Trelleborg Acquires Sil-Pro, Expands Product Line

With the recent acquisition of Minnesota based Sil-Pro, Trelleborg Sealing Solutions has expanded its product and service offering in the healthcare and medical industry. The acquisition of Sil-Pro closed in January 2019.

Sil-Pro delivers custom silicone and thermoplastic solutions for complex engineering challenges and brings more than 20 years of experience partnering with medical device companies. According to Trelleborg, Sil-Pro's product offering compliments the company's existing portfolio, including the capabilities added following the 2016 acquisition of SSF (Specialty Silicone Fabricators).

“We’re looking forward to being able to leverage and share our expertise in custom silicone and thermoplastic solutions,” says Brian Higgins, director of business development for Sil-Pro. “We’re also excited to be a part of the larger Trelleborg Group and collaborating with its other facilities. We see this being of mutual benefit to both our customers, and the Sil-Pro team.”

“Sil-Pro bolsters our existing manufacturing footprint with enhanced capabilities in medical silicone and thermoplastic processing, component machining, and assembly,” says Ursula Nollenberger, product line director for global elastomer operations at Trelleborg.

Nollenberger notes that the two companies have great synergies on the engineering side with outstanding expertise in product and process development, tool making, and automation.“We share a mindset of solving customers’ application challenges with innovative high-quality and cost-effective engineered solutions,” she says.

Trelleborg recently launched applications for implantable silicones as carriers of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). According to the company, one of the most significant innovations will be solutions for drug-eluting devices.

“Over the past few years, there has been a stepped change in the treatment and control of medical conditions leading to the rapid growth and development of drug-device combination products,” says Andrew Gaillard, global director of the healthcare and medical segment at Trelleborg. “Specifically, those that elute regular controlled doses of drugs precisely and consistently to a treatment area. We see enormous potential in this area of innovation where APIs are incorporated into silicone,” he says.

For further information on the company's healthcare and medical portfolio, go to www.trelleborg-lifesciences.com/whitepapers , where two whitepapers can be downloaded on drug-eluting devices including test results for the impregnation of API in vulcanized silicone.