An Elgin company that produces a high-tech machine to tranform silicon carbide balls into semiconductor pucks is in the running for “Coolest Thing Made in Illinois” in the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association’s fifth annual “Makers Madness” competition.
USACH’s BoulePro 200AX machine has made it to the Elite Eight — the final eight products in the March Madness-style bracket contest that started out with 200 entries.
The competition is set up as a way to draw attention to goods manufactured in Illinois, with this year’s entrants contributing to the state’s gross domestic product, supporting nearly a third of all jobs in Illinois and generating more than $580 billion for the state’s economy, a news release said.
Voters have winnowed down the list by deciding what moves forward when asked to choose between two products. Votes that will decide what goes on to the Final Four can be cast at makersmadnessil.com through 11:59 p.m. Sunday, March 31.
Competing against the BoulePro 200AX this week is the Komatsu Mining Truck made by Komatsu in Peoria.
The BoulePro 200AX uses the silicon carbide balls, known as boules, to produce discs or pucks that are “not only important for electromobility, but are also used in charging stations, 5G communication technology, photovoltaic and wind power plants,” the company’s website says.
This is the third generation of the machine, USACH President Jeff Ahrstrom said.
The pucks produced are 10 inches in diameter and 4 to 6 inches thick, depending on how they will be used, Ahrstrom said. Companies employ their own methods to make thin silicon carbide wafers from the pucks.
USACH says its machine dramatically decreases the labor costs, manufacturing footprint, time and total cost for the puck-making process.
“Our technology is bringing the case to the world that we’ve integrated multiple operations into one machine,” Ahrstrom said.
The newest version of the machine was recently shipped to a major chip manufacturing foundry in Japan, he said, and another is being built right now for an undisclosed U.S. corporation. Pennsylvania State University has ordered one for a lab that’s developing silicon carbide boules.
USACH has been in Elgin for 40 years and employs 86 people, Ahrstrom said.
South Elgin-based Hoffer Plastics Corp.’s P15 Tamper Evident Cap and Spout for Flexible Pouch Packaging, used for Icee Slushes and other products, made it to the Sweet Sixteen in “Coolest Thing Made in Illinois” in the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association’s fifth annual “Makers Madness” competition. (Hoffer Plastics Corp.)
Other Fox Valley-made products were in the competition but eliminated in earlier rounds. Among them were ActivWall from Aurora Storage Products, Inc., an interactive, educational storage system, and Gindo’s Hot Sauce made by Gindo’s Spice of Life in St. Charles.
South Elgin-based Hoffer Plastics Corp.’s P15 Tamper Evident Cap and Spout for Flexible Pouch Packaging made it to the Sweet Sixteen but lost to the MQ-25 Stingray drone refueler made by Boeing in Mascoutah.
“Being selected for the Sweet 16 was a tremendous honor and a testament to our wonderful employees, partners and customers that we have the honor of working with across 71 years of business,” said Millie Nuno, Hoffer Plastics’ vice president of sales.
Hoffer employs 340 people and makes a variety of items in South Elgin for a wide array of industries, mostly from the designs provided by those companies, Nuno said.
However, the cap and spout devices come from a design the company created and owns, she said. Among the companies they sell them to Big Easy Blends in New Orleans, which uses them for such products as Icee Slushes.
The final round of voting in the manufacturing competition takes place April 2-7. The winner will be announced April 10.
Mike Danahey is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
