Hutchinson prepares new products for new vehicles

PARIS—New vehicle technologies means new requirements for suppliers, and Hutchinson S.A. already is getting ahead of those opportunities.

The firm, which is the third largest non-tire rubber manufacturer in the world, boasts a strong automotive presence. Its Body Sealing Systems unit accounts for about $995.3 million of the group's overall sales—which came in at $4.86 billion. Overall, the group generates about $3.7 billion in sales from its automotive units, the rest in aerospace.

Its Body Sealing Systems unit operates 23 plants with 9,000 employees in all major regions—Europe, the Americas and Asia-Pacific. Tristan De Montlivault, Body Sealing Systems vice president of business development, said the unit's products are found in nine of the top 10 auto makers in the world.

The unit's global footprint gives it an advantage as OEMs are moving toward a global platform.

"All the major OEMs are looking at what the other is doing," said Olivier Blottiau, Body Sealing Systems innovation manager. "There are more and more global programs now. To be able to produce everywhere in the world is very, very important."

It's safe to say that as the automotive industry changes, Hutchinson will be there to adapt with it. The unit most recently opened a new facility in Poland. De Montlivault said Hutchinson is targeting other expansion opportunities both in Asia-Pacific and the Americas regions.

Body Sealing Systems operates in three primary product groups: Static sealing for the glass-run channel; and dynamic sealing to cover openings in the automobile, such as the doors, sunroof and tailgate.

The third area is the newest—its glass encapsulation business. Those seals occur in the areas of the car where there is a static piece of glass, like the triangle at the back of the automobile that never opens or the rear-view mirror. Instead of using steel, Hutchinson provides the glass fixed with a thermoplastic vulcanizate and reinforced with a div bar made from a polyamide or polypropylene plastic compound.

"We have created this specific family of products, glass encapsulation, because it is a success story specific to Hutchinson," Blottiau said. "All of the sealing system suppliers have static and dynamic sealing products, but regarding glass encapsulation, it's one of the innovations at Hutchinson. We've had more OEMs go to this technology."

The result is reduced weight—up to 50 percent when replacing steel with the div bar—and a single part supplied to the OEM instead of the manufacturer receiving the glass, gasket and the div bar separately.

"The advantage of this encapsulation is very important for electric vehicles," Blottiau said. "We can save weight, and there is an advantage with regard to styling. We also have an advantage regarding NVH. The gap does not exist with our module, reducing wind noise. With electric vehicles, the level of wind noise will be more and more important because it won't be covered by the engine anymore."

According to Blottiau it's been a success within original equipment manufacturers. The demand began in Europe, but is now spreading to the Asia-Pacific and Americas regions.

"It was more or less European before, but now it's becoming a global business," De Montlivault said. "We have a fully automated process that helps us provide a competitive price and its weight-saving benefits are one of the main focuses of our customers."

Hutchinson said another advantage it has over its competitors are its innovation houses—Fab House 507 and 616 located in Paris and Grand Rapids, Mich., respectively. The firm has plans to establish another one in China in the coming months.

De Montlivault said these innovation hubs provide the group with a place to welcome clients, organize events, engage best practices, develop cross fertilization, reduce time to market and invent new business models.

Blottiau said globally the firm is managing cabin noise on two different fronts. One is through trials within the labs at its testing and innovation centers. Acoustic issues can be investigated within any of its research and development centers, allowing it to find and address weak points within the vehicle.

The second front is simulation, which Blottiau said allows the supplier to get out in front of any issues before the firm develops tooling. The technology is relatively new, but he added it gives Hutchinson a competitive edge.

"If you do all of the analysis based on benchmarking, you need to have the parts to make the measurement," Blottiau said. "When the part exists, you've launched all the tooling. But if you have an issue with the acoustic performance, you can't change anything because the scale of the development would be too short. You'd have to manage it with a foam or patch that isn't very efficient and is more expensive. Using simulation, you can have some results before launching all the manufacturing tooling."