As you may know by now, we’re big fans of naming things around here project code names, industry events, and even our equipment. So I’m sure you won’t be surprised, then, when I tell you the name of the machine we’re going to talk about today isn’t actually “The Bear Claw.” It is, in fact, called a Bin Blender, but from here on out, we’ll be sticking with Bear Claw.

The Bear Claw is an integral (and really fun!) part of our Slo-Food Process. We specialize in our FoodState Nutrients, which is how we deliver powerful nutrition in farm-fresh whole foods. We also work with a lot of great botanicals in many of our blends. This leads to a powdered formulation with a lot of different types of particles - whole foods, FoodState Nutrients, herbs, etc. - all measured and layered (by hand!) into these stainless steel hoppers. To get the ball rolling after we hand-measure it, we need to start with blending the formulation together. There is no point in a tablet if the formula isn’t uniformly blended and consistent! That is where the Bear Claw comes in.

Remember that “hopper” from up above? It can hold the equivalent of between 350,000-900,000 finished tablets, depending on their size. It’s BIG! Empty, it weighs 300 kgs, and can weigh up to 1000 kgs when filled. It’s heavy, and it can’t be mixed by hand. Instead, we load it into the Bear Claw (affectionately called that because of the way it clamps down on the hopper like a bear catching a fish), where it is tumbled and blended to perfection.

It’s a simple machine, and may seem like a very small step of our Slo-Food Process, but it’s always a fan-favorite when people come to tour, and we couldn’t make our products without it.