Truetech, longstanding Riverhead manufacturing business, sold to global publicly traded company

Truetech Inc., the Elton Street, Riverhead business that manufactures the flameless heaters for MREs or “Meals Ready-to-Eat” used by the U.S. military, was sold last year to an international publicly traded corporation based in Salford, England.

Luxfer Holdings, a global materials technology company completed the acquisition of the assets and businesses of Truetech Inc. and its related company, Innotech Products Ltd. in July 2014 for an estimated $64 million, according to a Luxfer Holdings press release.

“Truetech and Innotech variously produce magnesium-based heating pads for self-heating meals used by the U.S. military and emergency relief agencies; an extensive line of self-heating meals and beverages used by military and civilian end-users; and chemical and biological agent detection and decontamination kits,” the July 30, 2014 press release said.

Truetech operates a manufacturing and warehousing facility on a company-owned site on Elton Street and Innotech operates a leased product manufacturing, assembly and distribution facility in Cincinnati, Ohio. Combined, they employ 115 people, Luxfer said.

The family-owned Truetech was founded in 1929 as Chemical Compounding Corporation. The business changed its name to Truetech Inc. in 1988.

“It was time for these businesses to become part of a global enterprise, and I look forward to seeing them develop within Luxfer Group,” Joel Hockett, president and CEO of Truetech and director of Innotech, said in the Luxfer press release.

Luxfer said last year it planned to combine the businesses of Truetech and Innotech within Luxfer Magtech Inc., a new wholly-owned subsidiary of Luxfer Group. LMI will operate as part of Luxfer Group’s specialty materials Elektron Division. The Elton Street facility was transferred to Luxfer Magtech in December.

“The management team of Truetech and Innotech has agreed to join the board of Luxfer Magtech Inc. to help us develop the business further over the next few years,” Luxfer CEO Brian Purves said in the press release.

The Truetech flameless ration heater is used by U.S. armed forces to heat MREs for troops in the field. Millions of flameless ration heaters are supplied annually under a long-term contract to manufacturers of ready-to-eat military meals. Nearly two billion Truetech heaters have been supplied to date across all markets, Luxfer said.

Truetech flameless ration heater technology uses no flame or electricity to generate heat. When water reacts with the magnesium-iron heater pad, the flameless ration heater releases enough energy to heat a pre-cooked meal in about 10 minutes. Spent heaters are non-toxic and biodegradable, Luxfer said.

Truetech and Innotech also offer food and beverage products for civilian markets. These include four lines of self-heating “HeaterMeals” that contain nutritional entrees, snacks, desserts and juices. The companies also market Café2Go self-heating beverage kits for making hot coffee, tea, cocoa and soups, including brand-name varieties from Nestle and Unilever.

“Since all of these products require no refrigeration and have useful shelf lives, they are used for outdoor activities, emergency preparedness and disaster relief. End-users include the U.S. Department of Homeland Security; the Federal Emergency Management Agency; first responders at federal, state and local levels; non-governmental disaster-relief agencies, including the Red Cross; campers, hikers, hunters, climbers and other outdoor enthusiasts; and workers at remote construction sites. Government Food Service magazine has named HeaterMeals (Innotech) in its list of top U.S. Government food suppliers,” Luxfer said.

Truetech also designs and produces a line of chemical detection and decontamination products. Originally designed for military use, the latest generation of these products is now also used by civilian agencies to detect and identify chemical agents and to clean up contamination, Luxfer said.

End-users include military personnel, firefighters, law enforcement agencies, emergency medical services, hospitals, hazardous material teams, disaster-relief teams, emergency services teams and other first responders. Truetech also supplies training kits to the U.S. military and emergency preparedness agencies to teach personnel how to detect and identify chemical agents and toxins after an incident or attack, according to the Luxfer press release.

As part of its “survival” product line, Truetech also markets a handheld seawater desalinization kit that uses a chemical reaction and filtering process to transform as many as eight pints of seawater into drinkable water.