High volume product manufacturers usually assemble small components such as O-Rings, fasteners and other small metal or plastic components with the aid of vibrating feeders that align the component and carry it quickly and efficiently into the installation position.
Sometimes, an OEM categorizes O-Rings and Custom Rubber Seals as bulk commodity items, just like fasteners and other small metal or plastic components that may be ordered with similar bulk packaging, but that can be a big mistake.
Because Rubber Seals and O-Rings are designed to be flexible components they need special attention, compared to metal or plastic components, to properly feed in high volume vibrating feeders. O-Rings without proper manufacturing and packaging considerations for automatic feeders, often take a “potato chip” shape, just like the familiar Pringle Chips. That warping can cause jams in the feeder rails that can be a nightmare for high volume assembly operations.
The use of bulk-packaged O-Rings, without attention to roundness and flatness, WILL increase manufacturing costs considerably due to the time and labor to frequently stop production lines to remove a warped O-Ring from the feeder rails. In most cases, those delays will result in labor cost increases that far exceed the cost of O-Rings that are manufactured to remain round and flat for easy feeding and assembly.
There Is a Solution!
Rubber Seal Manufacturers with a background in automatic assembly are aware of this and have invested in various special manufacturing processes and packaging solutions to provide O-Rings that are round and flat and special packaging for other rubber parts that assure proper orientation for efficient assembly.
Some of the steps that can be implemented to provide flat and round O-Rings and Rubber Seals include:
A. Special molding and postcure processes that allow the O-Ring or Rubber Seal to stay flat during manufacture. (Without this, later corrective steps will not be effective.)
B. Special packaging depending on the customer flatness requirements and the ratio of ID to Cross-sectional thickness. The larger this ratio, the more measures required to provide a truly flat and round O-Ring or rubber seal.
C. Coordination with your manufacturing team to provide the most cost effective solutions for your specific assembly operations.
Please take a look at your high volume assembly lines where O-Rings and Rubber Seals are used. Chances are there is a lot of time being spent separating parts that are stuck together or jamming automatic feeders. Consider these options if your organization has noticed assembly delays or identifies flatness or orientation of Rubber Seals to be areas that could improve your bottom line.
O-Ring and Rubber Seal manufacturers that supply high volume OEM’s have sales personnel and technical teams that can work with your organization to provide the optimal solution to provide flat and round O-Rings and Seals at minimal cost.
Article Authored by:
Craig Webb – Director of Business Development, O-Rings.com by Boyd Corporation
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