Blissfield and Tecumseh bicentennial celebrations are this month » PAGES C3 & C5 Kindness to all living things is the goal of Ahimsa Safe Haven animal sanctuary » PAGE B1
River Raisin Ragtime Revue honors the past, looks to the future » PAGE C1
THE LENAWEE VOICE
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Bringing the work home Local women-operated masonry business builds on a foundation of trust » PAGE A7
137-year-old building in Morenci has new purpose as event center » PAGE A9 Melissa McCormick, director of production and technology for North America at Silbond Corp., a subsidiary of Evonik, holds a sample of the first batch of ultra-high purity colloidal silica produced at the Silbond plant in Weston during a ribbon cutting ceremony on June 7.
Expansion at Lenawee County’s Silbond plant is part of a nationwide effort to reduce dependence on other countries for semiconductors By Erik Gable
The Lenawee Voice
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WESTON — Anyone who bought a car, a computer, or just about any piece of electronics in the past few years was probably affected by the global semicondutor shortage. Beginning with supply chain disruptions due to COVID-19, the chip shortage led to steep price increases and long waits for any product that uses integrated circuits. With the average modern car using more than 1,000 chips, the auto industry was heavily impacted. Wait times for new cars skyrocketed, as did prices. The same was true for many popular electronic products like video game consoles. Even simple things like getting a credit card replaced took longer. The lessons of that shortage led to a nationwide effort to start making more semiconductors in the U.S., with the goal of reducing America’s dependence on manufacturers in Taiwan and South Korea, the two largest chip-producing countries in the world. A recent expansion at a Lenawee County factory is part of that effort.
Community partners team up to boost Adrian’s east side » PAGE A3
Silbond Corp., located in Weston, recently completed a $7.9 million expansion and started producing ultra-high purity colloidal silica for the semiconductor industry. Colloidal silica is a critical raw material for the electronics and semiconductor industries.
“This new facility is the first in the U.S. to reliably produce the quality and purity of colloidal silica needed for semiconductor production.” — Lauren Kjeldsen, Evonik Corp. Silbond is a subsidiary of Evonik Industries AG, one of the largest specialty chemical companies in the world. Evonik, which is headquartered in Essen, Germany, acquired Silbond in 2014. According to Evonik, the new facility is the first of its kind in North America. A ribbon cutting ceremony took place on June 7 to inaugurate the new facility and celebrate the milestone. “This new facility is the first in the U.S. to reliably produce the quality and purity of
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colloidal silica needed for semiconductor production,” Lauren Kjeldsen, head of Evonik’s Smart Materials Division, said at the June 7 event. “As the first site in North America to produce colloidal silica of such exceptional quality, we here at the Weston plant are literally at the forefront of innovation,” Kjeldsen said. Employees at the Silbond plant were already experienced in producing ultrapure materials for the semiconductor industry, and the new plant is integrated into existing processes at the site. The expansion was aided by a $900,000 performance-based grant from the Michigan Business Development Program. Lenawee Now, which is Lenawee County’s nonprofit economic development agency, offered help in the form of staff, financial, and economic support. The Weston facility has 50 employees, including three who were added for the new colloidal silica facility, according to Robert Brown, head of communications and government affairs for Evonik.
See SILBOND, page A15
City of Adrian plans second annual Community Academy » PAGE A16