In May, Gary VanWambeke, Chief Technology Officer of Freudenberg Sealing Technologies (FST), visited the Lead Center Accumulators in Remagen in order to gain a personal impression of the production facilities.
Gary VanWambeke, accompanied by Dr. Boris Jakobi of Division Components visited Remagen to gain insight into their unique business within FST. Mr. VanWambeke was impressed not only by the product and production process, but also by the team’s profound knowledge of hydraulic technologies, which the employees presented with great enthusiasm. “I’m always impressed by the knowledge employees in our facilities have about our products and the applications they support. The Remagen Team members are great salespeople for our company. We should encourage customers to visit our facilities to learn firsthand about FST,” he said.
Lead Center Accumulators, manufactures piston and diaphragm accumulators as well as complete hydraulic modules. These are mainly used in hydraulic mobile solutions and front axle suspension systems. FST supplies primarily to customers in general industry in the fields of agriculture, construction machinery, and fluid power. However, there are also new fields of application for accumulators with respect to new mobility solutions. There is great potential for hydro-pneumatic suspension systems for electric vehicles, especially for the Chinese market.
Important components used for accumulators, such as diaphragms and steel shells, are produced by FST: Diaphragms are delivered from Lead Center Diaphragms in Reichelsheim, while the steel parts are manufactured at FST’s Czech partner production facility in Chrastava.
The visitors were impressed by the high level of value add and automation in production, as demonstrated by the process for diaphragm accumulators. Here, two shell halves are welded together using cutting edge electron beam welding equipment, and connections for gas and oil inlet are attached using metal active gas welding (MAG).
The LC’s vertical integration and process innovation has been a key part of their industry leading position in manufacturing and product technology.
