Three Generations

When Felice and Donato Maldari came to Little Italy, New York City in 1903 from Southern Italy and started the first pasta die making plant in the United States, pasta dies were made the old-fashioned way -- by laboriously punching holes in thick copper discs, and by chiseling and filing the excess metal of the outside diameter. After three generations, the Maldari's, while maintaining their facilities in Brooklyn, are still making dies for the pasta industry, but they are no longer relying on the power of strong arms. Modern technology, creative thinking and business savvy are key elements to their continued success. A few decades ago, there were about seven or eight pasta die makers in the United States. Today, D. Maldari & Sons, Inc. is the only one left. Dan and Chris respectively the president and vice president and grandsons of the founder have maintained the success through constant innovation.

Maldari's survival from the very beginning has been driven through constant innovation. The hand-punching methods were replaced by hand-driven drill presses in 1905. Two years later, power-driven drill presses and lathes were drafted into service. As copper, with its property of malleability was unable to withstand the greater pressures of the rapidly improving pasta extruders, the problem was to find a material which was not too difficult to machine, yet strong enough to withstand the factors brought on by increased production. This was solved by the selection of a bronz alloy, still widely used today.

Pasta makers, however, demanded a better material with a higher yield point to prevent bowing under the higher pressures, and stainless steel was selected subsequently followed by aluminum bronze. While stainless steel was more wear-resistant than bronze, its low coefficient of thermal conductivity retained heat, generated during operation, extruding a product with poor texture, and a whitish appearance. To overcome this characteristic, in 1955, Maldari started to make inserts of bronze alloy for the dies, a milestone in the industry. That same year, Maldari introduced the use of a Teflon lining in the inserts, as a way of producing a smoother texture more pleasing to the eye of the consumer. Incidentally, Maldari first started using Teflon in 1953 when it developed a die for a Kellogg's dog food in the form of a steak. It was not a very auspicious beginning because the course product took a heavy toll on the Teflon, and it was discontinued. For pasta, however, Teflon turned out to be almost perfect. This innovation was copied shortly by the Italians, and became universal.

In an effort to reduce production costs and improve quality, the company acquired three automated and fully computerized pantograph machines.

Today, D. Maldari & Sons is flexible enough to cope with any contingencies. State of the Art equipment stand ready to operate around the clock to meet any emergency which may arise. Should any problem require personal attention at its source, Maldari personnel stand by ready to meet with all concerned individuals.

Supported by continuing advanced technology and three dimensional CAD CAM stations, computer programmers have the capability of designing varying configurations and immediately draw up required programs which are transmitted directly to the NC (numerical control) equipment Simulated tool path generation assures both accuracy and quality with the finished products.

For almost a century, Maldari has made it a policy to keep pace with the most modern developments in automated equipment, machinery and design processes, providing customers with prompt dependable service and products precisely machined to extremely close tolerances.