PLACENTIA, Calif.—George Kipe has been in the liquid silicone rubber game since its infancy.
He attended seminars put on by General Electric Co. in the 1970s when the conglomerate's silicone unit was introducing its first LSRs to the industry. And Kipe jumped on board quickly, learning all he could about the new technology. He owned a mold shop as well a firm dedicated to the liquid injection molding of LSRs.
After long-ago divesting the parts making business to his then-partner, he concentrated on Kipe Molds Inc., the Placentia-based maker of molds, cold-runner technology and other accessory tooling run by him and his son, Brint. And after all these years, both Kipes—George serves as president and Brint as general manager—have seen lots of people and companies succeed and fail in the world of LSR.
One thing they've learned is that the plastics people are better at some aspects of the LIM process and the rubber people are better at others. But often, it's someone with good mechanical abilities who has no background ties to either plastics or rubber, who can best figure out the process and make good parts consistently.
To read the full story visit lsr-world.com.
LSR World is a quarterly magazine written and produced primarily by the editorial staffs of Crain's Rubber & Plastics News and Plastics News. The publication is delivered to select readers of RPN and PN, and is available through an online subscription basis as a digital edition. To learn more, visit www.lsr-world.com.