SIDNEY — The year 2023 continued to be another rewarding one for KLINGER Thermoseal in Sidney, Ohio.

“Around this time last year, KLINGER Thermoseal was adjusting to the Houston, Texas division spinoff and repositioning of the metallic gasket operation.” Reported KLINGER Thermoseal’s Managing Director and President Scott Peters. A year after the Texas branch separated and merged with our sister company, KLINGER GPI, the revenue and employee headcount continued to climb. “The split allowed the Sidney location to focus on the manufacturing of one of its newer products, extruded rubber and to provide a roadmap for the beginning of the new startup, KLINGER RCM USA,” said Peters.

Peters’ report continues:

In 2023, our rubber extrusion sales grew nearly 100% while our delivery times shortened. This was due to several factors. A new heat-activated taping system (HATS) was acquired thus expanding our lamination offerings. Additionally, our new EDM wire cutting machine now allows us to produce custom dies in house. This speeds up tooling time and lessens the dependence on outside tooling vendors. We also celebrated our own workforce producing our 100th die. A third and larger extruder was purchased and is expected to be online in early 2024. The addition of the new extruder will greatly increase our production capacity and further improve efficiencies, expand our profile size capabilities and support further business development.

Our 25,000-plus square foot addition built exclusively for the new startup company, KLINGER RCM USA, was completed in 2023. In spite of global supply chain challenges and shipping disruptions, the first production coating line was received and will be in operation midyear. Operating and monitoring systems supporting the new rubber coated metal production are currently in process. Rubber Coated Metal is a steel-based sealing material that is coated with a thin rubber layer on each side. Stamped parts are used for brake shim materials and engineered gaskets.

Multiple building upgrades and facility improvements were ongoing throughout 2023 and additional business systems will be implemented during 2024.

In addition to KLINGER Thermoseal’s continued economic growth during 2023, the Sidney workforce grew 17% and we continue to look for new talent. As we move into 2024, a new leadership team was established naming Brad Nuss the general manager and group CFO and Jodi Fox the director of sales. The new appointments reinforce KLINGER’s commitment to investing and growing our Sidney companies.

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 over 135 years ago near Vienna, Austria. The group of global companies operates a network in over 60 countries.