Case Study: Automotive Parts Tooling
A long-time customer of Custom Rubber Corp. had been through a number of ownership changes and at some point had significantly changed their product offerings. They switched from being deep into rubber molding to almost entirely a plastics molder.
Seamless Transition
During this transition, the customer continued to manufacture some rubber components, but the expertise gradually disappeared and as the parts feel out of production and into service, the appetite for continued in-house production decreased.
Custom Rubber began discussions with the customer - discussions that included Custom Rubber Corp. purchasing the machine used to produce the parts, and taking over the manufacturing.
This is exactly what happened. A lease deal was signed and the injection molding machine was moved to Custom Rubber Corp.'s facility, along with two extra crimping/swaging machines.
Custom Rubber Corp. took over the production of four bushings, each with a metal outer cylinder and an inner metal tube with rubber in between.
The four parts are formed using two different processes:
- For half the parts, the metal inserts are loaded into an injection mold and rubber is injected in between with a chemical bond occurring during molding. As a second step, the outer can is swaged, compressing the rubber to give the physical characteristics required.
- For half the parts, the rubber is molded independently. In the next step, the rubber is mechanically forced into the two metals - the rubber is oversized so by being forced, similar physical properties of the final assembly are possible. The final step is a post-bake to activate the adhesive on the metal inserts and completely bond the rubber to the metal.
Custom Rubber Corp. is able to provide quality parts, allowing the customer to focus on their growing business of plastic molding for the automotive industry.