What Hastings Manufacturing makes

Hastings Manufacturing makes piston rings, and by its own account that is the whole of what it does. The company designs and produces compression rings, oil control rings, and complete ring sets for gasoline, flex-fuel, and diesel engines, and it markets its Flex-Vent oil control ring and PowerFLEX racing rings as signature designs. On its site the company states it carries roughly 25,000 SKUs and more than 15,000 existing ring designs, and its engineers will either recommend an existing design or develop a new one for a given application.

The application range is broad for a single product line. Hastings covers automotive gasoline and diesel engines, medium-duty diesel, motorcycle, ATV and snowmobile engines, marine inboard and outboard engines, industrial engines from generators to chain saws, and one- and two-stage air and refrigeration compressors. It supplies both original equipment manufacturers and the engine-rebuild aftermarket, and states that its rings reach more than 40 countries.

The manufacturing is vertically integrated at a single US site, which is unusual at this scale. Hastings runs its own gray and ductile iron foundry using a shell mold process, with induction melting, in-house parametric CNC pattern making, and a metallurgical lab that does carbon, spectroscopic, and microhardness testing under statistical process control. It also runs in-house chrome plating (OD and triple chrome, for ring diameters from 2 to 8 inches, on a three-shift line) and moly-plasma coating on dedicated CNC grooving and turning lathes. Owning the value chain from poured metal through machining, coating, and packaging is how the company says it sustains a high-mix, low-volume production model.

Ownership and history

Hastings was founded in 1915 in Hastings, Michigan, and it still operates from 325 N. Hanover Street in the same town. It spent decades as a publicly traded company before going private. In May 2013 the private equity firm RFE Investment Partners of New Canaan, Connecticut, acquired the business together with its management team.

The most significant recent change is a new parent. In April 2026, NPR-Riken Corporation of Japan, listed in Tokyo under ticker 6209, acquired 100 percent of the stock of Hastings Holding Corp. from RFE through its US subsidiary, Riken Corporation of America. NPR-Riken is itself a piston ring maker, and its stated reason for the deal was to grow share in its core piston ring business, including the replacement-ring aftermarket. For a buyer, the practical read is that a century-old independent US ring maker now sits inside a globally listed powertrain group, which changes its backing profile and its access to a larger engineering and supply network.

Certifications and quality

Hastings describes itself as an IATF 16949 certified company on its OEM page, the automotive quality-management standard that OEM ring programs generally require. Its ISO 9001 certificate, issued by Amtivo and dated in its current cycle (Revision 1, March 2025), is posted on the site. The company also states that its quality management system, in-house laboratory, and aftermarket product are certified to INMETRO Regulation #301 in Brazil, and it references a certified environmental management system consistent with ISO 14001. Day to day, it runs SPC, mistake-proofing (Poka-yoke), automated in-process vision and laser inspection, and uses APQP and a Stage Gate process for product launch, with Six Sigma and Lean deployed across the workforce. These are the company's own claims about its quality systems, reported here as claims.

Known customers

Hastings names its OEM customers and approved-supplier relationships directly on its own OEM page, which is more transparency than most component suppliers offer.

The company also lists Ingersoll-Rand, Emerson, MTD, and Stihl as OEMs it supplies, along with unnamed Tier One suppliers. These are self-published relationships; program-level detail such as volumes and platforms is not disclosed.

Sourcing evidence

Hastings appears in US customs records as an importer with 272 sea shipments on record and a most recent shipment dated September 9, 2026, which shows the company was actively receiving inbound freight in the current quarter. The named foreign suppliers are consistent with a piston ring maker rather than a reseller: Asimco Shuanghuan Piston Ring and Asimco Camshaft Yizheng in China, Menon Export in India, and Piston Rings Komarov, a ring maker Hastings publicly merged with in 2017 per Engine Builder magazine. That supplier mix reads as ring product, ring components, and tooling flowing into a domestic manufacturing operation that also runs its own foundry.

Coverage caveats apply. These are US ocean-freight bill of lading records only. Air, truck, and rail movements do not appear, some records name freight intermediaries rather than manufacturers, and product categories come from declared manifest codes, which are noisy. A monthly volume trend was not available for this profile, so the record supports recency and supplier identity but not a firm read on trajectory. Absence of a record is not evidence of absence.

Frequently asked questions

What does Hastings Manufacturing make?

Hastings Manufacturing makes piston rings, and states that piston rings are its only product line. It produces compression rings, oil control rings including its Flex-Vent design, and complete ring sets for automotive, motorcycle and powersports, marine, industrial, and compressor engines. The company reports roughly 25,000 SKUs and more than 15,000 ring designs.

Who owns Hastings Manufacturing?

Hastings Manufacturing has been owned by NPR-Riken Corporation of Japan (Tokyo: 6209) since April 2026, when NPR-Riken's US subsidiary Riken Corporation of America acquired 100 percent of Hastings Holding Corp. The prior owner was the private equity firm RFE Investment Partners, which acquired Hastings in 2013. The company was founded in 1915.

Where is Hastings Manufacturing located?

Hastings Manufacturing is headquartered at 325 N. Hanover Street in Hastings, Michigan, 49058, where it also runs its vertically integrated manufacturing site, including an on-site iron foundry, chrome plating, and moly-plasma coating. It has operated from Hastings, Michigan since its founding in 1915.

Who are Hastings Manufacturing's customers?

On its own OEM page Hastings names Volkswagen, Chrysler, General Motors, Harley-Davidson, Polaris, Ingersoll-Rand, Emerson, MTD, and Stihl among the OEMs and powersports brands it supplies, along with Tier One suppliers. It serves both OEM and aftermarket customers in more than 40 countries.

What certifications does Hastings Manufacturing hold?

Hastings states that it is IATF 16949 certified and holds a current ISO 9001 certificate issued by Amtivo (Revision 1, March 2025). It also reports INMETRO Regulation #301 certification in Brazil and a certified environmental management system. These are the company's own published claims.

How long has Hastings Manufacturing been in business?

Hastings Manufacturing was founded in 1915 and has been making piston rings for more than a century from Hastings, Michigan. It was publicly traded for much of its history, went private under RFE Investment Partners in 2013, and became part of NPR-Riken Corporation of Japan in 2026.

Last verified September 27, 2026. Is this your company? Request a correction.