Conaway Development Industries, Inc.
Principal Profile: Everett T. Conaway
Founding Member
Inventor
“Everett Conaway, or “Conny” as he is called by his hundreds of friends on the Eastern Shore and around the world, has prided himself on knowing every nook and corner of that unique peninsula between Chesapeake Bay and the Atlantic Ocean during his long tenure in the Poultry Processing Equipment Business.”
Although that statement is still true today, those words are borrowed from an article about Barker Poultry Equipment Company written about Conny in 1955! We are now some 50 years later, and Conny is still active at age 92, having patented his newest invention, the Soft Filament Feather Removal System, (The SOFR System) as recently as 2003.
Conny designed and built some of earliest processing plants for the legends in the industry like Allen Family Foods, Preston Townsend and Frank Perdue, and many of the plants all across the United States are still operating today. Over these many years, Conny built and maintained his impeccable reputation for knowledge, innovation and service. Perhaps that is why he was the first, and for a number of years the only processing equipment member of the advisory committee of Delmarva Poultry Industry, Inc., an association for the betterment of the poultry industry on the Peninsula.
While always dedicated to the improvement of the quality of poultry products that ultimately reach consumers, Conny has marketed his own adaptive innovations and inventions under the mantle of his owner/operated companies like PEECO, COPEC and Conaway Development Industries, Inc. He has also served as a national and/or international distributor for many of the world’s premier equipment manufacturers, including: Barker, Gainesville and LINCO Food Systems before his retirement.
Always vigilant towards the industry he loved and helped to found, however, Conny remained concerned and frustrated that even after 70 plus years of growth in the poultry industry, that there was still a tolerance for the bacteria levels and the residual rubber byproduct contamination associated with typical rubber finger defeathering. He also maintains that a significant “yield” for processors is 
being literally pounded out of the poultry, and left on the picking room floor. Shunning his peacefulretirement in 2001, he challenged himself to find a 21st century solution to this age old problem. Conny, with long-timeassociate and experienced field engineer, Ralph Riggleman, went to work in their humble laboratory. Aided by the support of the very forward thinking Dupont Company who has become an integral part of the CDI/SOFR System team, a unique Dupont Tynex filament constructed and built into a Patented Tuft arrangement, has proved to be the solution he has been seeking. In fact, the SOFR system with Dupont Tynex Filaments is proving successful beyond any expectations! Conny is now committed to sharing this revolutionary innovation with processing industry.
If one is familiar with the poultry processing industry, the name Everett (Conny) Conaway is familiar to you. If new to the industry, we hope this brief summary of Mr. Everett T. Conaway’s background gives you some insight into the credibility, integrity and determination of this true pioneer.
Jesse Frederick-Conaway
President
Chief Financial Officer
Ralph Riggleman
Founding Member
Senior Engineer & Technical Consultant
Harry Cook
Sr. Vice President, Co-Owner
Chief Operations Officer