20 years later, Silicone Solutions continues to evolve

CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio—Silicone Solutions Inc. isn't quite the company David Brassard envisioned when he started the firm 20 years ago.

Having worked for a number of companies earlier in his career—including GE Silicones and Loctite—Brassard had earned a reputation for being something of a troubleshooter. And that's what he thought the company would become—he would do consulting work, develop silicone materials for the firms, and then sell the formulas to clients to produce on their own.

“I like to solve problems, and I'm pretty good at,” he said. “Each customer comes to me with a problem, and it's like a puzzle. It's fun for me to solve it.”

But what he found out was that most firms weren't looking for that arrangement. Most were users of silicone, not manufacturers of the material.

“They all want someone just to do it for them,” Brassard said. “I'll offer to hand them the technology and train them, and I've done that for some customers. But nine out of 10 just want us to supply it.”

So the company quickly evolved not just into a consulting firm, but also a manufacturer of specialty silicone materials, all made at its headquarters facility in Cuyahoga Falls.

And Silicone Solutions is a company where family is important, as seven of the 11 employees are family members, including David as president, and his daughter, Laurie, who serves as vice president.

When Brassard worked at Loctite, he was focusing on sealants used in the automotive industry. That was during an era when sealants used on vehicles had very high molecular weights, which were poor for oil resistance, he said. The motor oil in use at the time would eat away at the backbone of the polymers and cause reversion. The polymer then would return to the original polymeric components, become oily and sticky, and begin to leak. Car firms also were pressurizing engines before the gasketing sealant had a chance to harden properly.

Brassard worked with engineers and the marketing staff at Loctite to find a solution. He recalls a meeting where the chief engineer for General Motors' Pontiac division came in when Loctite was ready to implement the technology. The Pontiac official was nervous, as cars were beginning to leak at 13,000 miles, and if the issue wasn't solved he would be held accountable.

The Pontiac exec—whom Brassard described as “a bit crusty”—wanted to know how Loctite knew its proposed material wouldn't be worse than what was in place. All the Loctite staff looked to Brassard, who was at the end of the table.

“So I just looked up and him and said, "Tums,' “ Brassard said. “He said, "What about Tums?' I said, "Do you take them, and do they work?' He said "Yes.' I said, "Well, we have Tums in our silicone. It neutralizes the acid in the gaskets, and the gaskets will last 100,000 miles.' And that's the end of that story. All the leaking stopped.”

Because of that, Brassard said he became an ASTM committee chairman in Detroit working on automotive issues. He would work within Ford and GM as a Loctite employee called in to troubleshoot.

But he left Loctite when the company wanted him to relocate to Connecticut, and the cost of living was much higher than he was accustomed. He worked as a technical director for a couple of firms.

When it became apparent the last company he worked for was going to go out of business, he started consulting on the side, utilizing vacation and other free time.

So when it did close, he started Silicone Solutions strictly as a consulting firm, working out of his garage in Aurora, Ohio. “It was very easy,” Brassard said. “The internet was just starting. I had a domain name and because of the American Chemical Society, I learned about it ahead of time. I had quite a bit of consulting work, but my wife didn't care for it. With consulting the income stream is either way up or down. She was used to a very regular income.”

Brassard developed a product for a company in Germany that previously had used some of Loctite's sealants but wanted faster adhesion. “So I changed the rheology so it would adhere faster, and it took off and was a big deal over there,” he said. “Then they wanted me to start manufacturing it.”

For awhile he supplied the material through toll compounding agreements with other firms, but that means not having as much control over the process. So after making a nice bit of profit within a year, he decided to evolve his firm into a specialty manufacturing operation.

Brassard had made enough in the business to self-fund the transition. He prefers that method of doing business, only borrowing money when Silicone Solutions bought its present building. And over the years, he said offering both consulting services and material supply has developed into an excellent business plan.

“You charge them to custom develop something, and then you supply it to them at a nice profit,” he said. “It's a win-win-win. The customer gets a problem solved and a supplier who knows what they're doing. And for us, we get them coming and going.”

Even when a consulting job doesn't turn into a customer for material supply, he said it is not viewed as time wasted because it's another product put into the Silicone Solutions portfolio.

“Most commodity people or competitors couldn't do that, but that's the benefit of us being in a specialized field where we address niches,” Brassard said. “The big corporations will address the lion's share of the big volume customers. One supplier won't entertain a new product area unless it's a $5 million opportunity.

“However, we'll make a pound of something for somebody, because we found that all of our big customers start out as small customers.”

Just as her father never envisioned what Silicone Solutions would become, so too Laurie Brassard never thought back in 2001 that this past March she would have celebrated her 15th anniversary with the family firm.

Her initial plan was simple: Her father was technically gifted but had less of a skill set on the managerial side of the business. Laurie had a degree in sales and marketing, and she thought she would come on board to help with those areas of Silicone Solutions. They did a couple of trade shows, one in Long Beach, Calif., leading to a lucrative customer in Kent, Ohio, located just miles from Silicone Solutions' headquarters.

“My intention was to help build the company and then go back to law school,” she said.

But within a couple of weeks, she was playing with pigments and color matching. And soon she was taking over much of the day-to-day operations of the company.

“Laurie saw what the needs were,” Dave Brassard said. “I don't care if a truck or order is late. I'm more into developing products. She's more business oriented. She saw what the needs were internally and adapted to it.”

She handles all the customer service, he said, because she's cordial with people while he can come across as abrasive on the phone.

“There are a couple of clients we have that he actually has turned down,” Laurie said. “Then I will call them back and say, "I'm not sure he really understood what you were looking for.' I do a lot of follow-up on samples we got from press releases. I'm a talker. I can sit and talk with somebody on the phone. I turn a lot of the technical calls that I have into sales.”

Laurie also found she needed to fill the manager role when she joined Silicone Solutions, as she found each person was acting almost as “their own manager in their head. One of them was my cousin, and I fired him.”

Dave said Laurie had previous experience managing a younger staff, and that has served her well at the firm. “Half the people here are family, and half are friends, which are almost like family,” he said. “So it's a pretty tight-knit group. Laurie came in with the background of managing younger people and motivating them, and that made a big difference.”

Laurie said her management style isn't exactly what her father prefers, “but when you're managing friends and family, you have to have a more friendly and flexible management style. I work with them,” she said. “I've done every job here. So I can answer the phone. I can do the (quality control). Anytime somebody's off, I can do both of the jobs. And that's probably what's kept me here is the diversity of being able to do several different things—not just sitting at a desk all day.”

Dave said they treat the staff well, almost in an “old-fashioned management style,” complete with big bonuses, numerous parties, golf outings and even a trip for everyone—including children and spouses—to Disney World a couple of years ago.

“They appreciate it, and they'll do more as a result,” he said. “A little company can do that.”

Often, when a business originally is built on one person's expertise—such as was the case with Dave's consulting work—it can be difficult to carry on when that individual retires or leaves the business for another reason.

That won't be the case for Silicone Solutions, both Brassards said.

“Years ago the business was everything for me,” Dave said. “It was my life. Now not so much. I can have a life right now. I took the month of February off this year and went down to Florida. I test-drove being retired. Everyone said you won't like it, you'll be bored.”

Not only did he enjoy the time off—he has plans to take off 12 weeks this year—he intends to retire within two years.

And while he was gone, the business didn't skip a beat. “I didn't have to call him once, and it was our best February in a long time,” Laurie said

Besides having developed a stable of products that bring in a steady stream of revenue, Joe Iatonna—who is married to Laurie's sister—has turned into a troubleshooter in his own right. “Joe is more on the ball then I am in a lot of areas because he's closer to things,” Dave said.

And while Silicone Solutions doesn't employ a full-time sale person, Laurie said its web store has helped boost sales, bringing in as many as seven new customers a day. Other customers come when people in the industry leave companies the firm has dealt with in the past and recommend Silicone Solutions to their new employers.

Because the firm provides custom materials, that also normally means as long as customers stay in business, Silicone Solutions will continue to supply them as captive customers. “Having no salesmen is a very novel business model,” Dave said. “And most people laugh at me, but I have a good response. We've never been in the red. Even with the big recessions and the big downturns, our overhead is very low, and our margins are very high.”

But that doesn't mean Silicone Solutions necessarily will remain in the family. Dave holds the majority of the stock, with Laurie and some others holding a stake and other stock being held in a trust. He said there's a chance he could sell it under the right circumstances.

“I have people talk to me (about buying the business), but most of them are bottom feeders,” Dave said. “They want to steal it from us, but that's not going to happen. I don't need to sell, and I'd sort of prefer to keep the company. However, if they give me an offer I can't refuse, we would sell.”

One reason he wouldn't be opposed to selling, though, is that it would free Laurie to pursue other dreams, rather than carrying on his. “Laurie is a writer, and I want her to be at home so she could write.”

For her part, Laurie said it's her father who has to make the decision.

“He's always given me an option if he gets an offer,” she said. “I want him to do what's best for him. I could be successful doing anything. ... I'm perfectly fine. Our parents did for us growing up, and I'll carry on his dream if it doesn't sell. And if it does, it's not going to hurt my feelings. He started it, and he deserves to see it come to fruition.”