MACNY to add Byrne to Wall of Fame, give award to Robillard

DeWITT — MACNY, The Manufacturers Association, will add Carl Byrne, president and CEO of Byrne Dairy, Inc., to its Manufacturers Wall of Fame. It will also recognize Tyler Robillard, director of engineering at Feldmeier Equipment, Inc., as this year’s Innovator of the Year. DeWitt–based MACNY, its members, and community leaders will honor both Byrne and Robillard at MACNY’s 111th annual Celebration of Manufacturing on May 23 at the SRC Arena & Events Center on the campus of Onondaga Community College (OCC) in the town of Onondaga. MACNY’s Manufacturers Wall of Fame is a group of manufacturing leaders who have been honored since the Wall of Fame’s inception in 2001. It celebrates individuals who have “demonstrated long-term dedication” to manufacturing in Central and Upstate New York. The Innovator of the Year Award was created at the suggestion of MACNY members as a way to nominate and recognize individuals within a company who “consistently demonstrate forward thinking ideas” in the areas of technology, innovation, and advancement of products and production.

About Byrne

Over the years, Carl Byrne has taken Byrne Dairy from a small local milk company to a major dairy supplier throughout the U.S. and beyond. As a member of the third generation of the Byrne family to operate the dairy, Carl began his career developing a customer base and managing a convenience store in the Rochester area, per the MACNY announcement. As VP of sales, Byrne’s vision of moving into extended shelf life (ESL) dairy and non-dairy products resulted in the construction of the DeWitt facility in 2004. Since becoming president and CEO in 2008, Byrne has overseen five expansions at the plant, which now includes more than 200,000 square feet of processing, production, packaging, and warehouse space, and employs more than 250 people. Additionally, Byrne has directed the growth of a sister ESL facility in Cortlandville and Byrne’s Ice Cream Center in Syracuse. In 2021, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and “when other manufacturers were cutting back on employees and facilities,” MACNY says Byrne saw the opportunity to further expand the company’s footprint by entering the aseptic dairy market. Using the “most technologically advanced” equipment available, Byrne is now producing shelf stable (no refrigeration needed) dairy products that can be shipped around the world. Byrne Dairy marked its 90th anniversary in 2023 and has more than 550 employees, per the MACNY announcement.

About Robillard

Tyler Robillard has been with Feldmeier Equipment for 15 years, joining the company in 2009 after graduating from the University at Buffalo with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. Within a few short years, Robillard grew the design-engineer role into a project engineering position. Feldmeier is a manufacturer of custom hygienic equipment for production of pharmaceutical/biotech, food, dairy, beverage, and cosmetic products. After successfully managing some of Feldmeier’s largest pharmaceutical projects, he was promoted to engineering manager, then most recently serving as director of engineering, MACNY said. Robillard leads a team of 16 engineers that develops innovative components and products for Feldmeier’s customers. His name has been applied and attributed to patent filings beginning in 2018. Robillard is the co-inventor on two additional patent pending designs. These components are “revolutionizing the cleanability” of Feldmeier’s custom tanks and pressure vessels, specifically supplied to their pharmaceutical customers who require the most hygienic equipment and processes developing lifesaving treatments. These innovations have helped Feldmeier become recognized as the “best and only company in the Western Hemisphere” to specialize in this level of sanitation processing, per the MACNY announcement.