All-State is all-in on Noise, Vibration, and Thermal Insulation

All-State Industries has been manufacturing a select offering of noise and heat control products for many years. With its recent acquisition of dB Engineering, that product offering just got a lot broader.

All-State has been providing acoustic and thermal insulation solutions primarily to the heavy-duty trucking industry. dB Engineering has been more concentrated on smaller to mid-size OEMs in a range of industries.

“The overlap provides excellent synergy which gives us an advantage, while also creating opportunity for us to get into some markets we haven’t really penetrated thus far,” says Chris Stern, Vice President of Sales & Marketing at All-State Industries.

The acquisition has also provided an opportunity to consolidate All-State’s insulation business into a single facility, helping to optimize the design, engineering and manufacturing processes to drive innovation and efficiency.

Once neighbors, now family

All-State Industries has known about dB Engineering for many years. In fact, they have been neighbors. All-State’s insulation product line has been produced in its Lewisville, Texas, facility. That’s just 45 miles north of dB Engineering’s factory in Mansfield, Texas. Now that the acquisition has been completed, everything is being consolidated into the Lewisville facility.

“The increased capacity and efficiency will enable us to tackle larger projects for customers in the same industries we’ve been working with for many years,” Stern says.

At the same time, the acquisition of dB Engineering opens the door to new products for All-State Industries. For instance, dB Engineering has been one of a handful of authorized dealers for the Barry Controls line of vibration mounts. Those mounts have been a popular product for OEMs in the industrial equipment, recreational vehicle, farm equipment, construction equipment, truck, aircraft and marine industries.

The acquisition of dB Engineering comes on the heels of another All-State acquisition. All-State had acquired Allied Plastics, a Wisconsin-based leader in plastic thermoforming solutions, at the end of 2021. These acquisitions have cemented All State’s position as a single-source solution for many of the manufacturing challenges its OEM customers face.

“Now we can tell our customers, ‘You know we have these proven acoustic, vibration and thermal insulation solutions, but we also offer die cutting, machined plastics and thermoforming, open cast urethane molding, and molded masticated rubber,’” Stern says. “We can now provide many of the solutions our OEM customers need for the various components that go into their end products. It is very exciting.”

From slushie machines to bulldozers

Mike Gibson founded dB Engineering in 1991 after a 15-year career as a mechanical engineer in the oil and gas industry.

“I nearly went deaf working around all of that loud machinery in the oilfields,” Gibson relates. “That’s how I developed an appreciation for noise control. When I left that industry, I returned from overseas and went to work for a company that sold noise and vibration control materials. After a few years, I ended up buying the company and naming it dB Engineering.”

dB Engineering’s big breakout project was developing noise control for a truck manufacturer. Gibson says the following solutions were needed:

· Noise control in the cab

· Acoustical floor mats

· Acoustical perforated vinyl absorption in the ceiling

· Noise control in the engine compartment

The project was a success and dB Engineering continued to build a name for itself. The next big opportunity came somewhat out of left field, which demonstrates the broad applicability of the products dB Engineering continues to offer.

A manufacturer of slushie machines said convenience store workers and their customers were complaining about the obnoxious noise those machines make. Gibson did some noise tests on a machine, developed several prototypes, and working with the customer, settled on a solution that brought the noise level down to an acceptable level.

Over the 30-plus years dB Engineering has been in business, the company has developed acoustic insulation solutions for everything from buses, trucks and off-highway equipment to compressors, appliances and medical devices. Essentially, any product that has a decibel problem can benefit from a dB Engineering solution.

It’s not just noise control, either. From day one back in 1991, Gibson also saw the potential in vibration insulation. “After all, if something makes a lot of noise, it’s probably doing a lot of vibrating, too,” Gibson says.

dB Engineering also branched into thermal control. Popular applications include diesel engine-powered equipment and catalytic convertors—anything where components and/or end-users need to be protected from the heat generated during operation.

Making waves with innovative engineering

Noise, vibration and heat often go hand in hand. All three are regular byproducts of a lot of different products. They are also all “wave properties” which means their attenuation can be addressed in similar ways.

Many of dB Engineering’s acoustical products are polyurethane foams. Those foams are “tuned” for noise of a certain density that is common in industrial settings. Then different types of textures and surfaces can be applied to best match different types of applications. Peel-and-stick backing can also be incorporated into the product so line workers can efficiently apply it during the assembly process.

Thermal insulation products also include foams, as well as aluminum foil-laminated fiberglass cloths, insulating wraps, and others.

Vibration insulation solutions are typically rubber-based. These types of products, including the popular Barry Controls line of vibration mounts, are a common solution on diesel-engine powered equipment such as skid steers, excavators, bulldozers and tractors. Those types of machines work hard and shake a lot, creating a lot of vibration and noise that must be dealt with.

dB Engineering and All-State Industries have each been dealing with noise, vibration and heat for decades. Now they’re doing it better than ever because they’re doing it together.