What Hutchinson FTS makes

Hutchinson FTS, Inc. is the North American fluid transfer systems business of Hutchinson SA, a French multi-material group. Its plants design and build the lines that move liquids and gases around a vehicle: under-hood air-conditioning tube and hose assemblies, engine cooling lines, fuel lines, and hoses for braking, clutch, power steering, and oil cooling. The business runs both a low-pressure side, for coolant, fuel, and gas circuits, and a high-pressure side, for air-conditioning and hydraulic power-steering, braking, and clutch applications.

The product is no longer a plain rubber hose. Hutchinson describes its fluid management systems as combinations of elastomer hoses, plastics, composites, and metal tubing, integrated with quick connectors, sensors, and heating elements, and in some cases acoustic resonators to cut noise. On the thermal side, the group develops battery cooling systems, refrigerant-management modules, and heat exchangers, which places its fluid-transfer work directly in the path of electric-vehicle programs. The Quincy, Michigan plant is listed publicly for hoses, automotive air-conditioning units, plastic hoses, and power-steering assemblies, a fair snapshot of the OE product mix.

The customer base is automotive OEMs and their Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers, with the parent group extending the same fluid and thermal expertise into trucks and buses, rail, off-road, and aerospace and defense. For a buyer, this is a direct-materials supplier whose parts are specified into vehicle platforms through PPAP and validated cooling and refrigerant circuits, not a catalog reseller.

Ownership and history

Hutchinson SA was founded in 1853 by Hiram Hutchinson at Chalette-sur-Loing, France, and has been a subsidiary of TotalEnergies, the French energy group, since 1970. The parent reports revenue above 5 billion euros, roughly 40,000 employees, and operations in 26 countries across six technology segments, one of which is fluid transfer and thermal management. It is described as the third-largest manufacturer of non-tire rubber in the world.

In North America, Hutchinson has run fluid-transfer operations in Michigan and Tennessee for decades, with the FTS entity active in US courts as far back as the mid-2000s. Public facility descriptions place under-hood air-conditioning tube and hose production in Jonesville and Reading, Michigan, and in Livingston, Tennessee, with research and prototyping historically centered on a Troy, Michigan technical facility. Hutchinson North America is headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan, at 3201 Cross Creek Pkwy, and the group opened a North American Innovation and Business Development Center, the 616 Fab House, in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 2016. Across the region, Hutchinson North America has reported roughly 9,000 employees, about 16 manufacturing sites, and near $1.2 billion in sales.

Manufacturing footprint

The FTS business operates a cluster of Michigan plants plus a Tennessee operation and cross-border capacity in Mexico. The Livingston, Tennessee site at 315 Tubular Dr runs two plants and is the entity of record in US import data. The Quincy, Michigan plant sits at 1146 E Chicago Rd and is listed for hoses, air-conditioning units, and power-steering parts. Additional under-hood tube and hose capacity is documented in Jonesville and Reading, Michigan, and a Hutchinson distribution center operates in McAllen, Texas, near the border for Mexican inbound flows. Mexican production entities, Hutchinson Transferencia de Fluidos Mexico and Hutchinson Autopartes Mexico, appear in company litigation records, consistent with a US-Mexico manufacturing pattern common among fluid-transfer suppliers weighing nearshoring and tariff exposure.

Certifications and quality

Fluid transfer parts are safety- and pressure-critical, so the automotive quality baseline applies. Hutchinson reports IATF 16949 certification, the automotive quality-management standard that is effectively mandatory for OE fluid-transfer work, and the group also holds ISO 14001 for environmental management and AS9100 on its aerospace side. As is standard for this class of supplier, program launches run through APQP and PPAP discipline. Certification specifics are reported here as company and group claims; individual FTS-plant certificate dates were not separately verified in this pass.

Known customers

Hutchinson FTS supplies air-conditioning and fluid-transfer components into OE vehicle programs, but individual customer contracts are not publicly named, which is normal for a direct-materials supplier under program confidentiality.

No specific named-OEM program passed the documented-evidence bar in this pass, so the profile keeps the sector framing rather than asserting a customer list.

Sourcing evidence

The Livingston, Tennessee entity, Hutchinson Fts, carries 952 US import shipments on record, with the most recent dated November 7, 2025. Its top trading partners read the way a fluid-transfer plant's should: intra-group Hutchinson shipments, Ningbo Powermetal Industrial in China for metal components, Delphi Automotive Systems, and Techpol. A second Hutchinson entity, a distribution center in McAllen, Texas, carries 2,206 shipments with activity into September 2026, drawing on air-conditioning component suppliers including Xinchang Yongqiang and Zhejiang Fanghong, consistent with sourcing AC-system parts for North American assembly and aftermarket supply. This is the inbound-components, finished-parts-out pattern of a manufacturer, read through bills of lading.

Coverage caveats: these are US ocean-freight records only. Air, truck, and rail movements, including most US-Mexico flows, do not appear; some records name intermediaries rather than manufacturers; and product categories come from declared manifest codes, which are noisy. Absence of a record is not evidence of absence.

Frequently asked questions

What does Hutchinson FTS make?

Hutchinson FTS makes fluid transfer systems for vehicles: under-hood air-conditioning tube and hose assemblies, engine cooling lines, fuel lines, and hoses for braking, clutch, power steering, and oil cooling, plus quick connectors and thermal-management modules including battery cooling. It serves automotive OEMs and their tier suppliers.

Who owns Hutchinson FTS?

Hutchinson FTS, Inc. is the North American fluid transfer business of Hutchinson SA, a French multi-material group founded in 1853. Hutchinson SA has been a subsidiary of the energy group TotalEnergies since 1970.

Where is Hutchinson FTS located?

Hutchinson's North American operations are headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. FTS fluid-transfer plants operate in Livingston, Tennessee (315 Tubular Dr), Quincy, Michigan (1146 E Chicago Rd), and Jonesville and Reading, Michigan, with a distribution center in McAllen, Texas and production capacity in Mexico.

What certifications does Hutchinson FTS hold?

Hutchinson reports IATF 16949 certification, the automotive quality-management standard expected of original-equipment fluid-transfer suppliers, and the group also holds ISO 14001 and, on its aerospace side, AS9100. Program launches follow APQP and PPAP procedure.

How big is Hutchinson?

The parent, Hutchinson SA, reports revenue above 5 billion euros, about 40,000 employees, and operations in 26 countries. Hutchinson North America has reported roughly 9,000 employees, about 16 plants, and near $1.2 billion in sales. Standalone figures for the FTS entity are not published.

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