5 Axel Johnson Inventions
Here, we celebrate just a few of the countless innovations Axel Johnson companies have pioneered over the years—staples that are now ubiquitous in households, laboratories and factories around the globe.
Labratory Automation & Modularity by HighRes
Inventing new drugs is harder than ever. Only 12% pass FDA standards. And to even get that far demands finding a therapy in the first place, which only happens after processing millions of experiments. The labor involved is staggering, time-consuming and tedious. Over the years, robotics systems have been used to automate this process. They are faster and more adept at performing the same tasks at a rate of 100,000 samples per day (2,500 times more efficiently than human scientists). Yes, these are the same kinds of robots you might see used in a car manufacturing plant, and that versatility means they can do exceedingly delicate tasks, but also ones requiring tremendous dexterity. However, unlike the robotics supplied by other life science automation companies, High Res robots are modular, meaning they can be easily repositioned and reprogrammed to tackle a new task more quickly, like the development of a COVID vaccine and automation of testing. This ability to multitask is a key differentiator for HighRes. Which gets us to their final and most groundbreaking invention: modularity and mobility. A modlable setup that can be changed over time. Allowing scientists to design repeatable tasks in a circle, or cell so a robot can reach, touch, sample, fill and move every object in the cell around it — precisely. So the scientists can focus on the science. And the HighRes robots can do the things that enable that science.
Extruded Aluminum Tubing by Brazeway
If you drive a car, own a refrigerator or have an air conditioner that cools your home, there’s almost certainly something made in a Brazeway facility in your life. See, Brazeway makes something simple — cold air — and they make it better, and more cost effectively than the competition. Brazeway’s first quantum leap in cooling was figuring out how to use aluminum rather than copper tubing for the banks of coils you’ve probably seen inside your refrigerator or under the hood of your car. Compared to copper, aluminum is much less costly, lighter weight, and is infinitely recyclable making it the preferred choice of manufacturers. Over time, Brazeway leapfrogged the initial breakthrough by scaling down the structure of their heat exchangers, lowering weight and material costs while dramatically increasing efficiency. In 1960, they created the dog-bone style evaporator, now known globally as the Brazeway-style evaporator. In 2015, they invented the eco7 evaporator—the most efficient, lowest profile evaporator in the world.
Lamella Clarifier and DynaSand Filter by Parkson
Originally envisioned in the early ‘60s by two men, Palmason, and Parks of Parker Pen Fame, Parkson (the combination of the two aforementioned names) was acquired by Axel Johnson Inc. in 1967. Parker provided the capital and Palmason the (largely unsuccessful) idea; which was selling evaporators to the orange farming industry. It wasn’t until the Clean Water Act passed in 1972, that Parks Souther, the company’s first CEO and visionary, had his a-ha moment — the future was in the environmental field. And he was right. Invented by a research foundation funded by Axel Johnson in 1971, the Lamella® became the original inclined plate clarifier. The inclined plate clarifier invented by the foundation works when a solid/liquid stream enters a tank and flows between a set of inclined plates. The solids fall to the settling area at the bottom, sliding into a sludge collection hopper. The clean water flows through holes and exits the top. By utilizing plates, the Lamella reduced required settling area by over 80%. This invention was poised to change the face of water treatment. With shared ties to Axel Johnson, Parks and the five original engineers assumed they would be granted the license to sell the Lamella — the foundation had reservations. After all, Parkson was operating out of a converted two-room gas station in Fort Lauderdale with a failing core business of selling evaporators and zero experience or brand recognition in the environmental space. But what they lacked in experience, they made up for in enthusiasm and determination. After a year of lobbying, the foundation reluctantly gave the selling rights to Parkson. Not only did this small six-person team go on to sell thousands of Lamellas, they repaired a major design flaw that would have rendered the clarifier unusable in North America. Paired with the DynaSand® filter invention of 1976 — an upflow, deep bed, granular media filter with continuous backwash — Parkson was able to lower energy consumption and forever change the face of wastewater treatment.
Spouted Packaging by Skjodt-Barrett
Back in 1985, the Skjodt family started making jams and jellies for retail bakeries. Fast forward nearly 40 years, and their small family business has grown into a 1,000-employee company at the forefront of the consumer packaged goods industry. Since pioneering re-sealable spouted pouch packaging in 2010 which has a >75% reduction in greenhouse gases over traditional formats, Skjodt-Barrett has partnered with a majority of the largest baby food brands in North America to bring this innovation to market. The company continues to drive its sustainability agenda by executing project specific to waste reduction, recycling and partnering with its suppliers to implement the next phase of environmentally friendly packaging.
Biomedical Devices by Fort Wayne Metals
Advances in technology and science are driving biomedical device firms to create smaller and more sophisticated applications for life-improving procedures. In response, Fort Wayne Metals has continued to exhibit their willingness to enhance their processing capabilities and to innovate material solutions to meet the growing demand of customers worldwide.
Revolutionizing the medical device industry over the past half-century has been the emergence of Nitinol, a useful alloy consisting of nickel and titanium. Fort Wayne Metals has dedicated considerable resources to capitalize on Nitinol’s mechanical properties and solve customers’ technical challenges. As a result, Fort Wayne Metals has developed advanced processes to customize Nitinol in a variety of ways to support customer-made devices like interventional guidewires, brain stents, embolic coils, flow diverters, and catheters to treat aneurysms, stroke, vascular disease, and more.
Additionally, Fort Wayne Metals has further modernized some of its already-groundbreaking products, like DFT® composite wire for example, by combining and enhancing its mechanical properties, such as fatigue life and conductivity, from dissimilar materials in a single wire system. This innovation can be leveraged at sizes barely visible to the human eye, creating strands of up to 37 wires with individual wire diameters five times thinner than the human hair, allowing it to fit inside countless tiny medical instruments and devices. DFT® composite wire is used in neuromodulation devices vital to the treatment of heart failure, Parkinson’s disease, and chronic pain.
Fort Wayne Metals is heavily invested in research and development to both improve and refine its existing products, and to find ways to advance materials performance capabilities, which can enable all new capabilities, including absorbable metals for enhanced healing, composite wires for enhanced imaging, shape memory compliant tires for space service, and other technologies.
Regardless of the idea, challenge, or project, Fort Wayne Metals is endlessly striving to help improve lives and drive medical device innovation across the globe.
To learn more about Fort Wayne Metals research and development projects, you can visit fwmetals.com/services/r-d/rd-update/previous-rd-updates/
Our Leadership
Scan QR code to watch video
2019 Annual Review
More Articles
Walk This Way
It acquires, develops, renovates, and manages communities within walking distance to major universities.
Read More
El efecto dominó
Desde el área de producción hasta las altas gerencias, las muchas caras de Axel Johnson acreditan el ascenso como una característica única de la compañía.
Read More
Brazeway Keeps Getting Cooler
Whether you drive a car, own a refrigerator or have an A/C that cools your home — Brazeway technology is making your life better.
Read More“There’s always a way to take the next step.”
—
Omar Gadalla,
Director of Sustainability & Corporate Communications
Explore
Our Businesses
Culture
About
© Axel Johnson, Inc. All rights reserved.