Category: Company News

Liquid Controls (LC) recently expanded its LC Salutes series to include new videos honoring career fuelers, drivers, and ground support agents who use LC products on a daily basis and have dedicated their careers to safe, on-time fueling, rain or shine.

LC develops products that solve mission critical problems for customers in the oil and gas custody transfer business. Industries like LPG, home heating oils, refined fuels and commercial and military aviation depend on Liquid Controls to safely sense, measure and move high value fluids and fuels.

LC Salutes honors the hard-working men and women in the fueling industry, recognizing them as real people with real lives who make strong personal commitments to their jobs and the customers they serve while keeping the world fueled.  

To see the documentaries and learn more about LC Salutes, visit:  www.LCmeter.com/LCsalutes

Or visit the LC Salutes playlist on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7RHMlRKkhw&list=PLeb5htP-Z2dfpfpEmCVN-yjlMscphedr0

New York Lt. Governor Kathy Hochul joined IDEX Chairman and CEO Andy Silvernail and other leaders for the official opening of the IDEX Health & Science Center of Excellence in Rochester, NY, on Monday, November 12.

The new 100,000-square-foot facility brings together IDEX Life Science Optics, Scientific Fluidics and Optical Technologies businesses, creating a highly differentiated platform to better serve the life science, semiconductor and defense markets.

The new Center of Excellence includes IDEX Health & Science’s Semrock and Melles Griot Rochester – which specializes in optical filters, lenses, shutters, and optical assemblies – as well as the manufacturing operations of its Melles Griot Carlsbad, CA business – which specializes in laser light sources and integrated optical systems.

Melles Griot has already moved into the facility. Semrock is scheduled to move in next year.

Check out this short video of the festivities. https://embed.vidyard.com/share/6AuApdwgk8mPmpJjiJbxbh

Champions of the European Women’s Network (EWN) descended upon Matcon in Worchester, England, on Nov. 6 to discuss the achievements, challenges and hopes for the network in 2019, along with inclusion and diversity in general.

Helping women to achieve excellence and reach their full potential is a key objective of the EWN, which enables European women to connect with colleagues at all levels of seniority.  Members of EWN include Anita Sogi, Eric Streets, Vice President of Inclusion and Diversity Christal Morris, Siobhan Wood, Kathryn Perry, Lindsey Smithson, and Chief Human Resources Officer Jeff Bucklew.

The Network proudly facilitates discussion between colleagues from a variety of backgrounds and business units, many of whom would not normally encounter each other through their usual duties.  Promoting equal opportunities for and challenging unconscious bias against all minorities (not just women) are some of the ways the EWN contributes to the Inclusion & Diversity conversation at IDEX.

The fledgling group of volunteers has achieved some great things since its inception, such as receiving over 600 pledges on International Women’s Day 2018 to #PressforProgress (beating the 2017 record of 250!) and creating and maintaining an active Yammer group.

Following up on this success, EWN is now looking to develop the group further, with a focus in 2019 on exploring a mentoring plan and expanding membership.

The group is now seeking new members from all walks of life.  Membership is not limited to women; EWN already has some men!  We only ask that members have an interest in fostering an inclusive environment for all employees, including minorities.

More than two dozen IDEX leaders from China and India gathered last week at our manufacturing facility in Suzhou, near Shanghai, to participate in Emerging Markets Leadership Workshop. This was the third week of a nine-month training experience led by IDEX leaders.

“I was so impressed with the level of talent assembled in Suzhou last week,” said Mark Bishop, who leads the IDEX Academy as Director of Talent Development. “By providing new tools and openly sharing our unique perspectives, everyone was able to refine their thinking building great teams to expand IDEX’s growth and prosperity throughout India and China.”

The Emerging Markets Leadership workshop was led in partnership with IDEX Academy team, with the goal of continuing to develop this outstanding team. 

IDEX welcomed 40 high-caliber collegiate candidates to its headquarters in Lake Forest, IL, this week as part of our investment in building a diverse IDEX talent pipeline across engineering, supply chain, finance and human resources.   

Many of this year’s candidates are referrals from the inaugural cohort, which speaks highly of their experiences across IDEX, which is committed to building diverse, cross-functional talent.

The program is designed to attract and grow graduates in roles with significantly increased responsibility. May 2019 will represent the second collegiate cohort. Candidates selected will receive opportunities ranging from summer internships to rotational full-time opportunities at IDEX businesses around the country.

Candidates traveled from universities nationwide including Iowa State, Dartmouth, University of Texas, Western Michigan, Ohio State, University of Illinois, University of Minnesota and more to meet with IDEX executives who tested their decision-making, collaboration and team-building skills. During the event, candidates also participated in problem solving simulations and had the opportunity to speak one-on-one with IDEX leaders from across the country. 

Of eight top emerging fire service technologies highlighted by Fire Apparatus & Emergency Equipment magazine in October, half are made possible by IDEX Fire & Safety companies.  The article is recognition of the significant innovations our companies are making to bring new solutions to fire service customers.

Featured first, the Captium^TM connected vehicle platform brings controls from electronics across the fire truck together into a single system. Working with Microsoft, our developers also created an application so fire truck data is captured in the cloud, where it can be later analyzed using a specialized dashboard.

“We developed a new piece of hardware to be the backbone of the system, essentially the central brain for all the different vehicle networks, like the pumps, valves, pressure governor, engine, and multiplex network, which all plug into the brain,” IDEX Marketing Manager Jeffrey Zook told the magazine.

The article also features AXIS Smart Truck Technology, which is built on the Captium platform and engineered specifically for REV Fire and several of their fire apparatus brands.

Another technology enabled by Captium is HAAS Alert, which sends alerts to users of the Waze app, alerting them that emergency equipment is on the scene nearby or approaching on the road.

The article also features Phantom Controls’ Scene Apparatus Manager (SAM), a fully-automated fire pump system operated by a touch screen on an emergency vehicle or from a tablet. Phantom Controls is a unit of IDEX Fire & Safety.

“SAM is connected to the same electronic network that has always been on fire trucks, talks to this network, and makes the same changes a real person would if they were standing at the pump panel,” Phantom Control’s Business Line Leader Jason Cerrano told the magazine.

Check out the article here: https://www.fireapparatusmagazine.com/articles/print/volume-23/issue-10/features/emerging-technologies-being-incorporated-in-the-fire-service.html

Akron Brass marked its 100^th Anniversary this month with an open house for families, friends, retirees, and community members.

The company offered facility tours, showcasing a vintage collection of firefighting equipment, including antique fire trucks, and provided educational smokehouse demonstrations for kids. In addition to demonstrations, local fire departments competed in a water barrel competition, where teams of firefighters focus their water spray on a barrel suspended from a wire, trying to push it across an opposing team’s goal line. Apple Creek Fire Department took home the top prize.

An estimated 800-1,000 people attended the four-hour celebration at Akron Brass headquarters in Wooster, Ohio, The event included a wood-fired pizza fire truck, homemade ice cream, balloon twisting, and more. 

The 100-year planning committee, led by Corporate Communications & Event Manager Kim Morrow, was very pleased with the support they received from employees, the community, state and local politicians and IDEX.

Chief Operations Officer Eric Ashleman shared his electric guitar skills recently as he challenged corporate employees to a rock ‘n’ roll version of “Name That Tune.”

Employees gathered in teams to guess the song as Eric played over 20 songs, mostly classic rock hits. The songs included Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the Water”, ACDC’s “Thunderstruck” and Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven”.

Take a look at the recap video to see Eric’s skills!

 

When NASA launched a new satellite last month to study the effects of climate change, nearly 500 highly sensitive optics from IDEX’s Advanced Thin Films (ATF) were on board.

Now orbiting the earth, the ICESat-2 satellite is using seven lasers, combined with the ATF sensors, to measure how the height and thickness of ice sheets, glaciers and sea ice are changing over time. The ICESat-2 satellite promises to give scientists more precise measurements than ever before.

The ATF optics are part of a system called ATLAS, or Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System, which can monitor changes within four millimeters. Boulder, CO-based ATF worked for six years on the NASA project.

“The ATF team is proud to be part of groundbreaking NASA missions that provide information about our changing planet,” Chief Technologist Dr. Darren Berns said. “We continue to look for opportunities where our internal process development aligns well with the needs of the scientific community – particularly where our contributions follow our corporate ethos of “Trusted Solutions, Improving lives.”

While focused on changes to the polar ice caps – the cryosphere – the satellite will also measure other regions of the earth. Findings are expected to lead to better forecasts of rising sea levels.

“With this mission we continue humankind’s exploration of the remote polar regions of our planet and advance our understanding of how ongoing changes of Earth’s ice cover at the poles and elsewhere will affect lives around the world, now and in the future,” Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, said in a statement.

To see more about the ICESat-2 satellite, check out this NASA video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQg5ov6zths

 

The XSmart Paint Color Dispenser now has new features that allow the operator to control the machine with a mobile app.

Fast & Fluid Management initially developed the XSmart for Asian markets where customers expressed a need for a cost effective tinting machine to meet the needs of rapidly growing population of consumers with a desire for colored paints.

Since then, customers have asked Fast & Fluid to develop a mobile solution for the XSmart to replace desktop computer controls.

Conventional paint color dispensers are designed to be controlled and operated using desktop computers and laptops equipped with Fast & Fluid’s PrismaPro operating software. Rapid developments in mobile hardware platforms and software have allowed mobile devices to perform an increasing number of complex computing tasks.

Fast & Fluid developed a mobile application called “Prisma-RT” where RT stands for Remote Technology. Together with Fast & Fluid’s supporting hardware: “Wireless Konnect Kit,” the new software enables end-users to operate our dispensers using their personal mobile devices, including phones and tablets.

IOT (Internet of Things) technology will also enable real time support on such things as color database updates without expensive visits by service engineers to update databases on site at the paint shop. At the same time our mobile dispensing software will save the cost of procuring expensive conventional PC’s or laptops, allowing users to use their existing smartphone or tablet.

Fast & Fluid has released the first version of Prisma-RT to Asian Paints, which operates on Android platform devices. The first version of Prisma-RT has all the necessary functionality to operate the dispenser, such as the formula book, dispensing, filling canisters, saving customer details, adjusting dispense, manual dispense, and pricing.

Fast & Fluid global and local cross-functional teams made it possible to release the first version of Prisma-RT in Q3 2018. The company has also already installed several Prisma-RT demos at customer sites across Asia. Fast & Fluid intends to continue adding more customers to this growing list across the entire region.

At this stage Prisma-RT is only offered for the X-Smart but work is already in progress to make it available for the X-PROTINT & iNSPiRE as well as the iOS platform, with added functionality through Phase 2 of the project.