Innovation in Southeast Louisiana: Intralox and TurboSquid Streamline Productivity Globally
Intralox and The Sweet Science of Conveying
Where clients see challenges along the assembly line, Intralox sees something else; opportunities for the innovative technology and delivery systems it builds. The Harahan, Louisiana, company has carved out an impressive niche in conveyance technology for a broad range of industries.
Intralox conveyance systems are used to make tires, wine, car parts, soda, french fries and candy. Customers include a Norwegian plumbing supply company and an English butter maker. The 2,000-plus Intralox employees include a customer service team that fields calls in 17 languages.
Intralox devices can run in heat or cold or with varying friction or angles. It makes spiraling systems, food-safe technology and space-saving equipment that sorts, merges and switches as it moves products along assembly lines.
We have a challenge culture of nonstop innovation.
Franck LaBiche//Human Resources Director, Intralox
Intralox conveyance systems are used to make tires, wine, car parts, soda, french fries, candy and more.
Company founder J.M. Lapeyre invented the modular-plastic belt in 1971, and the push for breakthroughs continues nearly half-a-century later. Intralox holds 1,222 global patents, and files 20 to 25 new U.S. patents each year.
Customer needs and internal research and development drive Intralox innovation. The company’s direct-sales model is integral to creating technology that fits the complex needs of clients.
Activated Roller Belt™ technology emerged from a customer having package-alignment issues, says John Landrum, Intralox vice president of innovation. For another industry, Intralox engineers are designing ways to make it easier to install conveyances correctly.
Innovation extends beyond technology. Intralox is known as a great place to work, where employees can save 2.5 hours in lost work time when they visit an onsite health center staffed by full-time nurse practitioners at the Harahan headquarters.
“We place importance on what adds value by improving productivity,” LaBiche says.
TurboSquid: A World Leader in 3D Models
TurboSquid is a world leader in 3D imaging, with its creations saving on average 27 hours in design time for their users.
New Orleans digital media firm TurboSquid operates the world’s biggest commercial library of 3D images, many so vivid it’s difficult to grasp they aren’t real.
Game designers, advertisers, news agencies, visual and special effects artists, and architects worldwide tap TurboSquid’s collection of 550,000-plus 3D images and models. A growing U.S. and global interactive media sector drives demand for the company’s array of digital creations. Subjects are as varied as skyscrapers, nerve cells, sea turtles, human hands, grasshoppers, superhero-style characters and other-worldly landscapes.
TurboSquid has become a world leader in 3D imaging, but its catalog of digital creations isn’t its only innovation.
The company’s open-marketplace sales model was itself revolutionary when the firm launched in 2000. The model was both new and straightforward. Any artist could upload a 3D model on TurboSquid’s site and sell it instantly over the internet.
Then as now, saving time is the appeal of the concept. On average, TurboSquid 3D images shave 27 hours off of design time for art consumers.
On average,
TurboSquid 3D images
save
in design time for
art consumers.
TurboSquid grew rapidly despite going into business just weeks before the dot-com crash. Today it has more than 3.5 million users, and some 42,000 artists contribute to its catalog of 3D models. Along the way, the company developed quality standards for such models.
TurboSquid continues to break new ground. In early 2018, it rolled out one-of-a-kind technology that allows artists to create their models using any graphic software they choose, then easily convert them to other formats, including those used by major video game developers. The technology makes it easier to build, buy and use the models.
Read more about Louisiana’s rapidly expanding video game industry.
In developing the new image-conversion technology, TurboSquid assembled an advisory team that included the world’s biggest names in graphic design: Adobe and Amazon Lumberyard, among them.
This collaboration is ensuring that global designers have access to the latest technology through TurboSquid’s unique products.