Trelleborg focuses on flexibility, customization

STEIN AM RHEIN, Switzerland—Liquid silicone rubber seals represent a large portion of components developed at Trelleborg Sealing Solutions' manufacturing plant in Stein am Rhein.

The company differs from many other LSR molders, as "it does not focus on baby pacifiers, dialyzer seals or standard automotive cable seals, just to name a few, but prefers to develop, in close collaboration with customers, solutions to a wide variety of more technically demanding and often safety-critical applications, tailor-made for customers' individual requirements," said Ursula Nollenberger, product director for LSR components.

"Silicone rubber is a specialized material accounting for just 2 percent of the total market for rubber," she said. "The advanced LSR segment currently represents around 15 percent of that silicone production.

"However, it is seeing exponential growth, particularly into high-tech fields where the technology can meet the manufacturing and design challenges thrown up by complex applications."

The Stein am Rhein facility was part of the 2011 acquisition of Silcotech Group, which specialized in fully automated molding of single- and multi-component pharmaceutical and medical parts.

Several all-electric KraussMaffei Silcoset injection molding machines run in the Class 8 clean room on the ground floor, with moldings transferred to the Class 7 assembly and packaging area on the floor above. The clean room was first set up in 1996.

Read the full story at LSRWorld.

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 lsr-world.com.