Andrew Schunk

Cuyahoga Falls

Diligent reporter with Crain Communications and Rubber & Plastics News and keen observer of all things polymer and thermoplastic.

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Articles

Gates hoses can take the heat from AI, data center systems

2 days ago | rubbernews.com | Andrew Schunk

TAMPA, Fla.—The hose industry has reached the tipping point in data center applications, a major growth market that was top-of-mind at the distributor-oriented NAHAD April 13-15. Denver-based Gates Corp., whose fluid power segment accounts for approximately 38 percent ($1.3 billion) of Gates $3.4 billion, is ready for the cooling hose revolution.
KIH brings speed-to-market mentality to NAHAD, Salt Lake City

3 days ago | rubbernews.com | Andrew Schunk

TAMPA, Fla.—Disaster relief efforts demand speed-to-market, itself achieved through proximity to customers and well-crafted sales channels. Key Industrial Hose L.L.C. checks both boxes, shipping pre-made hose assemblies from its 150,000-sq.-ft. headquarters in Enterprise, Ala., to a major network of distributors who assist in both man-made and natural emergencies.
Denka suspends U.S. chloroprene production, considers sale of business

3 days ago | rubbernews.com | Andrew Schunk

LAPLACE, La.—Denka Co. Ltd. suspended production of chloroprene for synthetic rubber applications at Denka Performance Elastomer L.L.C., its U.S. subsidiary, citing a major loss of about $109 million (16.1 billion yen) for its fiscal year ending March 25. Tokyo-based Denka Co., which owns 70 percent of DPE in Louisiana, is the only U.S. producer of chloroprene, used to make neoprene.
Rubber product suppliers find space in aerospace

1 week ago | rubbernews.com | Andrew Schunk

Non-tire rubber products in aerospace comprise a small percentage—about $2 billion—of the nearly $400 billion global aerospace market. They are no less critical to passenger safety and comfort than the airframes from Boeing, avionics from Garmin or engines from Pratt and Whitney.
Silicone trends maintain upward momentum despite tariffs

1 week ago | rubbernews.com | Andrew Schunk

The silicone trends of the future have arrived, tariffs in tow. More accurately, the future has arrived for silicone—at once an unchanged material since it was commercialized in the 1940s and an endlessly progressive solution for modern engineering problems.
Rubber in automotive opportunities also bring new challenges

1 month ago | crainscleveland.com | Andrew Schunk

The automotive market today remains a mix of internal combustion engines and a range of powertrains for EVs, from plug-in hybrids to battery powertrains to fuel cell options, like hydrogen. “Given the predominance of internal combustion engines still in the market, increased global demand for EVs has driven a greater need for a variety of specific applications,” Guilliams said.
Rubber in automotive opportunities also bring new challenges

1 month ago | rubbernews.com | Andrew Schunk

AKRON—With a global value of about $57.4 billion in 2024, the automotive rubber market’s future is as bright as the challenges are daunting. Rubber use in both tire and non-tire automotive applications is expected to rise through 2030, with tire rubber set at 2.5 percent CAGR over the next five years; and EV tire rubber set at 13.5 percent through 2030, according to a recent report from Smithers, a global testing and consulting firm based in Northeast Ohio.
Gert Heinrich, 2025 Charles Goodyear medalist, recounts holistic journey to tires

1 month ago | rubbernews.com | Andrew Schunk

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla.—Attaining a worldly perspective was a difficult proposition for an aspiring academic in East Germany in the 1960s, the height of the Cold War. From the Soviet Union's perspective, that's exactly what the Berlin Wall was designed to do: prevent top scientific minds from fleeing to the West. Conversely, the wall isolated the East.
Simtec innovates around HCR, LSR for medical components

1 month ago | plasticsnews.com | Andrew Schunk

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.
Simtec focuses on silicone, driving growth for Rico Group

1 month ago | rubbernews.com | Andrew Schunk

ANAHEIM, Calif.—Compared to 2023 and 2024, the last year has been "quite stable" for Simtec Silicone Parts L.L.C., a niche, high-volume HCR and LSR firm 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 componentry. "It was a rough market last year," Daniel Polster, Simtec managing director, told Rubber News Feb. 5.