By Susan E. Campbell
SSP Development Corp. Inc., developers
and manufacturers of specialty silicone
products, will soon break ground on an
18,500-square-foot addition to its facility
at 3 Macrea Hill Road in Ballston Spa.
SSP Development has occupied the
same 33,000-square-foot building since
2001. But in the past 10 years, sales of
its products have doubled, according to
company president Paul DiCaprio.
Therefore the entire expansion will be
dedicated to manufacturing in order to
tackle the growing demand for silicone in
quality control testing across industries.
“There has been a significant rise in the
uses for our silicone liner as well as growth
into international markets,” said DiCaprio.
This specialty liner is typically crimped
onto a 2- to 20-milliliter vial that contains
the product being quality tested, he said.
When the vial is sent to be analyzed, the
lab pierces the silicone with a needle,
grabs a sample of the product, removes
the needle, and injects the material into
a GC/MS or LC/MS machine for analysis.
The unique feature of SSP’s silicone
liner is that it re-seals itself once the
needle is removed, he said.
“Our customers do internal quality
control to ensure that their product contains
exactly what it is supposed to, with nothing else in it,” DiCaprio explained.
“Any manufacturer of chemicals, food or
beverages, any hospital or pharmaceutical
company, to name a few of the industries
that perform strict quality control tests, is
a potential market for SSP Development.”
The new space will house a clean room
— a manufacturing room with a highly
controlled environment, in which the
concentration of airborne particles is
controlled to specified limits — to meet
the changing demands of customers.
“Silicone sealers need to be cleaner and
cleaner,” said DiCaprio.
Since its founding in 1998, SSP Development
has provided its clients with custom
silicone formulas for a wide range of specific
applications.
The company owns acres on Macrea Hill
Road and has plenty of land for the addition,
which increases the building’s square
footage by more than a third. DiCaprio said
that the town of Ballston Spa has approved
plans for the addition. The company can
break ground once the building layout is
finalized by the engineering firm on the
project, BBL Construction Services of
Albany.
Completion is anticipated for February,
at which time SSP Development will add
six to 10 skilled labor staff for manufacturing
and production.