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Freudenberg-NOK Teams with DeMattia Group

20 January 1999

Freudenberg-NOK Teams with DeMattia Group to Build Plymouth R&D Facility

    PLYMOUTH, Mich., Jan. 20 -- Freudenberg-NOK's headquarters in
Plymouth, Mich., will triple in size by spring 1999 after it completes a
$5.9 million expansion housing a new research and development center.
DeMattia Group, one of Michigan's leading industrial and commercial
design/build firms, is handling architecture, engineering and construction for
the project, which includes sophisticated labs that necessitate
state-of-the-art ventilation and power.
    The 55,000-square-foot addition, which began last July, will allow
Freudenberg-NOK to provide product development, engineering and testing in a
single facility.  It will add laboratories, training rooms, offices for an
additional 130 people, a cafeteria and a new lobby to its corporate facility.
The building has served as a sales and marketing center but lacked essential
lab and engineering facilities to perform advanced product development.
    The labs feature acoustical advances, such as engine and full-chassis
dynamometers in anechoic chambers to absorb sound.  In 2000, Freudenberg-NOK
will add a four-post servo hydraulic shaker that simulates road motion within
a car.
    Freudenberg-NOK, one of North America's fastest-growing auto suppliers,
designs and produces seals and vibration components.  DeMattia Group, based in
Plymouth, Mich., is a full-service real estate, construction and design firm,
offering innovative solutions in site selection, land planning, design/build
construction, architecture, engineering, construction management, real estate
financing, interior design and property management.
    Project consultants include Ehlert/Bryan Structural, CFI Engineering
Mechanical and Electrical, and McLellan and Copenhagen Laboratory.