Link Mfg. Ltd., a supplier to heavy-duty commercial truck manufacturers, has officially opened two new facilities. Link’s 50,000-square-foot Plant 4 manufacturing and training facility is located on the company’s Sioux Center, Iowa, campus, and its new Suspension Controls Engineering Center is located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Link’s Plant 4 in Sioux Center is now the manufacturing core for all of the company’s mechanical and electronic air management products, including its SmartValve Electronic Height Control Systems and Smart Air Management Systems (SAMS) dynamic air suspension control technology. Targeted sectors of the building are temperature controlled, which is critical for the precision manufacturing and assembly of many of the air management system’s sensitive valve and electronic components.
The manufacturing space also offers Link the flexibility of being able to configure new manufacturing cells for other products as the need arises. The new Plant 4 will also serve as Link’s new consolidated shipping and receiving hub, continuing to leverage Iowa’s location near the geographic center of the country and thus major transportation corridors.
Link’s new 15,000-square-foot Grand Rapids-based Suspension Controls Engineering Center will help focus a new segment of Link’s product engineering team specifically engaged in developing and expanding Link’s growing suspension control technologies. Expert staff at the new location will also be engaged in the integration of the company’s SmartValve and SAMS air management systems with Link’s Road Optimized Innovations (ROI) technology.
With its Michigan assets online, Link will continue to expand its reach into medium- and heavy-duty truck, tractor, trailer, motorcoach, transit bus, shuttle bus, recreational vehicle and specialty vehicle markets.
The new Suspension Controls Engineering Center will also enhance Link’s testing capabilities. Already certified to IATF 16949 standards at its Iowa facility, Link’s Michigan location will focus on new product prototype testing and validation. New capabilities include temperature and humidity cycle testing, submersion testing, tension elongation and compression testing, pressure, leak and lifecycle testing and optical comparison testing. The company will also perform warranty testing for all valve and suspension control products at the facility.
In addition to its original Sioux Center location and its new Grand Rapids center, Link maintains engineering and manufacturing facilities in Nisku, Alberta, Canada. The company currently employs more than 250 team members.
