A subsidiary of

At the forefront of sealing technologies

Based in Ashington Northumberland, Arefco Special Products Ltd sits in the heart of the industrial North East of England.Arefco has been at the forefront of sealing technologies for over 3 decades and specialises in the design and manufacture of components from a broad spectrum of advanced elastomeric, plastic and metallic materials; including specialist bonded solutions.

With a pro-active customer focused culture at our core, Arefco excels in recommending and providing solutions to complex and challenging application conditions; to succeed in this endeavour, we continue to push the boundaries of sealing technology in both materials and engineering application.

Acquired by UTEX Industries Inc. in 2011, Arefco is a SME with the financial backing of a privately owned global sealing systems provider, Utex Industries Inc, established in 1940 and is now a global leader in sealing technologies. Since becoming a member of the UTEX family, Arefco has established a robust commercial, operational and production infrastructure facilitating a global approach to our markets, providing a cohesive and collaborative relationship with our customers and supporting large multi-element projects. This approach is proving successful, since our acquisition, we have seen over 20% organic growth, year on year. With an aggressive growth strategy driving the business forward, Arefco continues to invest in capital equipment and critical human resources to support it.

Arefco Special Products Ltd is ISO9001:2008 approved and registered in England. Compliance to the standard is not itself an objective, but is a by-product of operating professionally and to best practice in all aspects of our business. Advanced quality planning tools (APQP, Compliance Matrix, Risk Analysis and SQDC) are deployed as standard to ensure requirements are understood and delivered to customer needs and objectives.

Arefco Special Products Ltd is a wholly owned subsidiary of UTEX Industries Inc. registered in Houston, Texas, United States of America.

About us

arefco.co.uk

Trade memberships

Product Validation & Test Capabilities

Faro arm 3D verification measurements

Mitutoyo CMM verification measurements

Bespoke on-site test facilities including a fully enclosed test cell

Value PropositionProduct manufacture is not where our service ends; Arefco is a complete solution provider, offering full assembly manufacturing services including composite and modular systems to complement the critical sealing arrangement supplied. Component designs are fully engineered and optimised to operate successfully and safely in customers’ specific operating conditions whilst also focusing on system life extension. With an engineered quality model, at Arefco, we are proud of our performance and we are renowned for the integrity of our products.

Arefco prides itself on its ability to react and respond quickly, knowledgably and effectively to the needs of our customers and the demands of the market. Backed up with a very strong value proposition which includes pre and post sales technical support, application engineering & design, project management, industry leading lead-times in our core competencies and world class customer service has established Arefco as an ethical partner of choice for many blue chip OE manufacturers.

Product integrity and conformance to standard are vital in delivering our customers promises to their end users. We employ class leading validation techniques to ensure that we do just that.

Technical Design & Development Capabilities

3D Solid model design “SolidWorks”

EdgeCAM translation to CNC programming

Elastomer testing equipment, including tensometre

As a partner of Arefco, we look to share risk and opportunity with prototype design, material development and third party approvals. Aside from our talent, some of our assets are shown here.

Sector Overview

Polymer Product CapabilitiesCurrently occupying a 3,600m2 production footprint, Arefco operates a lean manufacturing strategy. Arefco’s signature technologies are:

Rubber compression moulding Rubber, Plastic & Urethane injection moulding Rubber to metal bonding Bespoke composite fabrications and assemblies Textile reinforced mouldings Metallic seals and bespoke components In house tooling development and manufacture

Employing Compression Moulding equipment capable of manufacturing products from less than 1” diameter up to 60” diameter and 30” height with 800 tonne clamping force gives us flexibility to provide standard and bespoke geometry solutions both as fully elastomeric or modular systems including metal elements.Arefco also employs Injection Moulding equipment giving us capability to manufacture:

Rubber and Plastic components Insert mouldings Complex 3D shapes Close tolerance parts

Engineered Product CapabilitiesOur most recent development has been the acquisition of Stephenson Precision Components (SPC), specialist metallic engineering company. This firmly establishes the manufacture of machined metallic items and sub-contract engineering services as a key business stream within the Arefco portfolio of core competencies. Arefco capabilities include:

15 state of the art machining centres Over 40 years’ experience in the manufacturing and supply of CNC components Turning capacity up to 62” diameter, 16’ length, 22 tonne component weight Milling capacity up to 29” diameter

Bespoke programs Live tooling

Materials & Approvals

Elastomers

NBR, HNBR, XNBR, FKM, FFKM, FEPM, Neoprene, Natural Rubber, SBR, Silicone, Vamac

Plastics

PEEK & PTFE including filled variants

Fabrics

Nylon, Cloth & Kevlar

Metals

Mild Steel, Cast Steel, Hardened Steel, High Carbon Filled Steel, Stainless Steel, Copper, Brass & Mesh

Approvals/ Standards

Norsok M630, Norsok M710, API Standards including PR2, API 6A, API 14L

Mass TransitArefco have established an excellent reputation in the Railway Industry. Safety critical components are amongst the wide range of differing seals that are supplied. Materials have to be vigorously tested to the extreme to ensure they will live up to the expectation of either the rolling freight stock or passenger cars.

Brake diaphragms and buffer seals both in single or multiple materials are supplied. Metal to rubber bonding’s and plastic elastomers to metal bonding’s are supplied for anti-vibration systems.

Typical Products: Diaphragms, Dust Covers, Gaskets, Damper Seals, Buffer Seals, Accumulator Seals, Brake Seals

Renewable EnergyRobust designs in quality, reliability and endurance are key to the cost effective development of renewable energy technologies. Arefco responds to these challenges with a complete understanding of the demands of off-shore wind and subsea applications. We execute this strategy by demonstrating true cost of ownership by adding value and taking costs out of the Supply Chain.

Typical Products: Anti-vibration pads, Couplings, Rotary Shaft Seals

Arefco has expert knowledge in Oil & Gas, Renewable Energy, Mass Transit and Aerospace & Defence.

Oil & GasArefco have over 30 years’ experience in designing and manufacturing sealing products used in the exploration and production of oil, primarily in offshore situations. The demands of the market are extreme and continue to broaden, mandating technologies and engineering intelligence to cope with the collection of media, temperature, pressure and lifespan requirements of the application. Customers have come to respect the abilities of Arefco when difficult situations confront them.

Typical Products: High pressure spring energised seals, GS Seals, FS Seals, Packers, Flowline seals, Slip Joint seals, Diverter seals, Riser Seals, Choke & Kill Seals, Trash Seals, Blowout Preventer seals, Metal End Cap seals (MEC), Valve seals

Aerospace & Defence

Arefco have a long history of producing specialist rubber products for applications in fighting vehicles, ordnance delivery systems and military Aerospace platforms.

High temperature, high abrasion resistance, ballistic impact protection, NBC capability are all considerations that have formed part of the development of products for these very special environments. The ability to work with materials at the extremes of their capabilities and yet put together robust, repeatable and deliverable solutions is the trade mark of Arefco.

Typical Products: Spring Energised Seals, Drive Shaft Seals, Specialist Mouldings

Our History

1982 1st solutions supplied to Oil & Gas Customers in Aberdeen

1983-1990 3x Plant Expansions for growth

2002 Reformed as Arefco Special Products Ltd

2004 Houston Site started trading

2011 Acquired by Utex Industries Inc

2012 Further Plant expansion for growth

2013 – 3 year Contract signed with

major Middle East Wellhead & Valve manufacturer

– Capital investment in new 350tn press

2014 – Capital investment in 2x new

CNC lathes with Live Tooling– Capital investment in new

800tn press

1978RF Rubber Products formed

To be continued2015 Acquisition of Stephenson Precision Components, broadening our scope of supply in CNC precision machined items

Mission Statement

Vision A team that is recognized as the best at what we do

A team that exceeds customer expectations every time

Continued pride in achieving profitable growth that benefits

– Employees personally & professionally

– Customers by providing ongoing investment in people & plant

Mission To exceed customer expectations with innovative, reliable, value-added products and services when and where needed

A leading solution provider for customers with challenging applications that require Elastomer, Plastic and Metallic technology

Vision & Objectives

Financial

Customer

Business

Enablers

Market leading technical

capabilities

Customer focussed sales & operations

execution

Efficient & coordinated

business management

systems

Produce year on year growth,

increase our ROI & Capital employment

Proactive technology road map

Strong sales & marketing

strategy

Well trained motivated & empowered employees

Strength and stability in business

and financial systems

Added value solution provider

Supplier of choice

Exceed our customers expectation

in SQDC

World Headquarters

Arefco Special Products Ltd Jubilee Industrial Estate Ashington Northumberland NE63 8UA England

T +44(0)1670-819513 F +44(0)1670-816132

USA Division

Arefco Seals Inc 10810 Katy Freeway Suite 100 Houston TX 77043 United States of America

T +1-713-683-9600 F +1-713-683-9601

Contact

arefco.co.uk