Silcotech buys molding machines from Arburg | Rubber News

Oct 25, 2024

ANAHEIM, Calif.—In the liquid silicone rubber game, conferences are where deals are struck and longstanding partnerships are strengthened.

At least, that was the case at IME West Feb. 6-7, when Silcotech North America Inc. reached a deal to purchase two injection molding machines from German machine manufacturer Arburg GmbH.

Silcotech, which began about a quarter-century ago, started its custom molding operations with Arburg equipment.

"At that time (25 years ago), there were only two significant players offering LIM options for their molding machines—and Arburg was one of them," Michael Maloney, president of Silcotech, told Rubber News Feb. 7 at the Anaheim Convention Center. "Our decision to move forward with Arburg was clearly based on our history of success using their machines. Their machines feature a sound mechanical design coupled with a very progressive control system."

Maloney said tried-and-true partnerships are critical in the LSR and custom molding world. Arburg was chosen as the supplier of the new machines, Maloney said, because of its "long history of success providing machines for LSR applications."

"Twenty-five years ago, we set out to become a global leader of liquid silicone molded parts," Maloney said. "Having spent 17 years in a technical capacity with a world-renowned molding machine manufacturer, injection molding machines were part of my DNA."

The new machines, a 110-ton Allrounder LIM machine and a 220-ton Allrounder LIM machine, will be put to work in Silcotech's Bolton, Ontario, headquarters.

Both are all-electric and specified with LSR molding options as well as thermoplastic molding capabilities.

The two machines will be equipped with "Multilift Select 8" servo-electric robotics for parts removal and manipulation.

Delivery is scheduled for summer 2024, Maloney said.

"Silcotech's business has seen growth in the 15 percent to 20 percent per year range over the past two years, and the outlook is to keep that pace that in fiscal year 2024 and beyond," Dan Morris, business development manager at Silcotech, told Rubber News. "(The machines) will be added to the existing fleet to handle growing business volume, and the new machines are sizes where increased capacity is needed."

Silcotech, with a joint venture in New Delhi, India, offers product development, prototyping, mass production and multi-shot molding for its customers, many of whom are OEMs in the medical production space.

"We do some work in automotive," Maloney said. "But we tend to limit that volume to less than 5 percent of our total sales. Unless we can add a level of innovation or technical value that makes sense, we stay focused on what we do well.

"And we are dominant in the LSR space."

The company that began in Switzerland in 1998—Trelleborg A.B. purchased portions of the privately owned Silcotech Group in 2011, but the Ontario branch of Silcotech remained independent—sees its strength originate from its personnel and associated technical prowess.

"Michael's technical experience, coupled with Arburg's very solid and proven technology developments in LSR molding technology, were superior when we made the decision to purchase our first two Arburg machines in 1998 when we started Silcotech North America," Isolde Boettger, vice president and co-founder of Silcotech North America along with Maloney, said in a Feb. 6 release on the Arburg purchases. "Looking back on our decision and evaluating the technology on a regular basis, it is clear Arburg was, and continues to be, the right decision for the competitive LSR space."

Today, Silcotech employs about 120 people and has about 32,000 square feet in Ontario, with about 10,000 square feet of that as warehouse space.

"We can scale up to high volumes, but we like to start small and grow with our customers," Morris said. "Our goal is to get them to the millions of parts per year, but we like to grow with them."

Fundamentally, Silcotech's expertise is in tooling. As communication with customers is key throughout the development process for a medical device, Silcotech has a defined, three-stage process, tooling benchmarks to reach during development.

"We have structured our product offering in three categories: 105, 103 and 101," Maloney said. "Essentially these categories represent the path from prototyping to full production."

In the early 105 stage, a mold may be 3D printed or cut out of aluminum—something "quick and inexpensive to give customers as many kicks at the can as they can have in this initial development phase," Maloney said.

The development process then moves to the 103 category, which Maloney calls "bridge tooling."

"Here, we start to validate the product and the product processes," he said. "We flesh out the details of the product and manufacturing process."

As iterations get the product toward validation and higher volume runs, the 101 class of tooling enters the process: molds that are guaranteed for a million cycles.

"And we have tools with 10 million cycles on them," Maloney said. "It is really about how we can add value for our customers. It may not even be a product that requires high-volume runs."

In general, Silcotech is there in the beginning—on the 105, so to speak—to "guide a customer down the design avenue."

"What are the functional attributes of the part? We help to quantify the risks and iterate on that valuation, ultimately finding a geometric shape that meets the function," Maloney said. "Then we move to 103 and 101. During that whole time, we are adding information and knowledge.

"It is a living document that grows as the process grows. But you need to stay light on your feet."

Silcotech works in both TPE and LSR injection molding, and there are major differences in the LIM process with each material.

TPE molding does not require a dosing system as LSR molding does, the latter often using multiples streams. While some companies designate a specific LIM machine for a specific material, the Arburg injection molders can be retrofitted to either function, and Silcotech uses them as such.

Extremely tight tolerances and massive thermal expansion with TPEs, as they are heated to a few hundred degrees Celsius during molding, are challenges to contend with as well, Maloney said.

"We are experts at molding elastomers and our specific focus is LSR, but a customer might be struggling with the elastic nature of TPEs, causing damage to a part," he said. "Dealing with maleable materials is our daily bread."

Experience in both materials makes further logical sense, since most silicone parts are part of something else, as is the case with overmolded products.

"We will mold thermoplastic if there is silicone connected to it," Maloney said, adding that the first thermoplastic press was installed in Bolton more than 25 years ago. "The TPE piece, for us, is growing in scope."

In either case, the custom molding future looks bright for Silcotech.

"We have an internal goal to double our business in the next five years," Morris said. "And that is our mantra, to follow that path.

"With the phase we are in now, riding a normal growth curve, let's pour on the gas a little bit and make something happen in the next three to five years."

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