Aerospace giant Boeing flew in to visit Silicone Engineering. As part of a planned visit of all their key SQL approved suppliers in UK and Ireland, a team of representatives from Boeing’s Headquarters in Seattle were invited to the 55,000 sq ft silicone facility in Blackburn, Lancashire.

As part of their commitment to quality and safety assurance, the visit was to assess a number of key factors such as a robust supply chain, manufacturing infrastructure and capability together with design and solution capabilities. Specialists from Boeing included their Elastomers Specialist along with their Procurement Agent responsible for interior contracts and supplier management.

During their visit Silicone Engineering took Boeing on a full tour of the manufacturing facilities showing the processes of how their silicone rubber materials are stored, assigned and manufactured. This was twinned with a full tour of the in-house technical laboratory where all silicone formulas and solutions are designed, developed and scaled up.

Boeing were impressed with a number of aspects of the business some including the great house-keeping of the factory, the economies of scale, the sponge production technology and capabilities, the in-depth knowledge of silicone rubber that is held by the staff and the laboratory facility itself.

Paul Kinsella, Managing Director, who took pleasure in showing the Boeing team around said “Many companies promise and boast a great deal, especially online, however seeing is often the best way to believe and impress your audience. Our vertically integrated facility here in the UK is equipped with some of the best silicone processing equipment and personnel in the industry and it is an absolute privilege to give the Boeing representatives a full tour of our facility to show our capabilities and expertise first hand.”

For more information on our Boeing BMS grades or any other silicone rubber product please get in touch here.

Did you know that Silicone Engineering have been making silicone tubing for over 50 years! We’d like to think that over half a century of production our expertise and knowledge is pretty extensive. With continued investment into improving tubing for specific markets such as our dedicated food and beverage production cell, our food grade, FDA approved silicone tubing is produced to the highest standards.

The food and beverage cell is equipped with the latest in silicone tubing technology. A new extruder, laser gauge, curing line and post cure oven have all been installed to produce silicone tubing that rivals any product on the market. The state of the art laser gauge allows for the tightest industry controls in ovality and diameter control leading to a superior product finish and consistent quality. New tooling capabilities has also allowed for a smoother inner bore which in turn improves the flow of contents running through the tube. When used in industries such as food, dairy, breweries and vending, where demand for a consistent flow and higher performance is vital, suraSil™ food grade silicone tube provides just that with the durability, flexibility and hygienic properties that are unrivalled.

With the added capability of printing directly onto the tubing, bespoke customer branding and identity can be printed onto each batch of tubing. This gives the tubing brand identity out in the market place and also batch traceability.

A new automatic haul off system has also been added to the cell. The haul off system ensures that each batch of tubing keeps within class E1 tolerances.

Silicone Engineering’s suraSil™ range of food grade solid extrusions are available in a range of Shore-A hardness’, tear strengths and sizes. For more information on our silicone grades suitable for Food & Beverage applications, please visit our food page by clicking on the following link below.

http://silicone.co.uk/markets/food-and-drink/

Let the Journey Begin….

1959 – Silicone Engineering Ltd was born! We were one of the first British pioneering companies dedicated to the processing of silicone rubber. Back then the company focus was silicone sponge extrusion.

1960 – A year later the company started extruding solid silicone to complement the sponge range

1973 – Cable and harnessing were introduced to our capabilities to offer insulated silicone cables

Cable Brochure

1975 – Bestobell Seals purchase Silicone Engineering to become a part of the Bestobell Group.

1976 – Solid and sponge sheeting produced using an extrusion method

1986 – Meggitt PLC purchase Bestobell Seals and thus in turn Silicone Engineering become part of a very big family

Silicone Engineering brochure under Meggitt PLC

1988 – Exciting times as we move into our new purpose built, 55,000 sq ft premises on Greenbank Business Park, where we reside today

Local paper cut-out detailing our move

1990 – Our Low Smoke, Low Toxicity grade (LCH) was developed in response to the King Cross Rail disaster in 1988

1996 – We can now manufacture calendered sponge sheeting in a continuous method.

1998 – Two years later we start to calender solid sheeting in a continuous method.

2002 – Silicone Engineering is acquired from Meggitt PLC and becomes a Limited independently owned company for the first time since 1975!

2005 – Silicone Engineering Ltd undergo a management restructure and ownership change following a MBO by the current management team

2005 – We spread our wings to European pastures by opening our European office near Rennes in France

2009 – After 50 years of constant development we decided it was time to have a complete refresh with a shiny new brand image. Our grades kSil®, expanSil™, suraSil™, neutraSil™ and metectSil™ are born as you know them today!

2010 – 2020 – A decade that saw year-on-year growth, as the company explored new geographical markets such as North America. Growth in the solid and sponge sheeting product lines contributed to Silicone Engineering becoming one of the leading HCR silicone manufacturers in Europe.

2021 – Silicone Engineering were acquired by US materials giant, Rogers Corporation to become a part of the group.

Today – Silicone Engineering are much more than a silicone manufacturer. We pride ourselves on being a silicone solution provider who works closely with our customers to solve problems and design silicone solutions for today’s applications.

Throughout our 60 years in the silicone rubber sector, Silicone Engineering has remained exclusively focused on silicone rubber innovations so our expertise and knowledge has not been diluted by any other elastomers; something that the company prides itself on. This focus is what drives innovative thinking into the material and the development of new formulations is what keeps us at the forefront of silicone technology.

Silicone Engineering’s 55,000 sq ft Facility

Designer Rachael Barrett has used a Silicone Engineering product to create Lady Gaga’s creative outfits for her music videos.

Rachael started to experiment with silicone sheeting whilst on a work placement with Philips Design, where she discovered some leftover silicone.

Rachael was intrigued to find out if the material could be stitched like other materials such as leather and fabric. Following discovering that the product was versatile, she decided to continue exploring its potential as a wearable material whilst completing her MA collection.

After Rachael’s collection caught the attention of Nicola Formichetti, artistic stylist to Lady Gaga, a whirlwind ‘Bad Romance’ took off between the designer and the superstar.

A nine-garment collection was created using the silicone. Three of the pieces featured in Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance video, one piece in her Telephone video and several pieces were produced for her tour and various other public appearances.

The designer told us that; “Lady Gaga loves outrageous material like rubber so I was able to go wild with my creations. There’s beginning to be a high demand for the material in the fashion industry as there’s a great variety of colours to choose from.

However the appeal of silicone for me is the variety of thicknesses which it can be bought in and the flexibility of sewing the 2mm thick sheeting together to produce a masterpiece.”

An example of what silicone sheeting looks like in fashion design can be seen on Lady Gaga’s recent Fame perfume advert.

Silicone Engineering’s kSil 60 silicone sheeting is the product, which was used to create a transparent effect for Lady Gaga’s various costumes.

With the material being so versatile, it’s no wonder that it is perfect to use for fashion couture. kSil solid sheeting is available in Shore A hardness 40 (soft) to 70 (Hard).

Victoria Chegwin, Commercial and Marketing Manager at Silicone Engineering said; “It’s amazing how our kSil 60 silicone sheeting can be made into an iconic fashion piece”.

Fashion designer Rachael Barrett has informed us that Lady Gaga is a fan of silicone and has been enquiring about different colours available in the silicone sheeting product range.

Rachael has also promised to keep us to date with the iconic fashionista’s trends – maybe Ms Gaga will pay us a trip personally to select material for her next music video – watch this space…!

2014 was a big year for Silicone Engineering Racing. Lead rider Russ Mountford had a successful 2014 competing in all major international road races including the Isle of Man TT, Ulster Grand Prix and the North West 200.

Featured in Emerald Road Racing magazine, Russ gave account of his performances from last year highlighting the Isle of Man TT podium finishes as one of his highlights. Russ said “It has to be the podium at the Classic TT in the Formula One race. Finishing behind Bruce Anstey and James Hillier was rather special. It was something that I did not think we could do yet we managed it and it was such a great achievement from me and the team.”

From all at Silicone Engineering, we wish Russ and the team all the best for a successful 2015 campaign.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

January saw Silicone Engineering start an intense set of training sessions delivered by the Technical Department.

The training sessions are aimed to provide all Silicone Engineering’s front end employees with advanced knowledge into the science behind silicone as a material. With the business’ vision to be the silicone partner and market brand of choice, the training aims to increase the knowledge of each employee to allow them to provide advanced silicone knowledge to customers regardless of department.

Due to the advanced nature of silicone formulations, processing techniques and material specifications, it is often a long process to understand everything about silicone as an elastomer without any formal training. As many of you will know, silicone has many applications, formulas and grades that need to be fully understood along with the positives and negatives of the material in certain applications. By providing a full programme of technical training sessions, running until June, will provide our already skilled workforce with added knowledge that will help to serve customers and offer them with advanced silicone solutions.

William Taylor, Senior Innovations Technologist, who has 19 years’ experience with the company has spent the last 6 months designing and writing the training content with help from Training and Development Manager, Margaret Nutter.  Bill spoke of his enthusiasm for the training and how passing on knowledge to others is vital for future growth. “Employee training is an essential part of individual and company growth and builds self-esteem.  Knowledge building increases the competence levels of our workers and naturally you become more confident when talking to customers, suppliers, networking and even others within different departments of Silicone Engineering. Knowing your job/subject well is a “great place to be” and the company is trying, through people like me who have worked here many years, to impart whatever knowledge we have gained and sharing in the knowledge.

The course program runs up until the end of May 2015.