Our History

J.M. Lapeyre (middle) felt he had a responsibility to the shrimp industry. He grew up with it, saw a need to do things better and went ahead and did it.

Video

History of Laitram Machinery
--6 mins

Peeling shrimp is easy if you only have a few pounds, but what do you do if you have thousands of pounds? Before 1949, all shrimp peeling was done manually, as was washing, deveining and grading. This exhaustive and time-consuming method greatly limited the growth potential of the shrimp processing industry worldwide.

The concept of automated shrimp peeling came about by coincidence. J.M. Lapeyre, while working in his father's shrimp plant in Louisiana, inadvertently stepped on a shrimp with his rubber boot. Upon close examination, Lapeyre found that the shrimp meat had ejected cleanly out of its shell, without sustaining any damage. Subsequent boot-to-floor tests duplicated these results.

Challenged by what he saw, Lapeyre went on to conduct tests with his mother's washing machine, which at the time consisted of rubber rollers.

With the exception of heavy slime buildup on the rollers, the experiment proved to be promising. Lapeyre then added running water and a mechanical pressure feed to the rudimentary peeling process, setting the stage for the development of today's shrimp peelers.

In May 1949, Lapeyre founded Laitram Machinery, Inc. and went on to manufacture and sell the first automatic shrimp peeling machine, the Model A Peeler. "J.M. felt he had a responsibility to the shrimp peeling industry," says a business associate. "He grew up with it, saw a need to do things better and went ahead and did it."

Today, shrimp processors in over 40 countries around the world use a modified version of Lapeyre's first peeler. The company now manufactures processing systems for the cleaning, peeling, deveining and grading of most cold and warm water shrimp species. In addition, Laitram’s product line includes continuous steam cookers and immersion chillers, as well as shrimp grading systems.

At Laitram Machinery, Inc., innovation and success go hand in hand.