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URC and the Custom Installation Industry Celebrate A Decade of Unsurpassed Awards

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2 years ago

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Celebrating Excellence in Unique Residential and Commercial Automation at CEDIA 2024

HARRISON, N.Y., Sept. 5, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — URC, a global leader in smart home automation and control for residential and commercial applications, announced today, from CEDIA, the winners of its 10th annual Unsurpassed Awards.

“With URC’s superior products and systems, our dealers continue to surprise and delight us with creative installations in diverse environments,” said Mr. Chang K. Park, URC’s Founder and CEO.

Launched in 2015, URC’s Unsurpassed Awards celebrate excellence and creativity in residential and commercial automation installations. Entries are accepted from domestic URC dealers and international distributors. Categories for consideration include: Best Residential, Best Commercial, Most Unique, and Best International.

Entries for the 2024 competition showcase unique smart residential and commercial installations featuring creative system design, innovative product use cases, distinctive environments, and advanced implementations. Entries include inspiring environments and large installations with URC’s Total Control® controlling hundreds of smart home and commercial devices.

Home and business owners rave about the benefits of these breakthrough automated systems. “This system has let us to be more productive on a daily basis by being able to quickly and easily setup and adjust based on our needs,” stated a commercial customer. He continued, “being able to quickly go from testing of a system to monitoring an account for service and back has been extremely helpful.”

“With URC’s superior products and systems, our dealers continue to surprise and delight us with creative installations in diverse environments,” said Mr. Chang K. Park, URC’s Founder and CEO. “URC’s ability to deliver reliable products, on-time and on-budget, has helped replace systems from other control brands with our Total Control system. Our dealers are growing their businesses, impressing clients, and inspiring new products and integrations.”

This year’s entries include prior winners, like JL Entertainment Designs, Hemag Inc., Automation Sensations, Nard’s Entertainment, Audio Wizard, Certified Sounds LLC, AAA Electronic Services, and Allstar Systems who consistently excel, as well as dealers new to the competition like BenchMark AV. The categories were so competitive, it challenged our ability to select winners.

For only the second time, a Chairman’s Award of Excellence has been awarded for consistent, extensive superior performance in residential and commercial installations.

Winners of the 2024 URC Unsurpassed Awards include the following URC dealers:

JL Entertainment Designs Wins The Chairman’s Award

JL Entertainment Designs (Exton, PA) https://www.jlentertainmentdesigns.com/

With multiple Unsurpassed Awards, JL Entertainment Designs, owned by Joe and Michelle Lusi, have consistently impressed with unique automation system designs. Their installations span diverse residential and commercial environments and showcase unique applications of URC’s Total Control technology. This year, JL Entertainment Designs shared 3 installations that included an automated office space with advanced network/Wi-Fi, window shades, landscape lighting, and entertainment systems. This installation unified a conference room, 2 lounges, 2 offices, and an outdoor space into a single system with one touch or voice control. Another client offered a unique challenge in integrating and automating a large resort on the New Jersey shore. This installation created a single automation system that features 5-zone high-definition audio across all of the resort’s common areas like the lobby, drive-up area, outdoor dining area, pool area, restaurant, and rooftop deck. The entire system is easily controlled by URC’s mobile app and touch screens. Finally, JL Entertainment Designs created a whole home system in a waterfront community that included network/Wi-Fi, window drapery, landscape lighting, and 7 TVs, plus an outdoor TV lift. Every item installed is controlled with URC’s Total Control system. For this diversity of design and uncompromising installation success, we are pleased to award the Chairman’s Award to JL Entertainment Designs.

Audio Wizard AV Wins Gold for The Best Residential Installation – USA

Audio Wizard AV (Draper, UT) https://www.audiowizardav.com/

As a power brand in the Rockies, Audio Wizard AV created a comprehensive automation system in a stunning mountain estate. With highly customized user interface displays, Dustin Reese and his team, created a fully integrated system that is simple and intuitive. In addition to the open concept family spaces, this mountain retreat features a two-story, full-sized basketball court that doubles as a pickleball court. High-definition audio is pumped throughout the interior of the home via URC’s HDA-8100 and HDA-4100 amps, including the sports court, and integrated via Total Control in all of the meticulously manicured outdoor spaces. Audio Wizard AV’s incredible design IQ is as compelling as it’s social media presence, so check out Dustin and his team in action. Congratulations to Audio Wizard AV for this powerful system perfectly matched with the dynamic mountain views.

Nard’s Entertainment Wins Best Commercial Installation – USA

Nard’s Entertainment (Washington D.C. Metro) https://www.nardsentertainment.com/

Over the years, John Carroll and the team at Nard’s Entertainment has delivered some incredible commercial installations. In this year’s competition, John partnered with Carr Properties for another urban oasis installation. Rising out of the Bullfinch Crossing section

of downtown Boston, One Congress is a one-million-square-foot, trophy office tower offering

transformative experiences. This property continues our tour of architecturally stunning properties created by Carr, headquartered in Washington, DC. Offering extensive retail, vibrant net-zero pedestrian spaces, and towering 600 feet tall, this iconic building reconnects downtown Boston neighborhoods and propels a heavily transit-served site into a 21st-century global center. Totaling 43 stories, One Congress features breathtaking and unparalleled 360-degree views of The Charles River, Boston Harbor, North End, Financial District, and Back Bay. With numerous subsystems and countless staff and consumer interactions, Carroll knew that a single, unified, simple-to-operate control system was needed. With thoughtful design, Carroll leveraged URC’s Total Control® to seamlessly blend control and automation across both interior and exterior environments. This system featured most of the key players from URC’s portfolio including intuitive user interfaces, system controllers and High-Definition Audio (HDA) which plays a critical role across amenities and conference environments. With style and functionality critical, Carroll used several URC MRX-30 system controllers and 20 URC touch screens and handheld remotes including the TDC-9100, with its 10-inch touch screen and the TKP-8600 featuring an 8-inch in-wall touch screen and industry-leading voice control. For this massive integration and consistently delivering for clients, we congratulate Nard’s Entertainment for another Gold Unsurpassed Award.

Automation Sensation Wins Most Unique Installation – USA

Automation Sensation (Pompano Beach, FL) https://automationsensation.net/

Neil Lorick and the team at Automation Sensation is a returning champion with another incredible, design-forward entry from South Florida. This 8,000 square foot luxury residence in Miami includes 9 bedrooms, a gym, staff room, home theater room, 2 master bedrooms, and a water front space to accommodate a 120 ft yacht. Lorick and team used URC’s Total Control to integrate several subsystems and devices including 40 Lutron lighting RA3 dimmers, 10 Lutron KP and controlling the pool system. With entertainment a priority, this installation featured URC’s HDA (High-Definition Audio) for incredible audio distribution and integration with Lutron lights and shades to set a dramatic stage for epic entertainment. Additionally, several streaming sources and devices were integrated to deliver studio-quality sound throughout the home including blending seamlessly the indoor and outdoor spaces. The system, controlled by URC’s Total Control, blends a variety of sub-systems prompted the homeowner to state that “this automation system is defiantly sensational.” Congratulations to Neil and his team for unsurpassed design and automation!

IDES Wins Best International Installation

IDES (Edinburgh, Scotland) https://www.ides.co.uk/

Via AWE, https://www.awe-europe.com/, URC’s European Distributor, comes another truly immersive experience from IDES. With over 30 years of experience designing incredible environments, IDES continues to surprise and delight with highly customized home and business automation systems. Stephen Kerr and his team were hired by a homeowner to a structure built in the 1800s and demolished. This full renovation, envisioned by the homeowners, included an inspiring automation system in sharp contrast to the home’s origins. While retaining the home’s original character, Stephen and team carefully crafted a system behind the scenes but front and center in the modern lifestyle of the owners. With extensive integrations, a URC Total Control system provided control and automation over all the various electronic systems and throughout all of the subsystems including KNX lighting and heating, Blusound audio streaming, video matrix by Blustream, SKY Q, Roku, NAD amplification, Bowers & Wilkins speakers, Sony TVs, Doorbird entry phone, and HIK CCTV. The homeowner boasted, “The design showed us functions and capabilities we would never have thought of but have now become “must haves” for the family’s daily living. We loved how the latest 21st century technology has been integrated so sensitively into a 19th century house (l know this has not been a simple task). IDES flexibility and “can do” attitude to work around those constraints and deliver working technology from day one was incredible.”

The complete list of award-winning installations includes:

Chairman’s Award Of Excellence – JL Entertainment Designs (PA)

Best Residential Installation – USA – Gold: Audio Wizard AV (UT), Silver: Hemag, Inc (FL), Bronze: Certified Sounds LLC (HI)

Best Commercial Installation – USA – Gold: Nard’s Entertainment (VA), Silver: Allstar Systems (NY), Bronze: AAA Electronic Services (NY)

Most Unique Installation – USA – Gold: Automation Sensations (FL), Silver: Allstar Systems (NY), Bronze: Audio Wizard AV (UT)

Best International Installation – Gold: IDES (UK), Silver: BenchMark AV (CA)

Winners receive awards and publicity ranging from physical, crystal awards to digital/social campaigns and badges to feature in press releases and publications.

About URC

Headquartered in Harrison NY USA, URC is a global leader in smart home automation and control solutions. URC technology is respected for unsurpassed performance and reliability with over 100 million remote controls sold in the past 10 years alone. URC control systems include Total ControlÒ and Complete ControlÒ. Innovative URC user interfaces include tabletop controllers, in-wall touch screens, handheld remotes, keypads, and mobile apps – plus voice control integration with Comcast Xfinity, Apple TV, and Amazon Alexa. URC systems are custom designed, installed and maintained by a network of URC trained systems integration professionals. Its award-winning technical support and training make URC the best choice for home automation.

For more information visit www.urc-automation.com. URC, Think beyond everyday.

Media Contact

Ron Pence, URC Automation, 1 9147054136, rpence@urc-automation.com, www.urc-automation.com

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SOURCE URC Automation

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Chef Robotics Physical AI Models Can Now Automate Baked Goods Packing

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56 minutes ago

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April 29, 2026

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SAN FRANCISCO, April 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Chef Robotics, a leader in physical AI for the food industry, today announced that Chef robots can now automate tray assembly for baked goods packing. The application places baked products, such as burger buns, chocolate chip cookies, biscotti, butter cookies, biscuits, fortune cookies, granola bars, rusks, and shortbreads into trays and packaging containers before sealing.

Watch Chef robots in action.

Baked goods packing has historically been difficult to automate for high-mix production. Each item behaves differently on the production line—a granola bar compresses under the wrong grip, while a biscotti or rusk can crack if placed at the wrong angle. Surface textures range from glazed and smooth to crumbly and irregular, and strict presentation requirements leave little room for error. This variability has made it challenging for automation systems to reliably handle baked goods at production speeds, leaving food manufacturers dependent on manual labor and traditional bakery equipment.

To address this, Chef built its baked goods packing application on its existing piece-picking capability, which uses Chef’s AI-powered computer vision and physical AI models trained across diverse real-world production environments. This allows Chef robots to assess each item’s position, shape, and orientation in real time and determine how to pick the items from the pan and place them quickly and precisely without damaging them.

The baked goods packing application supports four distinct placement capabilities.

First, Chef’s vision system detects the angle at which each item sits in the pan and reorients it after picking, placing it on the tray at the exact angle required, regardless of its original position, enabling retail-ready presentation for SKUs that require precise angular placement.

Second, Chef robots can place multiple baked goods into the same packaging container in a single automated pass, completing full tray assembly without manual intervention.

Third, for packaging containers with multiple small compartments, Chef robots can precisely place items into each designated section, including multiple items in the same compartment, using Chef’s AI vision model to detect compartment positions and orientations in real time.

Fourth, Chef’s vision system identifies the exact center of each tray and places every item at a predefined offset from that center, ensuring a uniform, consistent arrangement across every pack regardless of how trays arrive on the conveyor.

For food manufacturers evaluating bakery systems and baked goods packaging automation, the application offers higher throughput, reduced labor dependency, and consistent presentation across shifts. The capability runs on Chef’s existing robotic hardware and software, allowing manufacturers to deploy it without requiring any changes to their production lines.

Chef’s baked goods packing application is available in the U.S., Canada, Germany, and the UK and is included as part of Chef’s robotics-as-a-service (RaaS) pricing model.

About Chef Robotics
Chef is the first company to have commercialized a scalable AI-driven food robotics solution. With over 104 million servings made in production, Chef leverages ChefOS, an AI platform for food manipulation, to offer a Robotics-as-a-Service solution that helps industry-leading food companies increase production volume and meet demand. Headquartered in San Francisco, CA, Chef aims to empower humans to do what humans do best by accelerating the advent of intelligent machines. Visit https://chefrobotics.ai to learn more.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/chef-robotics-physical-ai-models-can-now-automate-baked-goods-packing-302756923.html

SOURCE Chef Robotics

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Chef Robotics Physical AI Models Can Now Automate Baked Goods Packing

Published

56 minutes ago

on

April 29, 2026

By

SAN FRANCISCO, April 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Chef Robotics, a leader in physical AI for the food industry, today announced that Chef robots can now automate tray assembly for baked goods packing. The application places baked products, such as burger buns, chocolate chip cookies, biscotti, butter cookies, biscuits, fortune cookies, granola bars, rusks, and shortbreads into trays and packaging containers before sealing.

Watch Chef robots in action.

Baked goods packing has historically been difficult to automate for high-mix production. Each item behaves differently on the production line—a granola bar compresses under the wrong grip, while a biscotti or rusk can crack if placed at the wrong angle. Surface textures range from glazed and smooth to crumbly and irregular, and strict presentation requirements leave little room for error. This variability has made it challenging for automation systems to reliably handle baked goods at production speeds, leaving food manufacturers dependent on manual labor and traditional bakery equipment.

To address this, Chef built its baked goods packing application on its existing piece-picking capability, which uses Chef’s AI-powered computer vision and physical AI models trained across diverse real-world production environments. This allows Chef robots to assess each item’s position, shape, and orientation in real time and determine how to pick the items from the pan and place them quickly and precisely without damaging them.

The baked goods packing application supports four distinct placement capabilities.

First, Chef’s vision system detects the angle at which each item sits in the pan and reorients it after picking, placing it on the tray at the exact angle required, regardless of its original position, enabling retail-ready presentation for SKUs that require precise angular placement.

Second, Chef robots can place multiple baked goods into the same packaging container in a single automated pass, completing full tray assembly without manual intervention.

Third, for packaging containers with multiple small compartments, Chef robots can precisely place items into each designated section, including multiple items in the same compartment, using Chef’s AI vision model to detect compartment positions and orientations in real time.

Fourth, Chef’s vision system identifies the exact center of each tray and places every item at a predefined offset from that center, ensuring a uniform, consistent arrangement across every pack regardless of how trays arrive on the conveyor.

For food manufacturers evaluating bakery systems and baked goods packaging automation, the application offers higher throughput, reduced labor dependency, and consistent presentation across shifts. The capability runs on Chef’s existing robotic hardware and software, allowing manufacturers to deploy it without requiring any changes to their production lines.

Chef’s baked goods packing application is available in the U.S., Canada, Germany, and the UK and is included as part of Chef’s robotics-as-a-service (RaaS) pricing model.

About Chef Robotics
Chef is the first company to have commercialized a scalable AI-driven food robotics solution. With over 104 million servings made in production, Chef leverages ChefOS, an AI platform for food manipulation, to offer a Robotics-as-a-Service solution that helps industry-leading food companies increase production volume and meet demand. Headquartered in San Francisco, CA, Chef aims to empower humans to do what humans do best by accelerating the advent of intelligent machines. Visit https://chefrobotics.ai to learn more.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/chef-robotics-physical-ai-models-can-now-automate-baked-goods-packing-302756923.html

SOURCE Chef Robotics

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Air Products to Expand Industrial Gas Supply for Samsung Electronics’ Next-Generation Semiconductor Fab in South Korea

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56 minutes ago

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April 29, 2026

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New investment underscores the company’s long-term commitment to Korea and its leading role in the global semiconductor industry 

LEHIGH VALLEY, Pa., April 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Air Products (NYSE:APD), a world-leading industrial gases company and serving Samsung globally, today announced it has been selected by Samsung to supply industrial gases for its new advanced semiconductor fab in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea.

Under the agreement, Air Products will build, own and operate multiple state-of-the-art production facilities and a bulk specialty gas supply system to supply nitrogen, oxygen, argon, and hydrogen for Samsung’s new semiconductor fab. The new facilities are expected to come onstream in multiple phases from 2028 through 2030.

Air Products has a long track record of executing multiple phase expansions in Pyeongtaek to support Samsung’s growing manufacturing needs. This latest project represents Air Products’ largest investment to date in the semiconductor industry and will establish Pyeongtaek as the company’s single largest operations site globally supporting the electronics industry. 

“Air Products is honored to be selected once again by Samsung and to have their continued confidence as a trusted partner supporting their strategic growth plans,” said SR Kim, President, Air Products Korea. “This significant investment reinforces Air Products’ role as a leading global supplier to the semiconductor industry and underscores our long-standing commitment to supporting our strategic customers with safety, reliability, efficiency and excellent service.”

Air Products has served the global electronics industry for more than 40 years, supplying industrial gases safely and reliably to many of the world’s leading technology companies. The company has operated in Korea for more than 50 years and has established a strong position in electronics and manufacturing sectors.

About Air Products

Air Products (NYSE: APD) is a world-leading industrial gases company in operation for over 85 years focused on serving energy, environmental, and emerging markets and generating a cleaner future. The Company supplies essential industrial gases, related equipment and applications expertise to customers in dozens of industries, including refining, chemicals, metals, electronics, manufacturing, medical and food. As the leading global supplier of hydrogen, Air Products also develops, engineers, builds, owns and operates some of the world’s largest clean hydrogen projects, supporting the transition to low- and zero-carbon energy in the industrial and heavy-duty transportation sectors. Through its sale of equipment businesses, the Company also provides turbomachinery, membrane systems and cryogenic containers globally.

Air Products had fiscal 2025 sales of $12 billion from operations in approximately 50 countries. For more information, visit airproducts.com or follow us on LinkedIn, X, Facebook or Instagram.

This release contains “forward-looking statements” within the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on management’s expectations and assumptions as of the date of this release and are not guarantees of future performance. While forward-looking statements are made in good faith and based on assumptions, expectations and projections that management believes are reasonable based on currently available information, actual performance and financial results may differ materially from projections and estimates expressed in the forward-looking statements because of many factors, including the risk factors described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2025 and other factors disclosed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Except as required by law, we disclaim any obligation or undertaking to update or revise any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in the assumptions, beliefs or expectations or any change in events, conditions or circumstances upon which any such forward-looking statements are based.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/air-products-to-expand-industrial-gas-supply-for-samsung-electronics-next-generation-semiconductor-fab-in-south-korea-302757497.html

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