Frame for lithium-ion auto batteries drives business to Mann+Hummel

Battery powered cars are steering growth at Mann+Hummel’s Portage location, says Ronald J. Randall, chief operating officer.”After going through a tough year, we’re in a growth position at our Portage location,” Randall says. Work the company does for General Motor’s and Toyota has made the difference.Mann+Hummel USA Inc. makes injection-molded plastic parts for the automotive industry. Now it produces a frame to hold lithium-ion batteries that contains coolant. The frame keeps coolant transfer heat away from the batteries.The contract to manufacture modular battery frame assemblies for GM’s Electric Vehicle, the Chevy Volt, is expected to generate 200 jobs over five years for Mann+Hummel.At the end of 2009, the company also finished consolidating its operations in South Bend and Portage, bringing about 50 employees from Indiana to its Michigan site. It was very important to the company, Randall says, to retain as many of the South Bend employees and their expertise as possible. There now are about 250 employees, including support staff, at the Portage operation and more will be added this year. The consolidation pushed the company to expand its product distribution and warehousing operation at Midlink Business Park in Comstock Township. Three to four employees could be added this year to the staff of 10 already in place at Midlink.Randall says Mann+Hummel’s experience at Midlink has been a positive one. “It’s been a great facility for us. It’s in the perfect location — right off the highway and two miles from our facility,” Randall says. “They’ve been very flexible with us with our utilization of space.” The business park added four loading docks to the four Mann+Hummel had been using, to better accommodate the company’s need to get trucks in and out quickly.  The Mann+Hummel Group currently employs 11,500 people at 41 locations worldwide. The company develops, produces and sells technically complex automotive components such as air filter systems, intake manifold systems, liquid filter systems and cabin filters for the automotive industry, and filter elements for vehicle servicing and repair. For general engineering, process engineering and industrial manufacturing sectors the company’s product range includes industrial filters, filter systems, and materials handling systems and equipment.Writer: Kathy JenningsSource: Ronald J. Randall, Mann+Hummel