Freudenberg, QST Create Partnership
Signaling a look of things to come in the post-Sept. 11 economy, garment components suppliers QST Industries Inc. and Freudenberg West have formed a partnership that will allow each to utilize the other’s strengths and resources in sales, manufacturing and infrastructure in order to cut expenses and enhance bottom lines.
In an alliance that stops just short of a merger, the two companies will share warehousing and distribution, technical and sales staff, and office space. Freudenberg is expected to move by February from its 20,000-square-foot leased facility in Commerce, Calif., into QST’s 40,000-square-foot-plus company-owned facilities in nearby Vernon. QST sales reps will sell Freudenberg products and vice versa. They will share almost everything except for balance sheets, said Freudenberg general manager Walter Colgan. The aim is to survive and thrive as apparel and other sectors continue to slow and demand heightens for lower prices, quicker turns and global connections.
“There are challenges to keep costs down,” said Colgan. “We have to do things differently. If we don’t, we won’t make it. People can turn items in 10 days down. Companies are working closer to season. It all comes down to economies of scale.”
Both companies make interlinings and other garment components, including waistbands, pocketings, shoulder pads and insulations among others. QST is one of the leading trading companies/converters, while Freudenberg is a leader in non-wovens. The partnership will allow Freudenberg to take advantage of QST’s high-tech testing lab, where fusing and other processes take place.
The firms are both multinational and well-diversified. Freudenberg’s parent, based in Weinheim, Germany, produces everything from floor coverings to industrial lubricants, while Chicago-based QST has extensive holdings in Asia, Mexico, Central and South America and the Caribbean basin.
“We want to support local production in Los Angeles,” said Colgan. “If local companies shift production elsewhere, we can accommodate them because we have offices in those important production markets.”
The alliance will result in some “very minimal” consolidation of staff, according to QST vice president Kenneth Weinbaum, who said, “The idea is to make one phone call and get all your components instead of having a trim buyer make six or seven calls.”
Weinbaum added that the companies aim to accommodate Southern California’s high-end niche as well as mass-market needs.
“This is really a view of the future,” he said.
