Q: For those who may not know, who is Siltech?

Ruckle: Siltech is a family owned and operated manufacturer of organosilicone polymers.  Since inception, circa 1990, we have grown through three plus decades into a strong, trusted, and reliable supplier of specialty silicones with over 200 employees and have just broken ground on our third plant.

Siltech’s senior management team is involved in the daily operation of all aspects of the business. Quick decisions are the norm, with long term planning and actions part of the culture of growth, fairness and commitment to the pillars of sustainability.

Q: Does Siltech consider itself a coatings company.

Partly yes. However, we are not a dedicated coatings company. Siltech is a manufacturer and seller of specialty organosilicone products across multiple markets. Coatings is one of our larger markets, where these materials are used primarily as additives or resin modifiers.  I enjoy life’s ironies and particularly like that coatings companies, who eschew any product with the word silicone in the name, nearly always use organo-modified silicones in their formulations.

Q: How has business been in 2023? How does it look going forward.

Ruckle: Siltech, like everyone else in the silicone business have seen a downturn this year. A consistent story from our customers is that a sudden drop in historically high 2022 demand caused excess inventory.  Implied in that explanation is that 2023 demand is significantly lower than 2022.

We are expecting to see a partial recovery in the last four months of the year.  One positive trend worth mentioning is that we have seen continued closing of new opportunities.

Q: What actions are Siltech taking towards sustainability?

Ruckle: We realize that the goals and needs of sustainability are evolving quickly. First of all, we continue with Ecovadis as our external reporting and auditing partner. We have worked internally using their guidelines as a roadmap and have identified and executed dozens of steps in our plants to improve our carbon footprint. These steps include recycling solvents and reducing energy usage.

I believe we are, like many, addressing the “low hanging fruit” while assessing what else can be done.  An industry trend is to address the entire supply chain, and many of our customers have asked us to participate in their efforts. The Ecovadis platform makes collaborating both up and down the supply chain straightforward and we are doing so.
We have recently broken ground on our third plant electing to build this also in Ontario which has an exceptionally high percentage of non-petroleum clean energy.

One thing we have done which is not so low hanging is the introduction of Silsurf® Bio series of coatings additives.  Last year we introduced this series of additives which use new carbon instead of petroleum derived carbon. I find many customers are overwhelmed with the topical urgency of climate protection and they are looking for options. These additives, which are chemically the same as existing additives, can be dropped into formulations to give an immediate footprint reduction.

Q: Beyond carbon/climate change issues are you doing anything else for sustainability?

Ruckle: We have responded to the current EPA and ECHA stratagem to limit fluoroalkyl substances (FAS) by openly sharing our knowledge of where and when silicones can and cannot be used to replace these materials. While surface tension and water repellency applications are obvious situations to evaluate silicones, there are some areas where FAS are considered irreplaceable. For these, we are conducting laboratory trials on unique silicon species to provide oleophobicity and some chemical inertness. We have found significant oleophobicity with three approaches so far.  These have been published in an E-book available from Coatings World and will be updated and presented at upcoming conferences.

Q: What is it like to work for Siltech?

Ruckle: The open and trusting culture at Siltech allows a self-motivated person to thrive without the obstacles one finds in so many large corporations. The ethos here is one of trust and delegated responsibility wrapped in quick decisions based on all considerations, not just profit. 

Although we have grown quickly, we have stayed ahead of demand by expanding our production facilities and now by building a green field plant. It is so refreshing to plan for the future instead of the next quarter or year.

When you work closely with very knowledgeable and capable colleagues you respect them and there is little competitiveness. The only thing left for one to focus on is doing your job and that results in a fun and successful environment. I find myself looking forward to traveling and spending time with my colleagues because I genuinely enjoy their company. 

The culture that I found in 2009 Siltech, when there were under fifty employees still holds at over 200 employees. Most importantly, Siltech’s senior management believe that how they treat employees affects how we treat the customers. So if you want to understand the culture here, contact us. We’ll work with you to match your needs to our capabilities to find an opportunity for you to participate in our culture. Your Technology – Our Chemistry is more than a tagline, it’s how we operate.