FROM BIG IDEAS TO SUCCESS
When I started to work at Insta-Pro, I met Dr. Nabil Said, former Vice-President of Extrusion Technologies. He developed new extrusion applications and pioneered the use high-shear dry extruder for sterilization of by-products. He told me about how the first extruder was invented to help small farmers who did not have technologies to process soybeans for livestock feeding. While talking to me about the advantages and development of extrusion technologies focused on quality and service, he presented a wide range of data based on research. He pointed out: animals do not lie, they will tell you what is good and what is not. At the end, Dr. Said gave some advice: ask basic questions only and you will get good answers, provide service, always be careful interpreting results and be honest. Proper advices to follow and aligned with my principles.
Recently, I met Dr. Leroy Hanson, who co-developed and patented the high shear dry extrusion process, branded the Insta-Pro extruder, and led efforts to promote this technology well known today around the world. I realized about his vast experience just talking to him for a short period of time. He mentioned that over four decades ago, he developed his ideas working in the basement of his house, thinking how to heat and process soybeans to make them feasible to feed livestock. “There was a sort of secret about the presence of antinutritional factors in raw soybean, nobody told me about it when I was studying”, he said, “I faced so many challenges. For example, I met a swine farmer raising 10.000 pigs, he struggled following instructions about how to operate an extruder and he increased the feed rate for better and faster processing. The result: the farmer’s pig carcasses were not able to be sold for high-quality bacon due to soft belly and had to be used for pork sausages instead.” For this reason, is very important educate people about how to operate the equipment properly.
Since then, many advances and new technologies have come along with the high-shear dry extruder, but the focus is the same: solutions, innovations, quality, service and research. Today, Insta-Pro offers the Drs. Hanson & Said Research & Development Center which honors the vision of making good quality ingredients of Drs. Said and Hanson. They are example of how big ideas and innovations make the difference and lead to success.
