Freudenberg-NOK plans expansion in Indiana

Morristown, Indiana — Freudenberg-NOK said it will pursue a 20,000 sq.-ft. expansion to its 65,000-sq.-ft. facility in Morristown, creating an estimated 75 new jobs and investing $20 million (€17.77 million) during the next five years.

The expansion is still pending formal approval from all Indiana work force and incentive programs, the firm said in a 11 June release.

The plant employs 266 and produces product for both the general industry and automotive customers, including off-set seals, transmissions seals, fuel system seals, driveline seals and diaphragms. It produces more than 100 million components annually.

“Freudenberg-NOK’s Morristown facility provides highly-engineered, custom sealing components to general industry and automotive customers in the Americas and around the world. It is absolutely essential that we invest in this facility and its work with what has become a burgeoning customer base,” Freudenberg-NOK President Theodore Duclos said in a statement. “We are happy to invest in the success of this facility and the greater Morristown region with this construction. This expansion will help us better serve crucial markets with highly innovative, quality products.”

The firm recently said it will invest about $8.6 million and create about 25 jobs to increase its automotive sealing facility in Findlay, Ohio, by 43,000 square feet and increase production by about 25 percent. The site is currently housed in a 50,000-sq.-ft. building.

Freudenberg-NOK is a joint venture between Freudenberg and Co. in Germany and NOK Corp. in Japan. The firm produces advanced sealing technologies for a variety of markets such as automotive, aerospace, construction and agriculture among others. Headquartered in Plymouth, Michigan, the firm operates more than 20 facilities in the Americas.