Our History
1987...Eddie, Bob, Euna and Georga Loyd founded Alternative Design Manufacturing
for the purpose of designing and manufacturing high quality animal
housing systems. Their experience working with high density animal
systems created a great desire to build quality systems from the highest
quality material, provided the animal care people better ergonomics and provided
the animals with the best possible housing conditions. Their commitment
to quality products and exceptional customer service has resulted in an ever
increasing demand.
1990...Alternative Design began marketing its products and services to the
laboratory animal research community. Despite the relatively small size of the
company compared to other manufacturers, many customers preferred to work with
Alternative Design because they knew they could trust the company to provide them
the quality products and services they needed. In 1995, Alternative Design doubled the size
of its original production facility
1996...Alternative Design began molding rodent cages and building rack systems for rodents. In the fall of 1998, Alternative Design raised the performance standards in individually ventilated caging with its new Gentle-Air Ventilated Rack System. With Gentle-Air, the company introduced new technology not seen in previous ventilated racks. The product set new levels by reducing air velocities inside the cages and introduced “Balanced Airflow” in all cages within the rack. Requiring only one blower, the unit also dramatically reduced noise and vibration within the cages, making a more hospitable environment for its research inhabitants. The Gentle-Air system is designed on quality fabrication techniques, provides better ergonomics and a better micro-environment for the mice, therefore, the company has seen an ever-increasing demand for the systems.
2000...Alternative Design moved into its new production facility. This larger
and efficiency designed facility enables the growing company to produce in the higher volumes
its customers requires.
2003...Alternative Design once again revolutionized ventilated caging with its Flex-Air Positive/Negative Ventilated Rack System. This system provides the greater protection demanded today for the animals, the people who work with them and the research environment. Flex-Air is the ideal system for biomedical research, using transgenic rodents. In only 16 years, Alternative Design Manufacturing has grown from a 4 person family operation to a world class organization that employs trained and dedicated people who provide high quality equipment all over the world. This phenomenal growth is due to the one thing that has not changed... Alternative Design Manufacturing's commitment to deliver quality products and exceptional customer service to the laboratory animal research industry.
2006... In the fall of 2006, Alternative Design introduced a new concept in ventilated rodent housing for vivariums, The Modular Animal Caging System®. It was designed to address the growing demand to house more animals due to increasing research projects and the long lead times for new construction. MACS modular design utilizes the space within both existing and new rooms more efficiently than current large one piece vent rack designs. It provides facility management the flexibility to increase population density, open space where needed and/or improve husbandry/researcher workflow through the room. The new design also enables Alternative Design to build this product in a whole new process to reduce production and user initial cost.
2007... With a new assembly process and continual focus to improve quality while reducing costs, Alternative Design added several new pieces of equipment to its manufacturing facility including a new laser for fabricating parts. It cuts many parts in less time with a cleaner edge to minimize deburring for lower costs.
2009... ALTDESIGN introduces another innovative new product to ease the burden on animal research facilities. Increased rodent density means more rodent cages to wash and sterilize. But with a drastically slowing economy, ever tightening budgets and facility space scarce adding more wash/sterilizing equipment was not a viable solution. ALTDESIGN's solution was an economical cage liner made from recyclable PET-E that inserts into a standard plastic rodent cage to extend the period between cage washes for these cages. Called ECOLiner™, facilities can immediately reduce their cage wash/sterilizing cost by at least 50% while increasing cage wash capacity by that much as well. Being recyclable, the new liner also provides vivariums with a sustainable GREEN Solution.
ALTDESIGN also continued to expand the versatility of its increasing popular Modular Animal Caging System®. In 2009, the company introduced 8 and 9 high mouse cage stacks for animal holding rooms with low ceiling heights. Air delivery alternatives to the MACS ventilated system were also introduced.
