Trelleborg Sealing Solutions will officially open its new Stuttgart, Germany, headquarters and research and development center in September.
The facility, Trelleborg said in an Aug. 21 statement, increases TSS' research space by 50 percent to about 32,300 square feet, and includes a 3,200-square-foot showroom where the department can display its product innovation capabilities. Personnel are already beginning to move into the newly expanded facility.
Trelleborg makes seals using both plastics and rubber.
In addition to serving as a hub for product and materials innovation, the unit includes laboratories for analytical equipment and measurement, innovation and prototype facilities. It also features a big test area with a fully equipped tool room and a materials laboratory. This combination,will increase analytical and technical capabilities of TSS, according to Konrad Saur, director global R&D at Trelleborg Sealing Solutions.
"With such capabilities working in combination, complex problems can be assessed and brought to resolution rapidly," Saur said.
The capabilities will range from standard mechanical testing to material analytics. These include thermal gravimetric analysis, digital scanning calorimetry and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy.
With the integrated format of the facility, Trelleborg said, no time is lost shipping samples from lab to lab, while turnaround times and iterative assessment are possible due to the colocation of cross-functional competencies.
"These capabilities support material and product development efforts, fundamental research of sealing designs and interactions in sealing systems," Saur said.
One of the main service expectations from TSS is customer and field problems resolution, and the new unit is designed to help that area, he added
The new center also is home to the Trelleborg Sealing Solutions global headquarters, its German headquarters and some global support departments for the business area.
