The two companies started production at Bonny’s facility in Noida, India this month on an O-ring sealer but want to tap the Indian market for a wide range of end markets, including medical and baby products, said Michael Maloney, president of Silcotech North America (Booth N62034), in a June 22 interview at the NPE show.

“Our goal will be to strengthen our position in the market, both domestically and globally,” said Maloney. “The bigger goal for us is growing with the domestic market.”

The 50/50 venture will start small, with an investment of between US$173,000 and US$259,000 and one Arburg molding machine at the Noida facility, said Isolde Boettger, vice president of Bolton, Ontario-based Silcotech North America.

She said the partners want to add five more molding machines in three years, to add to the five that Bonny had before the joint venture.

Bonny has a strong brand name in India for making silicone baby bottle nipples and bottles, with a good distribution system, but wants to diversify into other markets, Maloney said.

Silcotech North America is part of an interlinked group of companies under the Silcotech name with operations in Switzerland, Spain, China and Bulgaria. The company was founded in 1984 in Stein am Rhein, Switzerland, by Swiss businessman Udo Lange.

The Indian expansion is the third foray into developing countries in three years for the Silcotech group, which started similar joint venture operations in China, in 2006, and in Bulgaria, in 2007, aimed mainly at domestic markets in those countries, Boettger said.

She said India and China currently account for a very small part of sales, between two and five percent, but the company would like to grow that to 10 to 15 percent in three years.

“We are really growing this right now,” she said. “It is just really at the starting point.”

The privately-held company does not disclose sales but has more than 200 employees and 100 presses at factories in Canada, Switzerland, Spain, China, Bulgaria and India.

Boettger said Silcotech would make the molds in Canada, test them and then ship them to India for production.

She said a lot of Indian silicone parts are currently made with a heat curing process, but as the market for more sophisticated, precision parts grows, demand for injection molded silicone parts will grow. The injection molding process is more expensive but can produce better parts.

Boettger said Silcotech sees opportunities in the growing 300 million-plus middle class market in India for better quality medical, consumer and other products.

Silcotech North America gets about 70 percent of its business in medical products, with about five percent in automotive and the rest in consumer products, and that focus on medical has minimized the impact of the recession, Boettger said.

The company also specializes in two-component silicone on plastic and silicone on silicone molding.