John K. Kalua · At work in Northern California · 2026
John K. Kalua & the NuTrend Team
At 90, John is still building—with the NuTrend Team beside him.
Practical problem solving, custom fabrication, and industrial systems built on more than fifty years of field experience. John and the NuTrend Team work with wineries, manufacturers, and communities to understand what is failing and build a responsible path forward.
Still working · Still teaching · Still solving
See the work
Welcome to NuTrend. Explore what John built.
Watch the films or explore the full collection of photographs, equipment, installations, and completed projects.
View all project photos & videos →Champagne Riddler Machine Installation
50+years of field-earned credibility
63people led at Knipschild Dehydration
Wineries · Hospitals · Manufacturingsystems designed, built, repaired, and trusted
Start with the problem
Some challenges do not fit inside a catalog.
John is most valuable when the answer is not obvious, the cost of failure is real, and someone must understand the whole system before changing one part.
Equipment & fabrication
A machine, component, or physical system that is failing, unavailable, unsafe, or no longer supported.
Operations & manufacturing
A recurring bottleneck, costly workaround, or process failure that has resisted ordinary fixes.
Wine & agriculture
A production, material-handling, water, biomass, or infrastructure problem requiring practical field experience.
Wildfire & environmental systems
A complex land, fuel, recovery, or community challenge that must be understood as one connected system.
Get to know NuTrend
The people. The approach. The work ahead.
John’s story
The working education behind fifty years of practical problem solving.
Meet the team
Design, engineering, construction, technology, and business development working together.
Our method
Understand the system, test assumptions, and restore useful function.
Current work
Explore the environmental and manufacturing systems NuTrend is developing.
Proven work. Honest status.
Credibility without exaggeration.
NuTrend distinguishes completed work from current development. Proprietary engineering details remain protected.
Wine & sparkling wine
Gondolas, tanks, crushers, hoppers, riddling systems, racks, catwalks, troubleshooting, and field-built solutions across Napa and Sonoma.
Industrial & public work
Hospital steel, a 120-foot bell tower, specialized retorts, fire-water infrastructure, fabrication systems, and difficult installations.
Wildfire, biomass & recovery
Connected approaches to accumulated biomass, wildfire risk, water, agriculture, manufacturing, and resilient communities.
John at work today
Still agile. Still capable.
Still working.
See John standing on the culvert—a present-day glimpse of the man behind the work. His experience is more than a historical record: John remains actively involved in NuTrend’s practical problem solving, with the team beside him.
Legacy is not only what was built before. It is the ability to recognize what is still possible—and prepare a pathway for it now.
See what NuTrend is developing →Start with what needs to happen.
You do not have to arrive with the answer.
Bring us your problem