AUBURN – Gates Formed-Fibre Products Inc., has hired Ed Hegarty as a product design engineer.

Hegarty’s background includes over 20 years of tooling and engineering experience in the plastics industry. Prior to joining Gates, Hegarty was a program engineer for Pixley Richards, a precision plastics injection molder in Massachusetts.

He previously worked as a tooling engineer for Ironwood Plastics in Michigan and SHAPE Inc. in Kennebunk.

“Ed brings a great deal of expertise in state-of-the-art plastics engineering and design,” said Ken Miller, director of automotive engineering at Gates. “He’s a very talented professional.”

Hegarty’s responsibilities include developing product designs for automotive interior trim components. He works directly with design engineers at GM, Toyota and Nissan, then collaborates with fellow Gates associates to turn conceptual designs into manufactured products.

Hegarty is a graduate of the Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering technology. He has also completed professional training courses in AutoCAD and Pro-E computer-aided design. Hegarty said he is pleased to return to Maine, where he enjoys boating, fishing and snowmobiling.

Gates Formed-Fibre Products Inc., headquartered in Auburn, is a global manufacturer of innovative technical textiles and a leading supplier of trim components to original equipment manufacturers and converters in the automotive industry.

Gates licenses its patented and proprietary technology to manufacturers around the world. Gates produces its own polyester fiber from 100 percent post-consumer and post-industrial recycled materials. The Auburn facility is the only one in the world that produces fiber, fabric and molded parts.