Freudenberg Sealing Technologies (Freudenberg) has opened a dedicated engineering service centre in the town of Ashland in New Hampshire, US – also home to the company’s oil seal facility. The company was prompted to take the Ashland centre from its 2016 concept to reality by a rapid growth in North American customer requests for sophisticated validation and performance analysis in global radial shaft seal operations.
The new, 3,100-sq.-ft. centre offers customers access to advanced testing protocols and validation measures that can save them both time and money. It is equipped with state-of-the-art test rigs and similar equipment that can track everything from pressure, temperature, frictional torque and speed capabilities to changes in mechanical properties, characterisation of tribological system interactions, leak detection and failure analysis in seals and sealing components.
Radial shaft seals have use in seemingly unlimited industrial applications – from tiny seals for use in micro actuators to massive designs for ship engines. Freudenberg initially offered radial shaft seal services to customers through its 16,200-sq.-ft. Engineering Service Center in Weinheim, Germany – the German service centre is one of the largest testing centres in the world and houses over 260 test rigs.
Marcel Santos, Global Director of Business Development Engineering Services said many customers are now opting to defer or even cancel the purchase and operation of their own test rigs since the diverse and individualised testing introduced through Freudenberg. In addition, customers using large or difficult-to-install seal applications have found it easier, faster and less costly to request that Freudenberg manage their product testing.
“While Freudenberg Sealing Technologies has long offered testing as an option to our customers, establishing a separate, dedicated engineering service unit takes product testing capabilities to a new level of sophistication and access,” Santos noted. “We can run 24 hours a day and have already developed and invested in the newest testing equipment available. Now, with engineering centres in both North America and Europe, we can handle customer service requests from any region.”
As the largest oil seal distributor in the world, Freudenberg Sealing Technologies has access to plenty of product and application data points that can be referenced to offer a deep analysis of product capabilities. The new service centre is “able to run the tailored tests that our customers need, when they need them, providing fast results and offering guidance on the right solutions,” according to Dr. Matthias Adler, Head of Global Material Development & Global Engineering Services for Oil Seals Industry.