1958
The working education begins
At 19, John joined Knipschild Dehydration. He learned the trades in the field and eventually supervised a 63-person operation.
NuTrend Enterprises
History & Published Recognition
The history behind the promise
Before “It’s No Problem” was a method,
it was how John worked.
NuTrend’s future is credible because it grows from decades of completed work. This history is not decoration—it is the evidence behind the way John sees a system.
1960s–70s
K&K Metal Construction
John and Fred Knipschild built equipment and infrastructure for wineries, hospitals, churches, and industrial facilities across Northern California.
Late 1970s
Automation for sparkling wine
John developed the Very Large Machine—known as the Riddler or VLM—to automate the gradual turning and tilting of sparkling-wine bottles.
1980s–90s
A wider field of problems
Lakeport fabrication expanded into specialized retorts, public works equipment, packaging, food processing, fiberglass systems, and custom construction.
Today
NuTrend carries the method forward
John and the NuTrend Team are applying the same whole-system thinking to biomass, filtration, wildfire resilience, circular manufacturing, and the difficult problems clients bring next.
The article that documented the work
Recognized then.
Still building now.
In September 1976, a national construction magazine introduced John K. Kalua to its readers as an inventor, engineer, metal fabricator, contractor, and problem solver. The history that follows explains how that recognition was earned—and why John is still working today.
John K. Kalua: A Merit Shop Milestone
The national magazine profiled John at 39 as the Associated Builders and Contractors’ 10,000th member and presented K&K Metal Construction as a fast-growing St. Helena company serving Napa Valley’s wine country.
- Identified John as an inventor, engineer, metal fabricator, and contractor.
- Reported that K&K was approaching $1 million in annual construction volume and growing approximately 30% per year.
- Documented the patented “Safe Lock” hook, mercury-recovery equipment, dredging systems, and winery-system designs.
- Recorded “It’s No Problem” as John’s familiar response when others needed an answer.
- Credited John with designing and constructing the Pacific Union College bell tower in Angwin.
“If I know the problem, I can solve it.”
Domaine Chandon: The First French-Owned California Sparkling Wine Cellar
In John H. Wright’s oral history, Wright recalls that Domaine Chandon production leader Gino Zepponi took a large-scale riddling concept to John K. Kalua. Wright describes John as especially capable of reducing ideas to practice and credits him with the practical design of the Very Large Machine.
The system increased capacity from roughly 400 bottles to approximately 4,000 while still using two motors. Wright said the large machine worked better than the smaller machines in some respects—an institutional account of John’s role in scaling sparkling-wine automation.
The transcript misspells John’s surname as “Kahlua.” John’s reference appears on PDF page 105 in the supplied archival copy.
View the UC Berkeley archival record ↗This is a growing record. Additional publications, photographs, and archival sources will be added as they are located and verified.