Service Plus helps customers customize Trelleborg experience

FORT WAYNE, Ind.—Trelleborg Sealing Solutions has amassed many different capabilities through its various acquisitions.

Now, it's bringing them together in a streamlined way for customers to take advantage of.

The firm's Service Plus program is designed to give original equipment manufacturers across all industries a customized approach to solving their most complex problems.

"It's designed to help customers simplify their processes in every part of their value chain," said Heather Castleman, director of strategic initiatives and services for Trelleborg Sealing Solutions. "It's all about the customer and our ability to help add value to them as they try to accomplish their goals and objectives for their businesses."

The firm seeks to work with its customers to understand their manufacturing process and overall goals, then help guide them to the services that will best complement them. The Service Plus program has four main pillars—engineering, logistics, manufacturing and aftermarket.

"We're trying to help the customer improve the total cost of ownership of our product while also increasing their throughput within their own manufacturing processes so they can deliver more value to their business quickly," Castleman said. "It's not a one-size-fits-all approach. Every customer is different and as a result we have different services that different customers would find valuable."

On the engineering front, Trelleborg seeks to provide easy access to information about the different applications for Trelleborg's sealing products. Castleman said this includes digital tools, rapid prototyping and other support to make the front-end design process and new product development more efficient.

"Customers get functional samples quickly so they can prove out their design process and bring their products to market in a more optimized and efficient way," Castleman said. "We can do a variety of simulations that show how sealing systems perform within an application, as well as in-house lab testing. There's a lot we can do on the engineering side that can help customers bring new products to the market more quickly."

With logistics, Trelleborg tries to optimize the customer's internal supply chain by simplifying the replenishment process. Castleman said this could occur by consolidating vendors and having Trelleborg manage different vendors and stock levels.

Trelleborg also offers a seal scan system that allows customers to replenish based on usage.

"As customers' production schedules change, they can be assured that the products that they need for their line are available and ready to use," Castleman said. "It gives the customer a lot of flexibility in their manufacturing processes overall."

Trelleborg tries to take on some of its customers' manufacturing process internally through sub-component assembly. Castleman said rather than just providing seals, gaskets or bearings—whatever the product may be—and having the customer install them, Trelleborg will assume that responsibility by taking their components and install its seals, delivering a finished sub-assembly to the customer's production line.

"That gives the customer the ability to manage a single supplier," Castleman said. "The seal installation can be tricky. Since we have that knowledge, we make sure that they get the highest quality. They have a single vendor and a single SKU to manage, and they can be confident that the quality of that installation is correct."

The final pillar is aftermarket support—Trelleborg assists its customers in better controlling their aftermarket. Castleman said this includes doing some private branding and specialized packaging solutions.

"We have a variety of different packaging solutions," Castleman said. "We're mindful that our customer's customer is often in environments that are potentially dirty or have a contamination component to them. Our ability to provide packaging that's resistant to these environmental conditions helps ensure quality as repairs are being done."

Castleman said the program is constantly evolving as Trelleborg continues to expand its capabilities through acquisition. Most of the capabilities it offers through the Service Plus program have come from many of the deals it's made in the last decade.

The firm's 2007 deal to acquire Sealing Solutions gave Trelleborg deep insight into advanced delivery systems. Castleman said adding Anderson Seal—a deal it completed in 2017—helped the firm learn more about just-in-time delivery and additional component assembly.

"Many of the acquisitions that we've done are strong, independent distributors," Castleman said. "They've forged lasting relationships with their customers. Our approach in these integrations is to do what we call best of both. We want to take the best of both organizations—the legacy Trelleborg organization and the newly acquired business—and create scalable solutions that enables us to serve all of our customers. Service Plus is a great example of that."