SSP looks to partnerships, technology to chart growth path

BALLSTON SPA, N.Y.—Specialty Silicone Products has never been shy about pushing into new markets and positioning itself as a leading designer and manufacturer of silicone materials. Now the company is actively taking steps to increase its global reach and revenue base with international partnerships.

It's a continuation of a growth phase that has seen both revenues and employees more than double over the last decade, SSP Business Development Manager Dominic Testo said. Much of that growth is coming from signing exclusive sales agreements with various partners to help sell products all over the world. The latest such partnership was the company signing an exclusive sales agreement with Queensland Gaskets that covers Australia and New Zealand. SSP also maintains important relationships with partners in Italy, the United Kingdom, Canada and Singapore.

SSP was acquired by Heico Corp.'s Electronic Technologies Group in November 2018, and since then has continued to increase its reach into the growing aerospace industry. That group is comprised of businesses that specialize in the design and manufacture of highly engineered, mission-critical products that must successfully operate in the harshest environments. At the time of the acquisition, SSP employed about 70 team members, according to a Heico news release.

SSP offers EMI RFI shielding, silicone elastomers, silicone lubricating compounds, thin silicone membranes and lab products that are used in applications in more than 20 countries. The company is not only able to partner with sales-related organizations, but with customers who can serve as a reseller and referral source themselves, whether those customers are die cutters, molders or in another subset of manufacturing.

"There's a lot of technical work that goes into the use of specialty silicones within various weapons so defense remains a key industry for us," Testo said. "With this growing list of new partnerships we're able to handle selling to a worldwide market simply from sitting at our desk."

Part of the benefit to these partners is that SSP gives its partners the right to sell and market its product within a certain geographic market.

"We rely on partners like Queensland to get our product into the defense market in other countries," Testo said. "We know the U.S. market pretty well but the help is really appreciated in foreign countries."

It's a model that is being used with other partners as well.

Defense and military, though, are not the only industries that SSP is involved in. Much of its additional business lies in serving the laboratory consumables market and with analytical testing products. Additional efforts are being made to further break into the medical device industry.

Headquartered in Ballston Spa, SSP said it has recently experienced tremendous growth in sales of its EMI/RFI shielding elastomers, military-grade silicones and other specialized silicone materials. Many of the conductive silicones that SSP has developed meet very specific and customized requirements for use in military applications. For example, two of its materials meet qualified products list requirements from the U.S. Department of Defense and its Defense Logistics agency. SSP also supplies many commercial-grade shielding silicones.

Trends like connected technology, increased reliance on GPS and advanced sensor development has led to additional needs for SSP's products for companies operating in such industries as telecommunications. Automotive also requires specialized silicone rubber products as vehicles become more computerized than ever before, Testo said. The growing demand for 5G technology now requires extreme shielding capabilities to handle increased frequency demands, especially in areas that face inclement weather from extreme wind to hot and cold temperatures.

"As 5G grows we need to find options for this technology to work in harsh environments and our collective expertise is often called upon," Testo said.

This overall demand across many specialties has led SSP to investing a significant amount of money and resources in a planned expansion of up to 30,000 square feet of manufacturing space at its headquarters, adding to the more than 52,000 square feet of space the location already has, according to a November 2018 news release from Heico. The extra space is needed to house employee growth in such areas as compliance and testing professionals, a full-time procurement and human resources professional, product managers and engineers with specialties in compression molding.

New quality team members and lab technicians also are being hired along with one or more CNC machinists, Testo said. They will join a group of professionals, many of whom have been with SSP for at least 10 years.

"As we grow it's important to still adhere to the short lead times our clients have come to expect from us, while also expanding the ability in our labs to engage in testing," Testo said.

For aerospace clients, SSP often is asked to engage in extreme low temperature and electrical testing.

The agreement between SSP and Queensland Gaskets comes at a time when Australia is making the biggest single commitment to upgrading its defense capabilities since World War II. Last August, the Australian government announced that defense spending will reach 2 percent of gross domestic product by the fiscal year ending June 2021. Defense and military spending worldwide is only increasing, according to Testo.