• 2011

  • The City of Naperville, Argonne National Laboratory, the College of DuPage, Packer Engineering, Inc., and the Center for Application Based Learning (CABL) are working together to accomplish the construction and operation of the Green Fuels Depot demonstration program.

  • Landscape waste recycling process to power city fleet. The first phase of the local partnership working toward collecting yard waste and converting it into fuels is poised to go live in the coming weeks.

  • A Clean, Green Machine - COD students are on the front lines of a green energy initiative leading to thousands of new jobs and a cleaner environment. The "Stalk Stoker," a joint effort of Packer Engineering, Argonne National Laboratory, the City of Naperville and College of DuPage, turns farm and yard waste into ethanol, hydrogen and electricity.

  • Chirag G. Shah joined Packer Engineering in September 2011 as Director of Materials and Metallurgical Engineering.  Mr. Shah has over ten years of technical experience in materials failure investigations, foundry metallurgy, quality control and materials testing.  His expertise includes: fatigue and fracture characterization and micro-structural development of ferrous and  non-ferrous alloys; consulting in the areas of failure analysis and investigations, reverse engineering and root cause analysis, welding and joining, materials evaluations and testing; biomedical implant materials analysis; thermo-mechanical simulations and metallurgical process modeling; mold design, assembly and fractography of ductile cast irons.

  • The US Patent and Trademark Office have issued a Notice of Allowance for the patent application: "Shot-Counting Device for a Firearm". This will be Packer Engineering's first patent on the self-powered shot counter invented in 2006 by Dr. Kenneth Packer, Dr. Peter Schubert, Dr. Alan Wilks, and Tom Long.

    The Packer Engineering shot counter is a huge advance in weapons shot counting. It out-performs all known battery-powered shot counters; it is smaller than battery-powered shot counters; and best of all, it has no battery!

    Contact Packer Engineering for licensing information.

  • Daniel J. Roig, Ph.D. S.E., P.E. joined Packer Engineering in April 2011 as a Staff Consultant in the Construction Technology Group.

    Dr. Roig has more than 38 years of professional experience in structural engineering. He recently received his Ph.D. in Biomechanical Engineering following ten years of research.

    His expertise includes analysis and design of warehouse, agricultural, industrial, commercial and residential buildings; power plant chimneys including duct work, foundations and specialty components; investigation of building damage relating to water, fire, environmental, and biological exposure, and investigation of accidents regarding biomechanics. Dr. Roig has developed his own structural analysis software, has utilized finite element analysis for orthopedic research, and has generated computer programs for many structural applications.

  • Dr. Peter J. Schubert's article, "Materials Selection and Processing for Lunar Based Space Solar Power," was recently published in the book, Materials Challenges in Alternative and Renewable Energy, Wicks, G., Simon, J., et al. Eds., J. Wiley (2011)

  • Roger R. Machut, P.E., LEED® AP, joined Packer Engineering Inc., Naperville, IL, in November 2010, as the Senior Director of their Construction Technology Group.

    He is a Civil Engineer with over 20 years of experience in design of roadways and pavements, storm water management, site design, sustainable design, utility and infrastructure design, multi-discipline coordination, design-build projects and project estimation.

    Mr. Machut also serves as a Brigadier General in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, and is the Commanding General of the Marine Corps Mobilization Command.

• 2010

  • Kenneth F. Packer, Ph.D., P.E., has been named as the 2010 Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient by the Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce as part of the 2010 Small Business of the Year Awards.

  • Senator Dick Durbin visited Packer Engineering to learn about the biomass gasifier. Daily Herald: "Naperville aims to run city on 'gasified' bio-waste" Naperville Sun: "Durbin a Packer backer" College of DuPage Involved in Naperville "Green Fuels Depot Project"

• 2009

  • Naperville City Councilman Bob Fieseler visits Packer Engineering to learn about turning farm waste into energy. The NCTV17 Naperville (requires QuickTime) web site states: "Scientists at Packer are designing a system they say will help the 2 million farms in the U-S create energy out of waste. The input is crop waste; the output is electricity and heat that can be used on the farm, sold back into the power grid through net metering, or used to produce fertilizer."

  • Judy Biggert, US. Representative for Illinois , supports Packer Engineering's focus on future of energy.

  • June 17, 2009, Daily Hearld published an article on long time Packer employee, Tom Kuhn, who is mayor of the "Good Old Toys" tractor club in Naperville.

  • Edward M. Caulfield was awarded the University of Illinois, College of Engineering Alumni Honor Award for Distinguished Service in Engineering. As stated in the Naperville Sun, May 11 article, "this is the hightest honor the college gives to recognize their alumni achievements."

  • GlobalSpec.com on June 8 published an article "Laser Scanning Brings New Asset to
    Accident Investigations — and Surveyors" by Brad Longstreet. The article quotes Tom Long, a Packer Engineering senior technician who states: "Packer Engineering was one of the first consultants in the country to get into private sector laser scanning accident investigation. We’re very competitive. If there is any way to do this work faster, easier, or better: we’re interested."

  • "Homegrown and Green" published in the Naperville Sun on June 8, discusses the partnership between Packer Engineering, area schools and Argone National Laboratory in their effort to win $4 million from federal funds to build a fuels depot that would run in part on the by-products of organic waste.

  • Dr. Peter Schubert announced that Packer intern, Johathan Card, competed in theMoonROx Internship Challenge held May 28. His program is on extraction of oxygen from lunar soil. First prize for this oxygen extraction is $1,000,000.

  • On April 21, 2009, Reuters headline read "National Gypsum Comments on Home Owner's Claim." This article stated: Packer Engineering tested a known piece of Chinese wallboard to compare it with the wallboard found in the Brincku home. In a laboratory test, the Chinese board was placed in a jar with water. Copper and brass strips were suspended above the board. The jar was sealed and heated to 175 degrees. The copper blackened in 16 hours. The lab did the same test with National Gypsum board taken from the Brincku house. After three weeks, the copper has not blackened.

  • In the Naperville Sun on Tuesday, May 12, the article appeared "Student Leadership Academy Seeks Business Partners." This program aquaints area high school students with the Business World. Packer Engineering is a current academy business partner.

  • Tuesday, May 12, the Naperville Sun reported that John Mercouris, Donald Hruska and Spencer Gore of the Naperville North Robotics team demonstrated to the Packer Engineering staff their robot created for the Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology Robotics (IRSTR) competition.

  • A Biofuels Digest article published April 20, 2009, stated: "$4 Million grant proposed for waste-to-energy pilot plant; Packer Engineering, Argonne National Lab, City of Naperville, College of DuPage in partnership."

  • The article, "Naperville ready to lead the way in green fuels." was published in the "Naperville Sun" on April 19, 2009, explains how Congresswoman Judy Biggert requested $4 million to jump start a pilot program designed by Packer.

  • On April 17, 2009, The Naperville Sun published the following: Congresswoman Judy Biggert stated: Packer Engineering stands to receive $4 million for a project with the city to convert waste into electricity, hydrogen and ethanol, which could then fuel the city's fleet vehicles.

  • The "Naperville Sun" on April 5, 2009, published the release: Packer announces Dr. Michael Koehler as new Chief Executive Officer. Prior to joining Packer, Dr. Koehler worked for 21 years at Honeywell International. The same announcement was made on April 20, 2009, in "The Business Ledger."

  • On March 24, 2009, the Naperville Sun announced Packer Engineering opening a Charlotte, North Carolina office.

  • March 23, Crain's Chicago Business, "People on the Move" section stated: "Packer Engineering, Inc., Naperville, Michael Koehler, 49, to CEO, from director of advanced materials and processes at Honeywell Aerospace."

  • January 6, GlobalSpec.com published "Forensic Scanning: Three different firms with three different approaches" by Brad Longstreet. The article describes how Packer Engineering does forensic surveying using the laser scanner.

• 2008

  • Mechanical Science & Engineering magazine on December 10th, 2008, published an article by Kathryn L. Heine which stated: Two MechSE alumni, Drs. Edward Caulfield and Donald Gall, have been chosen to receive the University of Illinois College of Engineering's highest honor for alumni in 2009: the Alumni Honor Award for Distinguished Service in Engineering.

  • Dr. Laura Wojcik, VP of our Biomechanical Group, was invited to attend the 2008 National Academy of Engineering Japan-American Frontiers of Engineering (JAFOE) Symposium in Kobe, Japan, November 16-19, 2008. She was an invited participant in the U.S. Frontiers program in 2000, and is thrilled to have this opportunity to interact with NAE again through their international outreach activities.

  • November 12, 2008 the Naperville Sun published an article entitled " Packer employee, Sandy Weiss, writes textbook about forensic photography."  Mr. Weiss stated: "You're taking pictures of a three-dimensional object and presenting them in a two-dimensional format, and you're bringing evidence for a case to the court before a judge and testifying as an engineer. "Everyone involved in the case can get a better idea of what happened through the photos you bring, and as the photographer, you have to pay attention to accuracy."

  • Growth Dimensions announced Packer Engineering as the winner of the Commercialization Award to work on a project with two components: Efficiently convert crop waste into gaseous fuel and then produce electricity. Learn More.

  • Northern Illinois University announces working with Packer Engineering on the ROCK (short for Rapid Optimization of Commercial Knowledge) program.

  • On June 30, the Clinton Herald published the following: Packer Engineering and Northern Illinois University held a presentation at the former Savanna Army Depot last week to announce a $1 million grant from the United States Department of Agriculture for research and development of homegrown electricity and nitrogen fertilizer. For details, go to http://www.clintonherald.com/archivesearch/local_story_182105500.html
    

  • The Society of Automotive Engineers enthusiastically selected Dr. Peter Schubert of Packer Engineering to develop a new Professional Development course titled: Model-based Design: Delivering Quality Electronics Products Faster. The debut of this 2-day course will be delivered in late August at the SAE Automotive HQ in Troy, MI. References for the course include 5 papers published by Dr. Schubert over the last 5 years at the SAE World Congress. SAE is marketing this new class to automotive, aerospace, and military practitioners, both at the manager level and for engineers.

  • Packer Engineering wins Naperville Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year Award in the 31+ employees category. This award recognizes the outstanding contributions Chamber Members have made to the business community. 

  • On May 6, 2008, US Equity News published on-line, an article entitled FTS Group Retains International Consulting Firm to Complete Patent-Pending Cell Phone Translation Technology Utility Patent Application. Packer Engineering, Inc., was hired to complete the engineering required for FTS' cell phone translation technology.

  • Dr. Christopher Schemel and Noah Ryder were awarded the 2007 FM Global Award 1st Prize for the paper “Round-robin study of fire modeling blind-predictions using the Dalmarnock Fire Experiments” at the 5th International Symposium on Fires and Explosions Hazards.

  • Kara Cunzeman, a 2007 College Intern at Packer Engineering and a student at Purdue University, was announced as the "Department of Engineering Education's Outstanding Undergraduate Student for 2008." Her work at Packer Engineering was a large part of this award. While at Packer, she worked on our NASA program, supervised the Lunar Iron Harvesting project for the STEP Interns, and worked on various projects in the Mechanical department.

• 2007

  • Dr. Jose Torero believes "Firegrid" would drastically change the role of the Firefighter.  Dr. Torero developed a new fire fighting technology which uses a network of sensors.  It records everything from temperature to smoke density in skyscrapers.  Play the video to learn more.

  • Dr. Jose Torero believes "Firegrid" could have given warning that the towers were going to collapse.  The collapse of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center was not caused directly by the impact of the two hijacked airliners but by the fires which followed.  Learn more.

• 2006

  • In 2005 and 2006 Packer Engineering's internship program required them to write papers about the various projects in which they participated.  Most of the Summer Intern Papers for those years were about our Lunar projects.

  • Watching the Detectives: Unlike a police detective, the Director of Laboratory Services at Packer is rarely present at the aftermath of an accident.  Instead, the case file lands on his desk months, even years, later.  Inside, he would like to find, as any scientist would, accurate measurements of the crash.  But in most insurance investigations, the only clues are photographs.

  • Pictures Present Perfect Proof of Evidence: Sometimes it takes a picture to make a case, so it's vital that an evidence photographer give an accurate visual representation of what happened.

  • EPIC Holds Its Evidence Photographers School: During this session, they presented Sandy Weiss of Packer Engineering with the 2005 Evidence Photographer of the Year award.

• 2003

  • Building of the 1903 Wright Flyer: The airplane now housed at Clow Airport has wings assembled, covered, and sewn with a cotton material made to replicate the original cloth. The rigging wire and hardware were replicated with similar materials used by the Wrights.

    A team of Packer's highly professional specialists and several Midwest companies converted the engine block drawings into a 3-D computer model, used the model to construct the lost foam molds and poured the castings. We are awaiting the remaining engine parts and should have the engine assembled by March 2003.

  • Wright Flyer Attempt: Wright Redux Assoc. attempts first flight of 1903 Replica Wright Flyer at Museum of Science and Industry.

  • Learn more about Packer Engineering's services on the WBBM Radio "Made In Chicago" Interview

  • ASME Industry Award: Maureen Murray accepts ASME Industry Plaque on behalf of Packer Engineering for our outstanding service to the organization.

  • April 27, 2003, Un tethered Flight with Pilot: The Wright Redux Association's 1903 Wright Flyer replica "Spirit of Glen Ellyn" went airborne at Clow International Airport in Bolingbrook, IL, flying 136 feet from the end of the launch rail. At 4:45 PM, pilot Ken Kirincic throttled the plane's engine and launched himself and Wright Redux into history becoming the first 1903 Wright Flyer replica to achieve free, powered flight.

  • Packer Engineering and Wright Redux Group built a flight-worthy reproduction of the Wright Brothers' 1903 Flyer.  It is scheduled to fly on the front lawn of the Chicgo Museum of Science and Industry in September.

  • March 1, 2003, Tethered Lift Test with Pilot: The "Spirit of Glen Ellyn" successfully underwent "lift" flight test with a pilot at the helm on Mar. 1, 2003, in Bolingbrook, Illinois.

  • The original investigation determined the alleged perpetrator deliberately set the fire in a Chicago apartment building in 1987. This incendiary fire killed seven people. The investigation and subsequent trial resulted in the conviction of a tenant for the crime of arson and murder, for which he subsequently received a death sentence.  Read how Packer Engineering helped save this innocent death row inmate.

• 2002

  • Dr. Kenneth Packer and Mr. John Nowicki from Packer Engineering, Inc. were the keynote speakers for the annual WSE meeting, discussing their role in producing a replica of the Wright brothers’ airplane engine. In their remarks they described the fellowship and the collaboration of many entities, including the Western Society of Engineers and one of its charter members Octave Chanute, in the Chicagoland area that led to manned flight.

  • Intern Cruise: Packer interns take a pleasure cruise to hear about and to see Chicago architecture.

What's New

• Read More