Mission and History

Since its formation in 1983, The CORD Group Limited mission has been to enhance human performance in extreme environments through research and evaluation of protection technology.  

CORD conducts and coordinates research and testing, and provides evaluations of protection apparel and equipment technology through field and laboratory testing, using both humans and manikins.

In 1985, CORD designed and developed a Thermal Instrumented Manikin Test System (TIM) for evaluating comfort levels of protection apparel, including thermal insulation and vapour transmission. Utilizing TIMTwe provide thermal testing and evaluation in aid of product research and development, as well as, standards approval for various apparel manufacturers.

CORD also conducts human performance testing on protective clothing ensembles.  The company has been contracted to test and evaluate a wide variety of garments from high-tech military products, to marine and aviation immersion suits, to leisure products such as snowmobile and windsurfing suits, and sleeping bags.

Additionally, CORD has extensive experience conducting human factors research and consulting for the military and government agencies like the National Energy Board and the Canadian Coast Guard.

TIM IV, is a robust, finished product intended for both research and commercial testing applications, and is available for purchase or lease.  It is built to a standard design, thoroughly tested and shipped to the customer as a complete package.  TIM as fifteen separate temperature controlled sections, is fully immersible in water, and utilizes Windows based software.  The British Defence Research Agency currently has a TIM II and TIM III in operation at their facility in Farnborough, England.

The design and development of TIM was driven by CORD's own testing experience, and by the stringent requirements of our customers.  These same factors have taken CORD to the leading edge in our development of a Thermal Observation Manikin (TOM), for comfort evaluation.  TOM was designed in collaboration with Kansas State University Institute of Environmental Research in the final stages of fabrication of three thermal comfort manikins.