EDITOR’S NOTE: This story is part of a series, Manufacturing Matters, that focuses on products that are made in Richland County. Throughout the story italicized sections tell how Stoneridge products may impact your daily life.
LEXINGTON –The story of Henry Ford’s revolutionary Model T is one that most elementary school students can likely recite.
In 1913, Ford sets up an assembly line. He mass produces the Model T in one color, black. This forever alters the transportation industry.
Lesser known are the businesses like Kelsey-Hayes – a portion was later acquired by Stoneridge Electronics – that made parts for the legendary assembly line.
Stoneridge, which produces automobile parts at 345 South Mill St., acquired Kelsey-Hayes’ power door lock actuator business in 1995. A few years later, Stoneridge found its way to Richland County to acquire its Lexington location and become a large local employer.
Though headquartered in Novi, Michigan, the mid-Ohio facility employs about 110 engineers and technicians and 750 people in total.
“We are a design and manufacturing center,” said Christina M. Simpkins, director of human resources for Stoneridge in North America. “We have our very technical engineers who design the products. We have an advanced development area. We even have a validation and test lab downstairs.”
If you’ve ever towed a trailer, you may’ve used a Stoneridge product. Stoneridge considers itself the largest provider of trailer tow connectors in North America and a leading provider in other markets, too, which is largely in part to the business it acquired it Lexington.
Hi-Stat Manufacturing Company started out of a garage in 1970. It later moved to its South Mill Street location and expanded by adding a second location in Sarasota, Florida.
It was bought by Stoneridge in 1998, becoming the company’s largest acquisition.
“We are utilizing and leveraging this site’s technology and engineering resources to continue our expansion worldwide,” said George Papuga, Controller of Control Devices Division.
He worked for the company’s corporate office before coming to Lexington.
Stoneridge has 12 manufacturing sites across four continents, but Papuga says a quarter of the company’s engineering resources sits in the former Hi-Stat building.
“And from a manufacturing footprint, it’s one of our largest facilities in just sheer size,” Papuga continued.
If you drive a Ford, GM, Jeep or just about any vehicle except Honda, there’s a chance that Stoneridge in Lexington manufactured some of the vehicle’s control devices.
The Lexington-based Stoneridge is a key site for control devices, specifically sensors and switches.
“Most of the time those sensors are either to protect the environment, make it more comfortable (climate control) or to protect the car,” said local plant manager, Tom Morell.
He recalls one time when his daughter drove her Jeep home from college. The vehicle wouldn’t let her go past a certain speed. Upon further investigation, the oxygen sensor needed replaced, but Morell was grateful that it slowed her down.
The oxygen sensor, Morell pointed out, was not a Stoneridge product but an example of the products the company produces and how they work.
“It’s smarter than us, it protects us,” he said. “Because she would’ve drove it 70 miles per hour to get home and see her boyfriend faster.”
There are speed sensors, temperature sensors and more. And while they don’t actually control things, they do monitor the vehicle and send important signals to other parts with the power to slow or cool down.
A speed sensor, for example, provides input for the anti-lock brakes and vehicle stabilization, if the vehicle has that feature). Temperature sensor makes certain that nothing overheats.
“There are four (sensors) in the exhaust reading the temperatures,” Morell said. “It provides the temperature inputs to help get the exhaust system up to operating temperature, allowing for lower emissions and provides input to protect the exhaust system from damage due to over-heating conditions.”
Morell talked about one product called a solenoid. This particular one monitored vehicle emissions.
“Only so much emissions can be let out of the systems and into the world,” he said. “So, our sensors are part of the control system allowing the emissions to be effectively captured and the regeneration of that same system to continually capture more emissions.”
If something isn’t working right, a little light will appear on the driver’s dash, conveying the need to check out a possible problem. The thing that turns on that light? A switch.
Oil is to cars as water is to people. It’s essential, even life-giving. But you may not realize your car needs a drink if the helpful “oil warning light” didn’t pop up on its dashboard. Stoneridge in Lexington makes oil pressure switches that turn on this light.
All in all, Stoneridge ships about 3 million parts each month.
“You could say we make a solenoid, but that solenoid has hundreds of different customers,” said Morell.
Stoneridge is frequently hiring. Applications are accepted 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday.
For additional information, visit stoneridge.com
