Simtec innovates around HCR, LSR for medical components

Anaheim, Calif. — Compared with 2023, the last year has been "quite stable" for Simtec Silicone Parts LLC, a niche, high-volume high consistency rubber (HCR) and liquid silicone rubber (LSR) injection molder based in Miramar, Fla.

Representatives from the 100-person company traveled to Southern California in February for MD&M West, a gathering of nearly 2,000 firms that work in medical technology and parts industry.

"It was a rough market last year," Daniel Polster, Simtec managing director, told Rubber News Feb. 5. "But in the medical sector things are still quite stable."

The biggest chunk of the net sales pie for Simtec is medical technology, and the firm also works in automotive, consumer electronics and industrial applications.

"Our customers themselves are stable compared to last year," Polster said.

In fact, Polster himself, hired in 2024 along with several others for the medical sales team, is evidence of Simtec's nod toward the medical space.

"One of biggest changes are the new, fresh faces on the sales team," said Thomas Aichberger, CEO of parent company Rico Group. "We see this as a great market, one in which we are trying to move Simtec forward."

Rico is expanding in Austria, where its tools are designed then supplied for production in Switzerland.

"The LSR market is no longer a bottleneck as it has been before," Aichberger said. "We are increasing in sales and our sales excellence [in medical]."

In the last year alone, Polster said Simtec has doubled its LSR capacity.

"We are looking at new machines, new projects," he said. "We are in a second phase now."

Aichberger added that capital investments continue into new cells and new lines at the company's location just outside Miami, with a particular focus on prototyping for customers early in a project.

Simtec works almost exclusively with OEMs.

Thomas said Simtec can help a customer refine a design and assist them with guidance, which in medical can take time.

The company is owned by Thalheim, Austria-based Rico Group, a specialist in the LSR space.

Simtec will look to make inroads into the electric vehicle and e-mobility spaces as it continues to seek market share in LSR components for medical.

"In the consumer sector, more and more startups are coming out ... so it is tough to see the future there," Polster said. "The medical sector is a target sector where we will look to grow for sure.

"Automotive is more challenging. EVs have new application possibilities ... but there is a certain projected growth rate that we are looking for."

Food and baby feeding have been strong in Europe for Simtec, though the company has taken longer to gain traction in the U.S., Aichberger said.

Based in Upper Austria, Rico Group has production companies in Austria, the U.S. and Switzerland.

They include Rico Elastomere Projecting in Austria; HTR, a tool hardening company in Austria; Silcoplast in Wolfhalden, Switzerland; and Simtec in the U.S.

Rico Group has about 500 employees in total.

Semperit Group, also based in Austria, acquired Rico Group for about $216 million in August 2024.

With the sale of its Sempermed business unit and acquisition of Rico Group as its initial foray into LSR, Semperit now is focused on its core business, industrial rubber.

The main product groups in the industrial sector for Semperit are hydraulic and industrial hoses, conveyor belts, escalator handrails, window and door profiles, cable car rings, ski foils and products for railway superstructures.

There are very few redundancies between Semperit and Rico, and Aichberger, who came from Semperit to lead Rico, wants it to remain that way.

With about $100 million per year in net sales, Rico has seen a compounded annual growth rate of about 16 percent since 2020, with a recurring EBITDA of about $18.1 million, Semperit officials told Rubber News following the acquisition last year.

The annual growth rate of silicone is expected to be around 7 percent CAGR globally until 2027, while the market for silicone applications in Western Europe and the U.S. amounts to approximately $8 billion.

The earlier a company in the design-for-manufacturing space can partner with a customer, the better the results.

The early timeline is especially important for Simtec, Polster said.

"We do almost everything," he said. "One of our most high-volume, state-of-the-art products we have is our glucose monitoring device."

Aichberger said thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) reflect a market pool that is big enough as-is.

"We don't do TPEs at the moment," he said. "We are aware of them, as it is important to know what is in our field and what is not in our field.

"And for us, at the moment, biocompatability is the most important thing. We work in complex injection molding ... this is where we think we are best-in-class."

Polster said Simtec brings injection- and micromolding know-how with it.

"The customer can benefit by coming to us early and working with our design department for the mold," he said.

Aichberger said Simtec has been focused "for the last couple years" on the prototype phase, using 3D printing to produce an initial, accurate iteration for customers.

"We have focused for the last couple years on the prototype phase, starting with 3D printing to be able [to reduce time to market]," he said. "There are hundreds of applications outside of the market where a customer might not know that an LSR solution is correct."

Aichberger cited an O-ring production design, whereby Simtec inserted the O-ring into the assembly so the customer did not have to do it.

"All of this is to reduce iterations," he said.

Simtec, which works strictly in LSR and HCR and LSR overmolds onto plastics, does not do any standalone plastic components with its injection molding. The company does single- and two-shot molding, as well as multi-shot molding with a third stream [which might be a colorant or additive for conductive properties].

But overall, the formula for success has a common denominator—getting in early.

As well, the greater understanding a customer has early on of product functionality, the better.

Almost entirely automated at the production level, Simtec does use simulation at the onset of a project to reduce risk and costly iterations.

"This is the way we want to go," Polster said. "Automation in medical is becoming more and more of a trend. [Rico] Group has its own automation team."

And collaborations are as important as communication.

The future is bright for Simtec as Rico Group realizes growth. Its parent company, Semperit, allows Rico to be what it always has been—an expert in LSR injection molding.

"We are doubling in capacity," Aichberger said. "It has been somewhat challenging in the last year. But we truly believe in what we are doing. For us, everything goes back to having resilience."

There is inherent insecurity in decision-making based on politics, and insulating against political cycles is critical, the Simtec team said.

"We also have the patience when necessary to wait and see what Europe or China does in some situations. We have changed from a globalized world to a localized world.