative supply sources for supply-constrained products that are needed for our refinery operations.”
Workforce Development
Kennedy explains that a lack of industry engagement over the years and a culture that steered students away from exploring industrial careers created a skills gap in manufacturing, one that could result in 2.1 million unfilled US manufacturing jobs by 2030, according to a 2021 study by Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute.
He says that manufacturers must begin getting creative about how they invest in training, recruiting and retention.
“We want to grow, and [to do so] we need to find talent,” Lynch adds.
He says that Sigma Design works with NJMEP and vo-tech training to find and train machinists and welders who go to school while also receiving on the job training via “learn while you earn.” The company has also worked with Stevens Institute of Technology for more than 15 years via co-ops with its engineering program.
“At Bayway, we regularly recruit from major universities for our professional positions such as, for example, chemical, civil, mechanical and electrical engineers. Additionally, we hire maintenance and operations personnel for jobs that do not require 4-year degrees,” Gallo adds. “We work in cooperation with various trade schools, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst and Middlesex County College’s Process Technology program to look for the best candidates.”
Conclusion
“The biggest challenge for us as a Northeast refiner is staying competitive relative to other US and international refineries,” Gallo says. “Refineries in this region face higher labor costs, and ever-increasing legislative constraints in an already highly regulated industry.”
He adds that New Jersey has historically been supportive of manufacturing operations, with regulators helpful to companies with permit requirements and compliance.
“It’s no secret New Jersey has high taxes and environmental regulations that are more stringent than most other states,” Gallo continues. “We support policies that balance economic, environmental and energy security needs, [but] we would also like to see the state focus on regulatory solutions that fit our specific New Jersey manufacturing situations.”
Nationally, the America COMPETES Act of 2022, which at press time has passed in the House, could be a critical boost to manufacturing across the country, and help bolster the international competitiveness of US companies.
The bill aims to increase US competitiveness across the globe, specifically with China, and to address the country’s shortage of semiconductors by strengthening the country’s supply chain.
Lynch calls the bill a “hot ticket for manufacturing.”
Overall, manufacturers will continue to need to be proactive in how they handle tackling the various issues they face today.
Evolution is key.
“Supply chain disruptions, inflation and a turbulent workforce are all going to be critical factors that will determine if a business can succeed,” Kennedy says. “Without evolving, a manufacturing operation will not be able to continue growing.”
Sigma Design was recently awarded the Gold Hire Vets Medallion award from the United States Department of Labor. It is the only veteran employment award at the federal level that is presented to companies that hire and retain veterans as a certain percentage of their workforce.
A national commitment to recruiting and employing veterans is an initiative that the whole country can get behind. Manufacturing roles offer opportunities for veterans who learned skilled trades while serving in the armed forces is a win-win for both veterans as well as American manufacturing.
Our focus on hiring veterans starts at the top with our founder, Jerry Lynch, who served in the US Navy onboard a destroyer in the Pacific. This has led to our company valuing the experience brought to our team by veterans. Sigma believes that the training and experience obtained by veterans make them desirable candidates for the civilian workplace. They are typically well disciplined and have a clear understanding of the importance of accountability and honesty, as well as an approach to the workplace with the sense of a mission.
Sigma Design is proud of our commitment to hiring veterans. We will stay committed to this important program into the future, as our growth will require the addition of highly skilled and highly motivated talent. We are deeply honored to receive this recognition!
Testing and validating product is of paramount importance no matter what industry you are in, and this often requires specialized equipment and processes. When it comes to industrial lubricants, it is critical to ensure that these products will provide the advertised level of protection for the equipment to which they will be applied. Viscosity is a key metric specifically for lubricants, which is defined as a measure of a fluid’s resistance to deformation at a given rate. In simple terms, viscosity is a fluid’s “thickness”. This can get complicated when it comes to lubricants in high friction applications such as an automotive engine or a turbine spindle. As heat rises due to friction, a lubricant’s viscosity, and thus its wear protection, will decrease. Knowing how effective your grease will be at room temperature and in operation is critical for manufacturers and consumers alike. Sigma Design recently developed a lubricant test machine for a global petroleum company, one of our valued customers, to measure changes in viscosity of grease over a several hour-long trial. This rotating equipment is loaded with large, greased bearings and spun at several hundred RPM. The equipment is designed to measure the resistance of the grease between a driven top-half and idler bottom-half of the bearing chamber. The resulting force is displayed on a simple and reliable analog gauge that can be viewed and logged throughout the test. Our equipment provides a simple solution to a crucial need. Sigma Design has developed and built analytical, testing and validation equipment for dozens of our customers across a wide variety of industries. From consumer product testing to cellular research, Sigma Design has been a valued and trusted manufacturing partner of equipment for over 20 years.
Trade shows are a great avenue for networking and getting in front of potential customers, and Sigma Design was pleased to attend the Mid-Atlantic Design-2-Part show in Oaks, PA on October 20-21. This is a great event connecting manufacturers and suppliers for the Mid-Atlantic region of the US. Design-2-Part does a great job facilitating these events and has trade shows throughout the year in various locations.
We were able to get in front of potential customers and present everything Sigma has to offer at our booth. It was a great success and led to some connections for future work. In addition to meeting prospective clients looking for help with their design and manufacturing, we were able to speak with potential vendors about the unique needs that we often run into.
These regional shows are an outstanding support mechanism for American manufacturing and small businesses. A special thanks goes out to the whole crew at Design-2-Part Shows and Part Gurus!
Your job, your life has probably never been as stressful as it is today. For over 20 years, Sigma Design Company has relieved our customers’ stress by delivering products on-time and on-budget without sacrificing quality. A one-stop engineering and manufacturing specialist that knows the hidden hazards that stall projects and bust budgets.
Visit Sigma Design at Booth 319 Mid-Atlantic Design-2-Part Show October 20 & 21, 2021 Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, PA
Manufacturing Services is one of the core components of our company. Our Professional Services Team includes design engineers and Licensed Professional Engineers, certified welding technicians, electro-mechanical technicians and customer quality care specialists. Our team works collaboratively with you to bring reliable, well-engineered products to market faster and at higher margins. Learn More.
Our Manufacturing Services Include:
• Electrical control: panel building services in accordance UL 508A • Welding services: ASME Section IX and AWS D1.1 structural steel, stainless steel, and aluminum certified welders • Assembly, start-up and operational testing services for complex machines • Build to print
Learn More About Manufacturing3
Our 3-step process identifies potential roadblocks upfront so actual manufacturing is easier to manage, measure, more reliable and on time. Our multi-designer review puts more experienced eyes on a project to ensure better results. We handle every step, from bench tests to pilot testing or full-scale production, to ensure the highest quality product. Our customers tell us we typically reduce their time-cycles by 30% over our competitors.
Take 5 minutes to visit our booth (319). See how Manufacturing3 could apply to you. Can we help identify any hidden potential pitfalls? Shortcuts to speed time-to-market? Give us an opportunity to prove our value. Looking forward to meeting you next week.
Customer: SGS Testing Laboratories Industry: Health and Life Science
Test Stand for Face Masks In response to an uptick in requests fueled by the COVID-19 pandemic, a testing laboratory asked Sigma Design Company to design and manufacture a Bacterial Filtration Efficiency (B.F.E) test stand to measure a face masks efficiency at removing virus particulates from the air. Based upon two standards, ASTM F2101-19 and EN 14683:2019+AC, Sigma designed and built an automatically controlled test stand consisting of a control panel, hmi, filter apparatus, and test stand base upon which a commercially sourced lab hood was placed. Working with the standards and customers expert knowledge, Sigma sourced and created custom unique components of a high laboratory cleanliness to create the testing apparatus.
