Aleksandar S.

Starlim is the world leading manufacturer of liquid silicone rubber components producing billions of precision parts annually for medtech, automotive, and industrial OEMs across the globe. I was brought in to build Starlim's Asia Pacific operation from the ground up. Not inherit it. Not optimise it. Build it. That meant standing up manufacturing infrastructure, assembling and leading a cross-cultural team, establishing quality systems to Starlim's global standards, and simultaneously serving a multi-market customer base spanning Asia Pacific and international accounts — all without the runway that established sites enjoy. What that looks like in practice: — Greenfield operational build: site selection, equipment commissioning, process implementation, and team formation from zero — Quality architecture built to ISO 13485 and IATF 16949 from day one — Cross-continental coordination with Starlim's European headquarters to ensure the Nantong facility operates to identical standards as our Austrian and North American sites — Establishing Starlim's presence in a market where precision silicone manufacturing at this scale is rare The measure of success isn't just that the operation runs. It's that it runs to the same standard as a facility that took decades to build in a fraction of the time.

Nearly two decades. One mandate: build and scale Starlim's North American operation into a world-class LSR manufacturing facility serving both medtech and automotive OEMs. When I arrived in London, Ontario, the task was not to manage an existing business. It was to build one — and then grow it into something that could stand alongside Starlim's European facilities in capability, quality, and scale. What that journey produced: — A fully operational LSR injection molding plant built to Starlim's global standards, serving regulated industries including life science and automotive simultaneously — Quality systems certified to ISO 13485 (medical) and IATF 16949 (automotive) — maintaining dual-sector compliance across the full production lifecycle — A leadership team and operational culture built from the ground up — developed over years to sustain performance independently — Long-term supply relationships with North American OEMs in medtech and automotive, built on the consistency and repeatability that fully automated LSR production enables — Cross-continental leadership bridging Starlim's Austrian headquarters with the realities of North American manufacturing, regulatory, and commercial environments The most significant outcome after 19 years wasn't any single milestone. It was handing over an operation that didn't exist when I arrived — and leaving it positioned to continue growing without me. That's the measure I hold myself to.

This is where it started. Marchtrenk is Starlim's home — the original site, where the processes, standards, and culture that define the company were developed and refined over decades. Joining operations here wasn't just a job. It was an apprenticeship in what precision LSR manufacturing actually demands at the highest level — before automation was industry standard, before the global footprint existed, and before the company became what it is today. What I built in Austria shaped everything that followed: — Deep process knowledge of LSR injection molding from the ground up — machine-level understanding that no management training programme replicates — Exposure to Starlim's quality philosophy at its source — the standards I later implemented in Canada and China were learned here first — Operational foundations in a high-precision, high-volume manufacturing environment that set the baseline for every leadership role that followed Six years at headquarters. Then trusted to take that knowledge to a new continent and build from scratch. That trust only comes from one place: results on the floor.