Manufacturing with Silicone Rubber: A Comprehensive Workshop (August 27 – 30)

During the classroom instruction, registrants can expect to cover these topics and more:

• Silicone sources, uses, properties, and key processing characteristics
• Testing of HCR and LSR compounds, including physical, rheological, and analytical testing
• Additive dispersion technologies and color-matching variables
• Injection molding, extrusion, compression and calendering fabrication methods, as well as mixing and milling of silicone rubber
• Silicone testing for characterization of uncured and cured properties
• Calculation methods for estimating cure time of silicone rubber compounds
• Mold designs for critical LSR properties, automation, and turnkey applications
• Modern pumping and dosing equipment, technologies, maintenance, and process parameters for LSR applications
• Attributes and construction of the LSR injection molding machine cell
• LSR molding process development and troubleshooting

Registrants will also receive interactive training in RDAbbott’s and ARDL’s research and development laboratories and manufacturing facilities.

Featured materials, resources, and equipment during this training to include:

• Dow Performance Silicones
• NovationSi Modifiers, Additives, and Colors for Silicone
• ARDL Rubber Testing Equipment, Extruders, Compression and Transfer Molding Systems, and Calendering System
• ARBURG All-Electric 370A Allrounder Injection Molding Machine
• Nexus Colddeck Molds and Modular Molds
• KRACHT SilcoStar E-Drive LSR Metering System
• ENGEL ES 90TL Injection Molding Machine
• Graco/Fluid Automation M4-5M Metering System
• Kipe Molds 4-Drop, Valve-Gated Cold Runner
• Alpha Technologies Rubber Testing Instruments and Software

Bob Hershberger, Mixing & Compounding Manager for ARDL

Bob Hershberger has been part of the rubber industry for over 25 years. He started as a mill man at Polymerics Inc. in 1990 and quickly moved into a supervisory position. He attended classes at Akron University and became the plant manager of a silicone manufacturing facility. He has experience with mixing, milling, and molding all thermoset polymers. He consults on molding and mixing production improvements ranging from decreased cycle times, optimal mix, mold configuration and molding issues, including fouling, regrind, and other visual defects. He also provides assistance with start-up and prototype production molding processes.

 

Craig Lustek, Application Engineer for RDAbbott

Craig Lustek has more than 20 years of experience in process engineering, research and development, product management and manufacturing. Before joining RDAbbott, Craig was an Application Engineer for one of the world’s largest manufacturers of plastics injection molding machines (IMM). He has also worked as a Process Engineer for a supplier of silicone Liquid Injection Molding Machines (LIMs). As an RDAbbott Application Engineer, Craig shares his in-depth knowledge of LIMs by developing technical resources and procedures, defining optimal IMM processes and setups, consulting with customers, and training key personnel.

 

Kevin Bütow, System Technology Manager for KRACHT CORP.

Kevin Bütow is the System Technology Manager for all fluid systems, including the LSR dosing pumps from KRACHT. Located in Maumee, Ohio, KRACHT CORP. is the North American subsidiary of KRACHT GmbH in Germany where all sales, support, warehousing and logistics are coordinated. KRACHT’s core competencies are the development, manufacture, and sale of high-quality technologies in the areas of pumps, fluid measurement, valves, hydraulic drives and customized system solutions. KRACHT’s high-quality standards are the foundation for the success of its broad and deep product range.

 

Neil Lanterman, Quality Coordinator for NovationSi

In 1998, Neil Lanterman graduated from Youngstown State University with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering. During his 25+ years in the rubber industry, Neil has held various Research & Development, Production, Quality Control, and Product Development positions, and has worked with most organic and inorganic rubber polymers, including: natural rubber, neoprene, EPDM, and silicones. When it comes to processing and testing rubber, Neil has a broad range of experience working on mills, Banbury’s, calenders, large presses, liquid coating towers, extruders, and rubber testing equipment. Throughout his rewarding career, Neil has collaborated in various stages of research, development and production with many industry-leading corporations, such as: Dow, Dupont, Bridgestone/Firestone, Kiswire, Bekaert, Solvay Solexis, Wacker, Hubner Group, JOY Mining, Kordsa, and Hyosung. Outside of work, Neil enjoys gardening and is a proud husband and father of three kids.

 

Nicholas Hallett, Operations Manager and Technical Sales Specialist for KRACHT CORP.

Nicholas Hallett is the Technical Sales Specialist for LSR Dosing Pump systems from KRACHT, as well as, other fluid motion components. Located in Maumee, Ohio, KRACHT CORP. is the North American subsidiary of KRACHT GmbH in Germany where all sales, support, warehousing and logistics are coordinated. KRACHT’s core competencies are the development, manufacture, and sale of high-quality technologies in the areas of pumps, fluid measurement, valves, hydraulic drives and customized system solutions. KRACHT’s high-quality standards are the foundation for the success of its broad and deep product range.

 

Nicki Hershberger, Vice President of Technical & Sales for ARDL

Nicki Hershberger has been developing rubber formulations for a wide array of polymer types and applications for over 20 years and has a great deal of experience with mixing, molding, extruding, and calendering rubber compounds. She worked as a Technical Director for a custom rubber mixing company for 15 years and spent four years as a Technical Sales Representative for a carbon black company. She has worked at ARDL for four years and has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Kent State University.

 

Dr. Jason Poulton, Senior Technical Advisor for ARDL

Dr. Jason Poulton earned a B.S. degree in Chemistry from The Ohio State University and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Indiana University. Jason adds 25 years of experience in the rubber industry to the ARDL team. He has held R&D and management roles at Ansell Healthcare and Bridgestone Americas. Jason’s experience includes compounding and production of synthetic and natural latex products; basic polymer research scale-up, and plant support; materials research; technology planning; passenger/light-truck tire development; compound development for passenger, light truck, truck/bus radial, agricultural and off-road tires; and laboratory testing and characterization of rubber materials. He has also provided independent consulting services to the rubber and plastics industry on a variety of topics, including industry trends, purchasing, raw material approval, and future outlook for value-added materials. He is listed as co-inventor on 30 U.S. patents and multiple foreign patents. Jason supports reverse engineering and failure/forensic analysis for a variety of rubber and plastic products to serve the diverse needs of ARDL’s customers.

 

Patrick Malfent, Ing., Integration Manager for NEXUS Elastomer Systems, Inc.

Patrick Malfent graduated from a higher technical college for Mechatronics and Automation in Wels, Austria. His career started with engineering of demolding devices and fully automated production cells for LSR and multi-component injection molding production cells. After 2 years, Patrick was handling molding and automation projects for international customers as a Project Manager. This deep LSR processing and automation experience brought him into a technical sales position within 4 years. Since 2021 Patrick has been covering the U.S. market, representing the sales of dosing systems, molds, and automation solutions for NEXUS Elastomer Systems. Patrick has over 8 years of experience in LSR processing and significant know-how about developing and designing fully automated production cells for LSR, HCR, and rubber products, as well as developing process equipment. As Integration Manager for NEXUS Elastomer Systems, Patrick is responsible for technical sales and business development in the United States, Central America, and China.

 

Rick A. Ziebell, Vice President of Technology and Technical Fellow for RDAbbott

Rick Ziebell has more than 35 years of experience in the rubber industry and has worked for both raw material suppliers and fabricators. He is a graduate of Chemical Engineering and Materials Engineering from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, with advanced training in materials science and application studies in silicone technology from Dow Corning (now Dow). Rick has earned compositional patents in silicone technology and is a published author of over 50 technical papers, presentations, and peer-reviewed articles. In affiliation with universities and societies focused on science and technology, Rick is passionate about applying his decades of elastomers experience through training and educating the next generation of rubber technologists.

 

Rob Bohland, Research and Development Manager for NovationSi

Rob Bohland’s career started over 25 years ago after playing Scrabble in a local establishment where Frank Manello, Co-Owner of Gayson SDI, was in attendance. This serendipitous moment sparked a prosperous career in color formulations, additives, dispersions, and heat stabilizers, which allowed him to collaborate with industry-leading companies like Gayson SDI, Colormatrix, Polyone/Avient, Dow, RDAbbott, Nusil, ShinEtsu, Wacker, Bluestar, ASI/GE/Momentive, Magnifoam, Freudenberg NOK, Tesla, Cri-Sil, and many others. Quite a distinguished career for a high-school graduate who turned down a conditional acceptance to MIT.

 

Stefan Scheibner, Application Technician for ARBURG, Inc.

In 1990, Stefan Scheibner started his career in Germany as an apprentice for an automotive supplier of injection-molded parts. After completing a three-year certification program, Stefan worked as a Process Technician for various injection molding companies in the automotive and medical industries. In 2003, he went back to school at the Sueddeutsches Kunststoff-Zentrum (SKZ) in Wuerzburg, Germany, to become a certified industry master for plastics and rubber. After finishing this program, he moved to Mexico and worked for three years at various injection molding companies. Since 2007, Stefan has worked as an Application Engineer at ARBURG U.S. based in Irvine, California, where he gives training classes in English and Spanish for machine-set-up, plastic technology, robot technology, and liquid silicone technology. He also does work performing mold trials, process optimization, and technical sales support. Since starting in the rubber and plastics industry, Stefan has taken various training classes to further his technical education.

The classroom instruction will take place Tuesday and Wednesday in the Training Room at ARDL, located at 75 Robinson Avenue in Barberton, Ohio.

The interactive workshops will take place Wednesday through Friday at RDAbbott’s Service Center, located at 25 Foundation Place in Barberton, Ohio. (Our facility is walking distance from ARDL.)

This training event will start at 8 AM on Tuesday, August 27, at ARDL, and will end at 12:30 PM on Friday, August 30, at RDAbbott’s Service Center. With the exception of Friday, each training day will end by 5:30 PM (ET).

Please note that Friday’s training is optional for any registrants desiring one-to-one time with the instructors and/or a deeper dive in processing development of silicone parts.

A more detailed agenda will be provided to all paid registrants closer to the event start date.

The cost to attend this workshop is $1700 per person if you register by August 16, 2024. The price increases to $2,000 on August 17, 2024.

Discounts are available for multiple registrants from the same organization. Please contact Ariana Marich at ariana.marich@rdabbott.com for additional details.

Workshop cost includes:

• Four days of instruction led by industry professionals with decades of silicone knowledge
• All training materials
• Beverages, snacks, and lunch during each training day

Out-of-town registrants will be responsible for their own lodging and airport transportation needs.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email with all the pertinent workshop details, as well as your invoice with payment information.

Register Now!

IMPORTANT NOTES: Your registration is not reserved until full payment is received. You must complete the entire registration form, including the payment tab, to secure your spot.  This event is only open to non-competitive companies. Therefore, we reserve the right to decline certain registrations at our discretion.

 

All out-of-town registrants will be responsible for their own lodging and transportation needs. For a list of recommended airports, hotels, and restaurants near our training facilities, please follow this link: https://rdabbott.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Barberton_Local-Airports-Hotels-Restaurants.pdf

If you have any questions, please contact Ariana Marich at ariana.marich@rdabbott.com or 234.255.5893.