Vernay Evolves As Diverse, Global Entity By Building On Long-Time Capabilities
(Reprinted with permission of R&PN)
Written By: Brad Dawson of Rubber & Plastics News
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YELLOW SPRINGS, Ohio – When you’re in your 62nd year of business, the easiest – and sometimes smartest – strategy is to make as few changes as possible. After all, if you’ve been around that long, you must be doing something right.
But the rubber industry in the past 10 years has rewarded primarily the companies that are willing to change and adapt to difficult economic conditions and globalization. The decision-makers at Vernay Laboratories Inc. realized it could build on its strengths – research and development, engineering and design, production of small custom-manufactured elastomeric parts – and become a more diverse and global company. Today’s Vernay – traditionally a North American automotive market supplier has reached those goals and is poised to grow in the future as well.
Vernay’s medical business exemplifies the company’s drive to expand its non-automotive segments. The firm has a dedicated medical area at its Griffin, GA., site, where it molds and assembles parts in a Class 100,000 and Class 10,000 clean room environment. The company would like to increase its medical business by 60-65 percent by 2010. Vernay plans to invest about $1 million in capital during the next two years to help reach that objective, primarily for upgrades on several lines, including liquid silicone rubber and polyisoprene parts.
Vernay is using the patented technology it’s known for – duckbill check valves, umbrella check valves, and bi-directional seals and valves – to expand its markets.
Globally Speaking
Vernay’s strategy for each of its three core geographic units is to provide commercial, technical and manufacturing support for its customers. The company operates three factories in the U.S., in Griffin and Milledgeville, GA., and Marion, SC. The company’s headquarters and R&D department are located in Yellow Springs, OH. In Europe, Vernay has manufacturing facilities in Oldenzaal, the Netherlands, and Asti, Italy. It also has a continuous strip operation in Israel, primarily for the irrigation market. And, Vernay has made real strides toward growth in the Asia-Pacific region about five years ago. The company pondered building its own Greenfield site, but instead partnered with Sei-Woo Polymer Technologies Pte. Ltd., a Singaporean based rubber company with manufacturing capacity in China.
Facing Challenges
The board of directors at Vernay has challenged management to expand the company’s sales by 25-30 percent over the next four years. To do that, Vernay will have to rely on its strengths while looking for good opportunities when they come. The company’s material strength – in areas such as Polyisoprene, Silicone, Fluorosilicone, FKM, EPDM and Viton – along with laboratory capabilities give it a competitive advantage.
Vernay has evolved in many ways in recent years and has realized it isn’t the only company that can make some of the products in which it specializes. They’ve learned that its strengths aren’t just about being able to make these products, but in understanding how they’re going to work and interact within a customer’s system – a lot of suppliers don’t have that, but Vernay does.
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