Stephen C. Andrews, President, and Mark R. Grant, then Vice President, founded Design Integrated Technology, Inc. (DIT) in October of 1988. Incorporated in the state of Virginia, DIT specializes in the design, manufacture, and sale of a variety of custom products, including propellant and energetic material test equipment, HELICONE mixers, and air purification equipment for submarines.
Stephen and Mark acquired the product lines from Atlantic Research Corporation (ARC) after ARC decided to divest them. ARC was the original designer of the products and had marketed the product line for approximately 25 years. The three major product lines included strand burners, helicone mixers, and CO2 burners. The strand burners are used in propellant testing and development to determine the burn rate. The mixers, originally developed for chemical and propellant mixing, came in two types: a Cone Vertical (CV) mixer and a Single Cone (SC) mixer, which are particularly well-suited for high-viscosity materials. The customer base spans chemical manufacturers, pharmaceutical producers, and the food and beverage industry. The CO2 burners, designed for air replenishment in submarines, count the United States Navy as a primary customer. Over the years, DIT has also developed several other products, including an extruder, a Vacuum Stability Test Device (VSTD), and other pressure vessels.
In the mid-1990s, Stephen purchased Mark Grant’s share of DIT and became the sole owner. For 26 years, Stephen Andrews served as the owner-operator and President of DIT. In 2021, after 38 years of involvement with the product lines and 26 years as President of DIT, Stephen decided to retire. DIT was sold on December 31, 2021, to Dr. Patrick Hewitt, Chief Executive Officer of SPARC Holdings. Dr. Hewitt, founder of SPARC Research—a company engaged in the engineering and design of RAMJET, SCRAMJET, variable flow ducted rockets, and hypersonic missiles—viewed the DIT acquisition as a strategic addition to his portfolio of businesses.
In 2022, Design Integrated Technology acquired the intellectual property for Closed Combustion Chambers (closed bomb) from Harwood Engineering prior to their closure. These devices are the industry standard for energetic material detonation testing. DIT offers new sales along with support and refurbishment of existing products.
