SIDNEY — During 2020, Thermoseal Inc., like so many other companies, faced many challenges due to the ever-changing COVID-19 situation. Scott Peters, president and managing director reported: The first two months of 2020 provided a very strong start to the year. The economic and psychological shock that rippled through the world in March definitely changed our course. Despite all of the obstacles we faced with the pandemic, we had many positive accomplishments.
His report continues:
We were able to maintain all of our employees in Sidney and at our Houston, Texas, plant. In addition, we added several new key employees. As an essential supplier of goods and services to critical infrastructure industries, we maintained the supply chain to our customers throughout the US without disruption.
In previous years, our US growth was focused outside of Shelby County. The next phase of our development is a repositioning of our Sidney manufacturing facility in new products and processes. That effort is well underway.
We made several improvements in our factory, including the remodel of our onsite QA testing lab. Significant system upgrades were implemented to our processes. New products were added to our product portfolio including KLINGER Kempchen baffle seals and special corrugated gaskets for heat exchangers. These special seals bring German-engineered solutions to the US market. We also added several other metallic and semi-metallic gaskets that provide exceptional strength and superior surface sealing in harsh conditions.
A new manufacturing process line was added in Sidney to make custom rubber extrusions for seals, gaskets, frames and other applications. Typical materials for this process include EPDM, Neoprene and other organic rubber compounds in dense sponge. Applications for this product include seals for Original Equipment Manufacturers in a variety of industries and functions, HVAC, and long stretches requiring dust and water sealing such as one may find on RVs and aftermarket truck and trailer products.
A second production line will be added in April 2021 that will increase our production capacity. And the addition of a new PSA laminator will expand our capabilities.
A new digital service for our customers was launched in April. GEP (Gasket Estimating Program) is a powerful quoting tool for gasket fabricators. The web-based program is completely customizable and easy to use. Users can efficiently and easily determine sheet yield and estimate costs for manufacturing finished gaskets based on their own materials, labor and packaging costs.
Perhaps our most significant achievement came at the end of 2020. We announced our name change to KLINGER Thermoseal. The name change and rebrand align us with the globally active network of KLINGER Group companies. A new website was launched that includes technical data and a collection of white papers to assist our customers in the field. New products were added and improvements were also made to our webstore.
Looking forward in 2021, we anticipate manufacturing in the US will improve and our outlook is promising.
The KLINGER Group, headquartered in Gumpoldskirchen, Austria has been the world’s leading manufacturer and provider of industrial sealing, fluid control and fluid monitoring systems for over 130 years. The global network has production, sales and service sites in more than 60 countries. Other US companies include KLINGER IGI in Wilsonville, Oregon and KLINGER GPI in west Texas.
