Bauer Industries
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Abstract
Bauer Industries is one of the world’s biggest and oldest suppliers of acoustic and thermal isolation products for the automobile industry. The company was founded in 1888 by Aloyes Bauer in Waterloo, Ontario and always stayed in family ownership. Bauer sources its materials in Asia and supplies virtually all large automobile companies in North America.
History
The company was founded in 1888 by the energetic and innovative entrepreneur Aloyes Bauer, born in Waterloo, Ontario, as a son of German immigrants from Bavaria in 1861. He first named his company A. Bauer & Company and produced cotton upholstery felts and other products as a supplier to furniture and mattress manufacturers. In addition to this he made horse and buggy cushions. When the McLaughlin Motor Car Company started its business in 1907, being closely engaged with Buick and General Motors in later times, Bauer began its involvement in the automobile industry, too, by supplying them with car seat padding. Bauer’s first big customers were very important people of the automobile industry like Henry ford or Colonel R.S. McLaughlin, founder of the above mentioned forerunner of General Motors Canada. The historic production plant was located on the edge of King and Allen Street in Waterloo. This historic industrial building was finally closed in 2001 and is currently redeveloped to hold shopping sites and providing lofts for living with the oldest part of the building being saved. Thich has become a very modern manner of city redevelopment and living, as John Manning, member of the Research & Development Department of Bauer Industries stated. The company itself always stayed in family ownership and nowadays the fourth generation of relatives of Aloyes Bauer is running the company, namely Raymond E. Bauer JR (President and CEO), Lisa Bauer-Leahy (Vice President of Quality and Materials) and E.J. Bauer (Vice President of Customer Service, Sales and Marketing) as well as Peter and Brian Bauer. This is being said to foster some certain kind of personal dimension and pride under the workers engaged in the company. By now there is one main production plant located at 518 Dutton Drive Waterloo, Ontario, the Head Office, located in 445 Dutton Drive, Waterloo, Ontario, as well as a sales office in Detroit, Michigan and another Plant in Hildebran, North Carolina. Bauer's plant in Waterloo Bauer's plant in Waterloo
The main products nowadays are acoustic and thermal isolation materials used in automobiles to secure a calm, comfortable driving environment.
Products
Bauer Industries is a 2nd or 3rd tier supplier of acoustic and thermal isolation materials that are used to lessen the noise level in the cabins of vehicles like cars or trucks. Those are mostly made of recycled fibres like cotton or polyester. Main suppliers of these raw materials are located in Asia, especially Korea and China what proved to be the cheapest source of raw materials as John Manning stated in an interview. Bauer also sources “from firms in the United States but those are mainly intermediaries who also sourced their materials from Asia” as John Manning said. Other products are made of new fibres, too, that are specifically produced for Bauer’s desires and mainly come from the USA. Those raw materials are then processed to four different kinds of products mainly being distinguished by their ways of production, their thickness, width and weight, depending on the acoustic or thermal isolation characteristics required by the customer. First there is Bauer Bond, a thermoplastic bonded non-woven material manufactured of staple or post industrial textile fibers. Second is Bauerite, a resin-bonded non-woven material manufactured from natural and synthetic post industrial textile fibers. Third Bauer produces Bauer Lite that is made of 100% polyester fibers. The fourth product is named Bauer Tex, a needle punched non-woven material manufactured from natural and synthetic post industrial textile fibers. Some decorative or water resistant surface materials can be added to all of these products in case it is visibly embedded in vehicles e. g. carpetings. Furthermore some materials are fitted to shape by moldings. The finished products are then delivered as rolled goods or as die-cut material as required by the customers. The staff is continiously encouraged to bring up new ideas which led to various innovations in the production process and equipment that were able to improve the overall efficiency and led to improved customer satisfaction.
Customers
Bauer Industries supplies nearly all of the big automobile companies in Northern America and Mexico like Ford, General Motors, Chrysler as well as Toyota and Honda but as mentioned above Bauer is a 2nd or 3rd tier supplier. This means that Bauer does not deliever their products directly to for example Chrysler, but to producers of other automobile parts who embed Bauer’s products into their’s and then deliever to the final manufacturer. There have been some cooperations in research and development with BMW in Bavaria, Germany, but as John Manning supposed, the main business will remain on the American Continent in the next couple of years. A main problem Bauer recently has to cope with is the bad overall situation of the automobile industry. As less vehicles are sold by Bauer’s customers “making plans for expansion becomes harder and harder” says John Minning, member of R&D at Bauer Industries headquarters in Waterloo.
Awards
Bauer won the General Motors QSP Award – Supplier of the Year in 1995 as well as in 1996. Additonally they were awarded with the Gold Award for Quality by Daimler Chrysler in 1999 making it obvious that Bauer’s strategy of employee involvement as described above lead to an outstanding standard in quality and high customer satisfaction.
External Links
http://www.bauer.ca http://www.waterloo.ca Retrieved from "http://www.thewaterlooway.com/wiki/index.php?title=Bauer_Industries"
