Smart Solutions for Sealing, Protection, and Thermal Management

Boyd Corporation
Written by Jen Hocken

The story of Boyd Corporation is one that begins nearly a century ago. “Boyd Corporation is nearly one hundred years old, with a robust history of solving difficult performance challenges for innovative global customers,” shares Boyd Corporation Marketing Manager Alyson Rodgers. It is a company that engineers, designs, and manufactures environmental sealing, protection, and thermal management products to create customized products to be lighter, faster, smaller, more cost efficient, and better performing.

It is a fact that the current iPhone has much more processing power than NASA’s computers during its first space mission. To keep up with the rapid pace of technological change, Boyd uses its expertise in product engineering to develop more compact, powerful electronics. It offers some standard products, but typically everything is semi custom-made or fully custom-made.

The company serves a variety of industries, but its primary focus is currently on 5G and enterprise computing, e-mobility, mobile and consumer electronics, medical devices, aerospace and defence, and recreational vehicles. Sealing, protection, and thermal solutions tend to go together, and most of its customers require all three. The services and products provided by Boyd are critical because electronics do not function if they are not cooled and protected properly.

The earlier in the process it gets involved, the more efficient the solutions it can find. “We strongly consider our customers’ requirements in our strategic planning processes and have a proven commitment to investing in global footprint and technology development through both organic and acquisition expansion,” says Rodgers.

Boyd has made eight major acquisitions in the last eight years, and this trend will likely continue or pick up speed. The acquisition of Aavid Thermalloy was significant because this was the largest provider of thermal management solutions in the world and had previously acquired numerous thermal technologies. Boyd saw the potential of combining the two companies and Aavid Thermalloy became Aavid Thermal Division of Boyd Corporation in 2017. The acquisition has fully rounded out Boyd’s portfolio of sealing, protection, and thermal solutions.

Since 2017, Boyd has opened a manufacturing plant in Noida, India to expand its high-speed precision converting capacity, and it also acquired several smaller technology firms around the world. These companies have been turned into design centers for the research and development of highly specialized products that will soon be in demand such as high powered blowers that enable hyperscale computing and ultra-thin titanium vapour chambers.

Boyd now has thirty facilities worldwide and over 6,000 employees. “We are a global company that relies greatly on the skill and innovation of our teams. We believe in cross-functional support, lean manufacturing, and supporting new ideas and processes as part of our overall company goals of delivering integrated solutions at lower landed costs that improve our customers’ products and bottom line,” says Rodgers.

Boyd has a good employee retention rate because it offers exceptional growth opportunities and continual education. There is a lot of cross training to ensure that staff members learn about the entire business and are capable of helping to improve best practices and lean manufacturing wherever possible. The staff are open-minded, prepared to collaborate, and have learned to communicate effectively across ten time zones.

Boyd is consistently challenged by its customers to find innovative ways to make their products smaller, lighter, better performing, and more cost-efficient. The company is energized and inspired by the opportunities to solve new issues as its customers bring unique products to market.

“We work closely and candidly with our customers to anticipate their needs and are proactive about finding and choosing materials and developing technologies that will address not just their current needs but the future of their industry,” says Rodgers.

The innovative technology and manufacturing capabilities are vast. Solimide Foam, a high performance, lightweight insulation with superior thermal and acoustic qualities, was originally developed in partnership with NASA. Solimide is produced in one of Boyd’s facilities and converted in another. The company is the only manufacturer of Solimide Foam.

The highly advanced insulation does not catch fire; it does not freeze, and it is not harmful when it is broken down. “It will not burn and emits very little smoke when exposed to flame, is non-toxic, flexible, and stable at cryogenic temperatures, has low off-gassing with no formaldehyde, hydrolytic stability, and does not support microbial growth,” says Rodgers.

These characteristics make the material optimal for aerospace, rail, and marine applications where passenger safety is at stake, although Boyd suggests using it in any demanding environment that needs lightweight insulation.

Recently, there has been a push for more two-phased cooling technologies and integrated solutions, and this is an area where Boyd shines. It has developed two-phased cooling technologies that use passive cooling, which is more reliable, lighter, and cools much higher power loads than simple liquid or air cooling.

“These differentiated passive cooling systems are materializing as ultra-thin titanium vapour chambers, loop heat pipes, thermosiphons, and immersion cooling and are ideal for high-power, weight-sensitive items like satellites, hyperscale computing, eMobility, and mobile electronics that enable or utilize 5G and help us become more connected than ever before,” explains Rodgers.

Two-phased cooling has no moving parts; there is no frictional wear, and no power is needed, making it more dependable. The engineers at Boyd strive to reduce the size as much as possible and are currently in the process of working with vapour chambers as thin as a business card that can transfer thermal energy better than any extruded heat sink.

Boyd implements lean manufacturing and best practices to eliminate waste and prioritize activities that give value to customers and keep it at the forefront of the industry. It develops innovative solutions and manufactures the highest quality products at the lowest cost possible.

“By eliminating waste, promoting best practices for continuous improvement, streamlining systems, and facilitating a robust preventive safety program through training, tracking, and near-miss elimination procedures, we ultimately bring more total value as a partner to our customers and provide a better work environment for employees,” says Rodgers.

Boyd’s presence across the electronics, transportation, industrial, medical, and aerospace industries combined with its experience in sealing, protection, and thermal solutions sets it apart from the competition. Also specializing in manufacturing processes and fabrication enables Boyd to advise which materials and products to use.

“What we are best known for in any industry is delivering the most optimized solutions when customers are facing challenges surrounding volume, weight, contaminants, excess heat, costs, or any other requirements that their teams are unable to address,” says Rodgers.

Being a one-stop shop for sealing, protection, and thermal solutions has led to long-term and repeat business relationships for the company. It has been acknowledged with a number of awards for top-tier quality and delivery, and it feels particularly grateful to have been recognized by its customers for its innovation and as a supplier.

Boyd helps to solve its customers’ most urgent and difficult technical challenges reliably and promptly wherever they might be because solutions are needed quickly when a problem arises. It also concentrates on potential future trends to prolong customer success.

Boyd Corporation is always investing in resources and technologies that will allow it meet the needs of its customers in the future and is looking forward to continued growth. This ability to respond quickly and adapt to market changes is important in a field that relies on technology.

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