PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release Friday, October 19, 2007

Contact: Noel LaBine 763-477-3086

Sil-Pro recognized at Chamber event in Delano.

   

On Thursday, October 18 th , the Delano Chamber of Commerce held their monthly meeting at the Sil-Pro manufacturing facility in Delano . At that noon luncheon event, Gerry Wenner of the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development presented founder Lee Carver with a certificate of recognition from Governor Pawlenty.

Sil-Pro, located in Delano , specializes in custom molded and extruded silicone parts for the medical industry. Customers for this growing high-tech business include major national firms such as C.R. Bard, Guidant Corp., Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic Inc., St. Jude Medical Inc., and 3M Co.

Founder Lee Carver has enjoyed building this world-class company in Delano . Before starting this company in Delano, he had spent three years doing a 72 mile commute to Prescott to help start a silicone company called CPI that later became Guidant.

At the recent event in Delano Carver praised his one-time partner, Calvin Brandt, for the role that he played in helping Sil-Pro get off the ground. Cal was willing to . . . “Stick his neck out and take a risk.” Their first contract was with Boston Scientific making catheters.

He also liked the fact that in Delano his workers would be his neighbors. He knew the kind of people that would emerge from the regional labor pool would be people with a strong sense of community and a dedication to hard and precise work. Worker performance is crucial to Sil-Pro. Sil-Pro's custom-made products must meet the exacting standards of the company's clients with absolute precision.

About 97 percent of the firm's work is medical, mainly fashioning custom parts for long-term implants such as pacemakers, defibrillators, drug pumps and catheters. About 65% of their products are for body fluid handling or long-term body contact. Successful functioning of a Sil-Pro product can be literally a matter of life and death. According to Lee Carver, “The quality has got to be unbelievable,”

All operations are performed in a Class 10,000 clean-room environment – a custom facility designed by Mr. Carver, and constructed and equipped under his direct supervision. The appearance of the clean-room, and the entire facility, is pivotal. Most prospective customers insist on inspecting the facility prior to requesting part quotes. For this reason and also because of personal style the Sil-Pro facility is a beautiful thing to observe.

Several months ago they started getting into the Industrial production market. At first, the fuel cell people approached them. They were cautious at first, but Sil-Pro decided to start with a $120,000 press purchase and for over a year, they were not able to generate any profit from this effort. Now the work for the fuel cell industry has become very profitable. Not too long ago, 3M contacted them about the possibility of making a short order of respirators, or face-masks. The group at Sil-Pro jumped at the opportunity. The design team worked overtime to get the molds designed and made. Sil-Pro makes all of their own molds. The result was that 3M was impressed with the quick quality service and has since given more work to Sil-Pro.

When asked about the ability of Sil-Pro to compete in a Global market, Carver responded, “We are in a high-profile, high-tech field, and we have managed to stay ahead of the curve. We continue to work to increase our efficiency and quality. Right now we are going lean. We maintain our quality by doing extreme quality control testing. We magnify the finished product 10 to 30 times to search for the extreme best we can achieve. We also work at being very responsive, and pride ourselves on turning quotes very quickly. Boston Scientific, Johnson & Johnson, 3M, and others all recognize are quality job and how quickly we can turn it around.”

 

The Wright County Economic Development Partnership is pleased to announce this new industrial park development. “More locations for industry equates to more opportunities for business and new job creation in Wright County ,” according to Director, Noel LaBine.

  The Partnership exists to enhance the business climate of Wright County and to help create more jobs in Wright County . The strategies the Partnership uses to achieve its mission include being an information resource and finding technical assistance; aiding business development through Business Retention & Expansion visits, providing financing resources, and providing business information and training through seminars and workshops. Also, the Partnership markets Wright County to business site locators, and maintains an excellent website, which includes a listing of commercial and industrial property available in Wright County (see www.wrightpartnership.org ). The Partnership also assists with Workforce Development and has gathered economic statistical information, which is available on its website.