Silicone-coated films specialist Siliconature Corp. plans to set up a U.S. manufacturing operation.
The company looks to spend $19 million to set up a factory in Grand Rapids, Mich., that will employ about 26. It is a subsidiary of Siliconature SpA of Godega de Sant-Urbano, Italy, about 45 miles north of Venice.
Siliconature coats various substrates to make tapes, labels, release liners and other applications in medical, industrial, envelopes, construction and other markets. It has been running a U.S. sales office since 2004 in Chicago.
“The area presents the urban infrastructure of a larger city with natural and rural areas nearby — an ideal combination that is cost-effective for our business and an attractive feature for our employees,” noted Dave Arado, general manager of Siliconature USA.
Grand Rapids out-competed sites in Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin for the project. Michigan Strategic Fund is offering a $286,000 performance-based grant to Siliconature. Gaines Township also will support the project with a property tax abatement.
Siliconature's headquarters plant runs six silicone coating lines and five slitting lines and was recently bolstered with the 2015 startup of another production plant in Italy, in Sesto al Reghena. The latter facility vertically integrates the company with its ability to extrude biaxially oriented PET then coat it in-line with silicone. Critical production phases of the new line occur in a Class 1,000 clean room environment. Coated BOPET films are available in thickness from 19 to 75 micrometers.
Siliconature officials did not specify if the Grand Rapids operation also will be vertically integrated.
Siliconature has built its global business to include subsidiaries in Asia. Top Tech Substrate Co. plc opened as a slitting operation in 2007. Siliconature Substrate Jiangxi Co. LLC, modeled after the firm's head office plant in Italy, opened in Jiangxi, China, in 2010. RT Supply Co. Ltd. opened in 2012 as a slitting and distribution business in Bangkok, Thailand.
Silicone-coated films find diverse uses where the chemicals' lubricity performs key functions such as release properties for protective packaging and backing layers for tapes and labels.
Siliconature was founded in 1987 to make siliconized and other treated films and substrates for standard and custom usages. It is certified to ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and BS OHSAS standards.