GW Plastics to Offer Liquid Silicones

Bethel, VT., USA – January 28, 2008

Global precision molder and contract manufacturer GW Plastics has, today, announced its expansion into the Liquid Silicone (LSR) market with the creation of GW Silicones.

GW Silicones will be located at GW Plastics’ Royalton, Vermont, technology and tooling campus and will provide extensive concept-to-production services for LSR and LSR-based multi-material prototype and production applications. GW Silicones will focus on medical device, drug delivery and life science related applications but will also support other traditional LSR markets such as automotive and consumer/industrial.

GW Plastics President and CEO, Brenan Riehl, is encouraged about the synergies that GW’s expansion into the LSR market will bring to its customers. “Many of our customers have approached us to supply LSR components to complement our traditional thermoplastic products. Adding precision LSR capability to our established technical expertise in thermoplastics will allow us to provide a level of capabilities and service not readily available in our industry.”

Riehl adds, “We have identified a need to provide LSR and thermoplastic material combinations and assemblies for our customers as efficiently as possible. Our ability to provide product design assistance early in the development process, combined with world-class in-house tooling and global production capability, will allow us to offer innovative, high-quality, cost-effective solutions to our customers.”

GW is constructing a new clean room with state-of-the-art Engel molding machines specifically equipped for LSR. The operation will focus on high-precision, automated, defect-free flash-less molding that has become a GW trademark. In addition to conventionally molded LSR products, GW Silicones intends to offer LSR over-molding onto plastic and metals, as well as, multimaterial molding. GW Silicones expects to be in operation by April 2008.