SIDNEY — In the industrial sector, 2022 was once again plagued with multiple external inputs converging all at once. The ongoing and lingering uncertainty brought on by the pandemic and supply chain disruptions interfered with business planning and proactive activities.

“Despite 2022’s challenges, our annual sales exceeded our goal,” reported KLINGER Thermoseal’s Managing Director Scott Peters. “And we continued to grow our people and our businesses.”

2022 began with the promise of a return to business as usual, however generationally high inflation and recession concerns characterized the year. KLINGER Thermoseal was resilient overcoming these economic uncertainties but still continues to feel the effects along with ongoing raw material constraints and never-before-seen freight and logistics expenses.

Peters said positive activities include:

2022 marked the 40th anniversary of our flagship product, KLINGERSIL. The compressed non-asbestos gasket sheet revolutionized the industry replacing asbestos fibers with aramid fibers. Since then, many grades of KLINGERSIL have been developed using different rubber binders and reinforcement fibers.

To reduce transit times and shipping costs to our west coast customers, we introduced a fulfillment warehouse in Arizona. The additional warehouse showed an increase in customer satisfaction during its first year of operation.

Despite a tough labor market, our employee headcount grew throughout the year. We added a new key position and hired a project engineer dedicated to major capital projects and continuous improvement initiatives. We increased our labor force and with that, hired two new production supervisors. Even with the newly hired employees, our average employee service years in Sidney is 17 years. Our experienced staff validates our continued efforts to exceed our customers’ expectations.

Our rubber extrusion production, still in its early years, has ramped up to a full-scale manufacturing operation. We produce finished products in a variety of shapes and compounds, specializing in custom closed cell sponge profiles. Post-production services include splicing, lamination, cutting, packaging and spooling. Even more exciting, we added a second production shift to support the increased business.

We planned and supported a new business startup in 2022, and we transferred that business into a new entity, KLINGER RCM USA. Rubber Coated Metal is a steel-based sealing material that is coated with a thin rubber layer on each side. The final end product is used for damping shims on brakes and seals in engines, pumps and compressors. There are few rubber coated metal manufacturers in the US and we will expand our global expertise into the North American market.

We recently broke ground for the new 25,000+ SF addition for KLINGER RCM USA. The new structure is expected to be completed summer 2023 and the new equipment and machinery will be in operation by the end of 2023.

After nine years of continuous growth, our Houston, Texas branch spun off to our sister company, KLINGER GPI on Jan. 1, 2023. The repositioning of the metallic gasket manufacturing operation and sales outlet supports KLINGER GPI’s regional customer base for end-user products and our overall global market segment strategy.

Also, in 2023, we will continue to invest in equipment and processes as we look to make improvements in the manufacture of SEALEX, our PTFE joint sealant.

2023 will be a busy year for us and our overall outlook is cautious but positive as the economy is expected to battle the combined effects of inflation and an anticipated recession.

KLINGER Thermoseal’s sealing materials are found virtually everywhere fluids or gases have to be safely contained or moved through pipelines and systems. The KLINGER Group is the world’s leading manufacturer and provider of industrial sealing, fluid control and fluid monitoring systems. The Group was founded 135 years ago near Vienna, Austria. The Group of global companies operates a network in over 60 countries.