Freudenberg’s Tillsonburg Facility Worked Overtime to Help Restore Power to Storm-Ravaged Communities
Plymouth, Mich., May 30, 2018. Floods. Wildfires. Hurricanes. Heat waves. 2017 was a challenging year for millions of people, but some of the environmental distress they endured was diminished when electricity could be quickly restored to their homes and communities. Freudenberg-NOK Sealing Technologies played a key role in helping get those lights back on. The company runs the business operations for Freudenberg Sealing Technologies in the Americas.
In response to rising demand for the insulators required to restore downed power systems, employees at Freudenberg-NOK’s Tillsonburg, Ontario plant doubled their production of silicone rubber-covered fiberglass core rod during the second half of the year. The silicone covered rod is an essential component used in the production of high performance guy strain insulators that are manufactured by K-LINE INSULATORS, LIMITED, of Toronto, Canada (K-LINE). K-LINE’s advanced silicone rubber guy strain insulators are used in power transmission and distribution applications throughout the world and improve system reliability while stemming system losses. Recent hurricanes in the U.S. and Caribbean have dramatically increased the need for insulators, far outstripping past supply.
“We have a long-standing relationship with K-LINE, and when the company came to us with an urgent need for more silicone rubber-covered rod, we pushed our production capabilities into high gear,” said Todd Blair, Business Development Manager for the Tillsonburg facility. “Our ability to quickly react and support our customer with a much needed increase in material further solidified our business with K-LINE.”
Tillsonburg encapsulates fiberglass rod in silicone rubber and cures it for K-LINE. The coated rod is impervious to moisture and other environmental degradation, while maintaining a very high insulating value.
“K-LINE IINSULATORS supplies a premium product to its utility customers and when disasters like last year’s hurricanes strike, the company prides itself on being able to respond to customers’ critical product needs,” said A.J. (Tony) Carreira, President of K-LINE. “K-LINE has valued Freudenberg-NOK’s supply partner relationship for many years.”
Throughout its long partnership with K-LINE, Tillsonburg has vigorously pursued product and process improvements in its work, Blair noted. For example, the plant is exploring how to more efficiently bond the rubber to the rod through an alternate process that would not only lower costs but also facilitate lean production by combining multiple batch operations into a single line operation.
“We produce a very high-quality product for K-LINE, but we are still very proactive in meeting with their engineers and entire team to discuss potential product and process improvements,” Blair said. “We share what we are working on, they share what they are working on and as a result, we are both better able to respond to the market.”
And Freudenberg’s efforts to build such dynamic communications with K-LINE has yielded other results as well. In December, K-LINE presented Tillsonburg with its 2017 Supplier Partner Achievement Award, for exceptional quality and delivery metrics and exceptional cooperation.
Suggested photo caption: Freudenberg-NOK’s Tillsonburg, Ont., Can. facility was able to increase production of the silicone rubber-covered fiberglass core rod that K-LINE INSULATORS uses to manufacture guy strain insulators, thus helping address an industry material shortage driven by last year’s extreme weather and hurricanes.
Media Contacts:
Cheryl Eberwein, Director, Media Relations
Office: +1 734 354 7373
E-Mail: cheryl.eberwein@fnst.com
About Freudenberg-NOK Sealing Technologies
Freudenberg-NOK Sealing Technologies is the Americas joint venture between Freudenberg and Co. in Germany and NOK Corp. in Japan. Freudenberg-NOK is a leading producer of advanced sealing technologies for a variety of markets including: aerospace; agriculture; appliance; automotive; construction; diesel engine; energy; food and beverage; heavy industry; and pharmaceutical. Founded in 1989 under the legal name Freudenberg-NOK General Partnership, Freudenberg-NOK is headquartered in Plymouth, Mich. and operates more than 20 facilities across the Americas. For additional information, please visit www.fnst.com.
