Change management for industrial rubber products can prevent downtime, cost overruns, and quality issues. Yet some manufacturers treat rubber parts as commodity items that can be changed without consequences. Rubber parts may seem simple, but they’re engineered with specific materials, hardnesses, tolerances, fastening methods, and performance characteristics.
As some manufacturers learn the hard way, a component-level change can affect an entire system. That’s why change management for industrial rubber products deserves more attention that it typically receives. As a value-added rubber fabricator, Elasto Proxy can help you to minimize the risks associated with part changes and achieve sealing success.
Keep reading to learn more and contact us for reliable rubber products.
Why OEMs Change Rubber Parts
Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) replace industrial rubber products for various reasons.
- Supplier discontinuations require a search for new sources
- Material substitutions are driven by availability, cost, or regulatory shifts
- Performance issues are discovered in the field or during testing
- Cost pressures push buyers to explore alternative materials or fabrication methods
Changing a custom seal or gasket might seem straightforward, but don’t count on finding a drop-in replacement – especially if you just ask for “black rubber”. There are literally thousands of different rubber materials, or compounds, available today. Many are black in color, but they behave differently under different conditions and come in a range of hardnesses, or durometers.
Challenges in Change Management
Choosing the wrong compound for a replacement part isn’t the only thing that could go wrong with a component substitution. There are risks associated with new supplier onboarding, tolerance stack-ups, aging and shelf life, and documentation. With proper change management, however, you can reduce these risks and avoid disruptions to your operations.
New Supplier Onboarding
Changing suppliers isn’t as simple as issuing a purchase order to a different vendor. OEMs need to vet a new supplier’s capabilities, validate their quality systems, establish performance expectations, and monitor production quality. Without a structured onboarding process, there’s a risk of discovering problems only after replacement parts have been received.
Tolerance Stack-Ups
Rubber products aren’t used in isolation. They’re assembled with other components, including parts made of different materials such as metals and plastics. That’s why even a small dimensional change can cause misalignment, excessive compression, assembly interference, and poor sealing. If a new part doesn’t fit an existing tolerance stack, installation issues follow.
Aging and Shelf Life
Rubber materials don’t last forever. When switching to a new compound, OEMs need to understand the shelf life and storage requirements. A new material may require different storage conditions or be more susceptible to hardening or a loss of elasticity. A compound may perform well when it arrives but degrade faster than expected if stored improperly.
Documentation Gaps
Some OEMs rely on part drawings that were created decades ago. We know this at Elasto Proxy because we’ve received drawings with dates from the 1950s. Yet old drawings can contain out-of-date material callouts, obsolete specifications, missing tolerances, and legacy notes that no longer apply. Even if an old part fits, is it really the best option? What else has changed about the assembly?
Consequences of Poorly Managed Changes
Part changes that are poorly managed can result in field failures and warranty claims, production slowdowns and downstream failures, and compliance and regulatory issues. Inadequate change management can also lead to lost opportunities for improvements during design and manufacturing.
Field Failures and Warranty Claims
Part changes that seem harmless can lead to problems like these.
- An electric vehicle (EV) vibration mount uses a rubber with a different durometer, causing an automaker to receive more noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) complaints.
- A heavy equipment seal that’s incompatible with hydraulic fluid swells, softens, and cracks while forestry equipment is in a remote location and difficult to repair.
- A replacement hose that lacks sufficient reinforcement fails to meet burst pressure requirements, leaving engineers in search of another alternative.
These failures don’t just incur warranty costs. They lead to a loss of customer trust.
Production Slowdowns and Downstream Failures
Production slows when new parts are more difficult to install or won’t fit an assembly consistently. New parts that require different installation procedures can also limit manufacturing efficiency. Sometimes, the results of an installation issue don’t show up right away. For example, a gasket that is over-torqued during assembly could result in compression set and enclosure leaks.
Compliance and Regulatory Issues
Missing or outdated documentation can create compliance and regulatory risks, especially in the defense, aerospace, medical and nuclear power industries. For example, refurbishing a military vehicle may require the reverse engineering of a gasket because the original part drawing is missing or refers to a military specification that’s been superseded.
Lost Opportunities for Improvement
Change management issues can also cause manufacturers to use less robust materials. For example, the nuclear glovebox industry uses window gaskets made of neoprene instead of EPDM, which has greater radiation resistance. EPDM didn’t exist when this industry began, but some glovebox manufacturers are reluctant to consider EPDM because they’ve always used neoprene.
Change management challenges also extend to the acoustic insulation in mobile equipment cabs. Outsourced water jet cutting is more efficient than in-house manual cutting, but some OEMs still use a cardboard template and an Exacto knife. There are also cab manufacturers who continue to use hazardous spray-on adhesives instead of peel-and-stick insulation with a PSA backing.
Solutions for Effective Change Management
Manufacturers who master change management need to establish formal change control processes. They must also follow material verification protocols, perform functional testing and cross-functional reviews, and insist upon transparent supplier communications.
- Formal Change Control Processes: Every rubber part requires an engineer review, support input, quality validation, and manufacturing feedback.
- Material Verification Protocols: Material traceability, supplier certifications, and lab testing are required.
- Functional Testing: Before changes are approved, new parts are tested under real-world conditions to reveal differences that a drawing alone won’t show.
- Cross-Functional Reviews: Engineering, Procurement, Quality and Operations agreed about requirements, risks, costs, and installation methods.
- Supplier Communication: Suppliers need to provide notifications about formulation changes, tooling modifications, and process adjustments.
The Elasto Proxy Advantage
Elasto Proxy helps manufacturers to navigate rubber component changes with confidence.
- Design Reviews: We evaluate part tolerances, geometry, materials, and manufacturability to prevent problems before they reach prototyping or production.
- Consistent, High-Quality Fabrication: Whether it’s cutting, bonding, taping, or lamination, our fabrication processes ensure part-to-part consistency.
- Reverse Engineering: If you need a part that doesn’t have a drawing, we can reverse-engineer the component you provide.
- Material Traceability: If you proof that a material meets a specification, we can provide a Certificate of Analysis (COA) or other test data.
Partnering with Elasto Proxy puts you on the path to better change management for industrial rubber products. When you work with us, you’re not just partnering with one person. You’re gaining access to 550 years of collective experience. We understand that while your part drawing may say one thing, you can have confidence in another approach because of deep application experience.
Change is inevitable. With the right partner, it can also be an advantage.
