BUSINESSES BEHIND THE SCENES: HF Rubber Machinery
Photos by JASON DAILEY
HF Rubber Machinery is a member of the HF Mixing Group, owned by Harburg-Freudenberger Maschinenbau GmbH of Freudenberg, Germany and is part of a larger network of companies that provides equipment to the rubber industry.
The company began under the name Midwest Machine Works started by Leonard Smith in 1960. While working at Goodyear, Leonard saw an opportunity to rebuild tire molds for the plant. Ten years later, Leonard acquired the mixer rebuild business for all the Firestone Tire Co. plants as well, which led to manufacturing rubber mixers in Topeka.
Midwest Machine Works caught the attention of a well-known rubber equipment manufacturer in Europe that wanted to expand their business into the North American market. The German company purchased Midwest Machine Work in 1989. After numerous acquisitions and subsequent name changes, the company became HF Rubber Machinery in 2005.
THE RUBBER MIXER BUSINESS
“People buy tires, but they don’t actually know where the tires come from or how they are made,” Executive Vice President John Adams said. “Companies like Goodyear, Bridgestone, Continental, etc. use our machines to mix the rubber for their tires.”
In addition to tires, the company provides rubber mixers to 3M, Callaway Golf, companies making products for the Department of Defense and other companies that manufacture rubber products.
“There are actually a lot of companies out there that just mix rubber for other companies to use in making products like floor mats or soles for shoes,” John said.
HF Rubber Machinery makes several different sizes and varieties of machines, but they utilize two specific types of mixing technology: tangential and intermesh.
Tangential (or Banbury) style mixers knead the rubber primarily between the rotors and the walls of the mixing chamber because the rotors do not touch each other. Tangential rotors allow for multiple cooling options and are the primary type of mixer used by North American tire manufacturers.
Intermesh machines use rotors that interlock like cogs to knead the rubber primarily between the rotors. Intermesh mixers incorporate spiral cooling of the rotors and were perfected by the Germans for the production of industrial rubber.
BUILDING & SERVICING MIXERS
The Topeka company builds and services rubber mixing machine that are marketed across North America, primarily in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. This means that they build their own mixing machines, assemble machines from other manufacturing divisions, stock spare parts and provide maintenance service.
“We can service all of the equipment for clients throughout North America,” John said.
While the majority of rubber manufacturers are still located in the Ohio River Valley area, several have moved south to the Carolinas and Georgia. That is what makes Topeka an ideal location for building and assembling the mixers. Being centrally located in the United States allows for timely shipment to companies anywhere in the market.
It typically takes 12 months to build a rubber mixer, but John said COVID and supply chain issues have made that timeframe even longer. The backlog of orders that HF Rubber Machinery is trying to fill has them booked until the second quarter of 2025.
“I have over $70 million in backlog right now,” John said. “And it isn’t going to catch up anytime soon.”
John says 2022 brought a record number of orders, and the 2023 build schedule was full by the first of August. He attributes that to a post COVID push to rebuild capacity and an increased interest in bringing global operations back to the U.S.
FUTURE REVENUE & GROWTH
The company’s current build target of 20-22 machines per year equates to approximately $40 million per year in revenue. Within the next three to five years that revenue number is projected to grow to $50 million per year. That means expansion to handle up to 25 builds per year.
“We are looking at how to achieve incremental growth over the next couple of years to achieve those targets,” John said. “We want to be proactive rather than wait until the problem is at our doorstep.”
John says he also sees growth potential on the installation and service side of the industry as well. Most customers run their machines 24 hours per day, seven days per week, 365 days per year, so they undergo significant wear and tear. Preventive maintenance can add longevity to the life of a mixing machine.
HF Mixing Group has a technical lab in Germany that has a scaled down version of both types of mixing machines, so clients who are considering starting a new plant or working with new materials can test various products on each machine. Technicians can run the tests and then make recommendations on which type and size of machine is recommended based on their throughput requirements.
John hopes to have a similar technical lab in Topeka within the next few years.
