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After three years of collaboration with Harris Energy Solutions in the development of a next-generation radio frequency heating system, Harris Corp. has awarded Innovative Composite Engineering (ICE) its 2016 Small Business Supplier of the Year Award. Harris provided the following explanation for its choice of ICE from over 1700 suppliers:

“Innovative Composite Engineering is a Washington-based small business that specializes in complete composite solutions, ranging from initial design and development through volume production. From the moment ICE joined the RF Energy team, they have clearly been an integral partner. Key personnel from ICE (most notably their president Steve Maier) have consistently and enthusiastically participated with the Harris team in the design and development of our RF Heating system as well as being an active participant in our progression to an 800m commercial product.”

In support of Harris Energy Solutions, ICE has made significant investments beyond the scope of their contractual obligations in the form of engineering labor, experimentation, evaluation of materials, and collaboration with the Harris team, according to a press release. For instance, the company purchased a $100,000 autoclave for curing of composite parts for Harris and on multiple occasions moved forward on their own funding to procure materials and equipment to meet the demanding schedule that the Harris program required.

In Dec. 2016, Harris required a material change based on results of environmental exposure testing. The new material required an entirely new manufacturing process which normally requires six months to develop; however, the program schedule required a one month development cycle. ICE worked with Harris engineering teams to aggressively condense the development schedule working 24 hours a day on multiple shifts to meet the program schedule. Ultimately, ICE was successful in completing the manufacturing development within the one month schedule and produced a next generation composite tube assembly for full size article testing.