LSR molder Starlim expanding in Canada

Starlim North America Corp. continues to invest in its LSR injection molding location in southern Ontario.

The subsidiary of Austria's Starlim Sterner Group is putting another $10.4 million into the manufacturing location in London with both equipment and 26 new jobs.

The LSR molder last expanded at the location in 2018, with a $20 million infusion.

"This strategic investment will allow us to meet the needs of the growing medical device sector by implementing a manufacturing process that is first of its kind," said Vijai Lakshmikanthan, CEO of Starlim North America Corp. "We have been working with our customer for over two years to bring this innovation to our plant in London."

For Ontario's part, the project is being supported by nearly $1.3 million through the Regional Development Program's Southwestern Ontario Development Fund; and nearly $1 million from the Ontario Together Fund.

Ontario Together provides financial support to organizations with projects geared toward advancing health care resiliency and developing innovative medical technologies.

"The Ontario government has been supportive of this investment from the get-go, and we truly want to thank Minister Fedeli and his team for helping Ontario manufacturers like Starlim grow," Lakshmikanthan said.

Starlim North America produces 60 separate silicone components for the health care, mobility, automotive and consumer goods industries.

This most recent investment, announced Jan. 15, will support the addition of a new curing oven and cleanroom, as well as new manufacturing equipment for the London plant.

Starlim was founded in 1984 as a family company, and remains so today. The company has about 1,500 employees around the world that work on silicone products.

Starlim's services range from design phase to material testing and rapid prototyping; and from micromolding to one- and multi-component injection molding.

Starlim opened the 65,000-sq.-ft. London facility in 2004 with just five injection molding machines, and the firm said it has continuously grown production capabilities there, bringing the plant to maximum capacity and creating the need for the expansion.

The production area is broken into bays, each with a number of LIM presses — all supplied by Engel — and LSR material drums and in-house designed Sterner mixing and dosing equipment located in the basement level below the molding floor, a design the company said keeps a clear floor area and a small footprint for each machine.

This $10.4 million investment can be considered Starlim's way of "filling in the rest of the bays," as it planned for this type of expansion more than seven years ago.

Overall, Ontario government officials note that the province is investing $140 million through a Regional Development Program to help manufacturers across the province grow and address distinct regional priorities and challenges.

To date, Ontario has provided more than $122 million to support more than 100 projects through the program, leveraging over $1.3 billion in new investments and helping to create more than 2,500 jobs in the province.

"Thanks to investments from companies like Starlim, we can be confident that our targeted approach to fostering stability and growth across Ontario's economy is working," said Vic Fedeli, minister of economic development, job creation and trade. "Our government is proud to support local manufacturers as they expand and create more good-paying jobs in communities across the province."