Page 84 - Innovation Delaware 2019

JOE ARSENAULT
Manufacturing has always been a driver of Co-founders Zachary Larimore and Paul Parsons met
Delaware’s economy. But where the industry used to be dominated by a few major players such as DowDuPont and W.L. Gore, today’s
manufacturing landscape looks a lot more diverse.
Some of the newer additions include Mishimoto, which
makes performance auto parts used on racing circuits around the world, and DEAct, which makes bags that allow users to safely dispose of opioids.
DEAct also illustrates another trend: Some of Delaware’s most innovative manufacturers tend to intersect with other key industries in the state, such as chemistry and biosciences.
Take Agilent Technologies, a leader in in life sciences, diagnostics and applied chemicals. Or Chemours, which is the world’s largest producer of titanium dioxide.
Another promising startup, Mobtown Offroad in Harrington, makes after-market Toyota truck add-ons, using engineering principles. “We don’t just make an attractive product — we make one that is fully functional, and you never have to worry about breaking it,” says Owner Joe Arsenault. “We’ve only been in business four years, but we’re on order number 10,000 at
this point. ... We test all our products on our personal vehicles and in real-world situations. Once we finally agree that we can’t make it any better than it is, then we sell them.”
Newark’s DeLUX Engineering, another startup, has already landed several government contracts. The company uses a process known as additive manufacturing, meaning different materials are joined under computer control, then printed as a three-dimensional object.
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when both were working in U.S. Army research labs. Later, they attended the University of Delaware, where they realized there was a need for an organization that could prove out whether additive manufacturing made sense for products that government agencies and private-sector companies need.
In addition to offering proofs of concept for clients, DeLUX Engineering produces components that can be helpful to defense agencies, says Larimore. Those include exceptionally powerful Luneberg lenses, which allow satellite dishes to send and receive signals in all directions, as opposed to just one. “If you have 30 or 40 satellite dishes on a roof or in a field, you could replace them all with a single device and save a bunch of money or real estate,” says Larimore.
DeLUX Engineering currently has seven employees, four of whom are full-time. While the founders are wary of growing too quickly, he says, “we have more [potential clients] coming to us than we can support, so we’re actively looking for more good researchers in this area.”
A STRONG TRADITION
Many Delaware manufacturers have been going strong
for decades. Georgetown’s ALOFT AeroArchitects has been making specialty aviation components in Delaware since 1998. ILC Dover emerged in the 1940s from the breakup of the International Latex Corporation and today makes everything from space suits to tunnel plugs that help mitigate the effects
of flooding. MillerMetal Fabrication, in Bridgeville, deploys cutting-edge technologies to produce machined products, while
JUSTIN HEYES/MOONLOOP PHOTOGRAPHY