HARAHAN, LA — Fifty years ago, J.M. Lapeyre had a problem. How could he safely deliver shrimp to the automatic peeler he invented while eliminating the maintenance and downtime of traditional conveyor belting? A problem solver, Lapeyre invented the first modular plastic conveyor belt. This year, Intralox celebrates 50 years of bringing conveyance solutions to food processors, manufacturers and e-commerce companies with its year-long anniversary celebration.
Today, Intralox employs more than 2,500 team members around the world and is trusted by 60,000 customers in more than 100 countries. Its extensive portfolio of technologies and services is powered by a culture of continuous improvement, evident in its 1,500 patents around the world. These technologies enhance food safety, power logistics and solve challenges for Intralox customers.
“Innovation fuels our growth and success at Intralox, but at the heart of our company is our people and our shared values of honesty, integrity and respect,” said Edel Blanks, president of Intralox. “We have a long-term view of business that has allowed us to create successful customer partnerships for 50 years.”
“Innovation fuels our growth and success at Intralox, but at the heart of our company is our people and our shared values of honesty, integrity and respect,” said Edel Blanks, president of Intralox.
Major innovations and milestones include:
- Inventing the modular plastic conveyor belt in 1971, later patented in 1975.
- Laitram President Jay Lapeyre introducing the Laitram Business Philosophy in 1987, emphasizing continuous improvement, a belief in unlimited human potential, a focus on customer value and a “challenge culture” that promotes constructive disagreement in the pursuit of objectivity.
- Launching its direct-to-customer business model in 1990, giving customers immediate access to experts for questions about solutions and trends for their industry. Today, Intralox supports customers from 12 strategic global locations, allowing the company to offer more than 200,000 belt configurations with the one of the strongest guarantees in the industry. More than 99% of orders ship on time and accurately.
- Patenting the Roller Top belt in 2000, a major innovation for the tire and material handling industries. More than 10,000 Activated Roller Belt (ARB) conveyors have met the demand worldwide for efficient and reliable sorting, merging, turning and singulating. Intralox recently invested in facilities in Baltimore (2019) and Amsterdam (2020) to support the growing material handling industry.
- Partnering with Mol in 2008 to become the exclusive provider of ThermoDrive belts. Since then, Intralox opened an R&D center — the Intralox Center of Excellence for Food Safety and Hygiene — and ThermoDrive production centers in New Orleans (2019) and Amsterdam (2020) to enhance food safety quality for food producers around the world.
- Patenting the DirectDrive System in 2012 to enable food processors around the world to experience smooth and reliable performance in dwell-time applications.
- Acquiring Commercial Food Sanitation in 2012, bringing strategic consulting, expertise and training to food processing plants. Combined with Intralox FoodSafe belting, the Commercial Food Sanitation team helps customers achieve safety and operational goals.
- Expanding its global facilities from 2018–2020 in Australia, North America, Europe and China to accommodate product growth and customer demand.
“Our direct business model has created unique customer relationships for us based upon years of trust and continuous improvement,” Blanks said. “Our growth over the past 10 years has been amazing. I’m in awe of our employees in every aspect of our business, their passion and ideas for improving our products and business. I look forward to sharing and celebrating this milestone with our customers and employees throughout the year.”
For more information, visit www.intralox.com.