Engineering is defined as “The creative application of scientific principles to design or develop structures, machines, apparatus, or manufacturing processes, or works utilizing them singly or in combination; or to construct or operate the same with full cognizance of their design; or to forecast their behavior under specific operating conditions; all as respects an intended function, economics of operation or safety to life and property”. As products become more intricate, detailed, and performance specific, the discipline of engineering has become more specialized. Technological innovation, advances in processing, and ever present economic changes make it extremely difficult to remain on the cutting edge of all of the technologies that drive OEM products. As OEM’s feel growing pressure to reduce engineering costs, the prevalent result is to turn to suppliers for support. While engineering support can take many forms, Real Seal supports customer engineering primarily with:
- Materials Engineering
- Design Engineering
- Design for Tooling
- Design for Assembly
Materials Engineering – With a polymer chemist on staff, Real Seal has supported and developed hundreds of materials for specific applications. Most of the applications reflect the market, with modified versions of primary materials, designed to meet specific criterion for performance enhancement. Recently developed materials include an EPDM rubber material designed to meet water purification regulatory requirements, but with enhanced tear strength; a polyurethane material with enhanced physical properties as well as processing improvement; an HNBR material which exhibits the same physical properties as conventional, but with reduced cost. Real Seal can offer these enhanced material options with relatively little cost, and normally achieve results in a fraction of the time it would take large manufacturers.
Design Engineering – Rubber and plastics are unique materials, and behave differently in applications than one may expect. Real Seal has been instrumental in numerous applications with design suggestions that have improved the dynamics, longevity, and efficiency of OEM products. Using the latest CAD 3D software, Real Seal creates virtual models of the application and components, and highlights the relative positioning, location, and dynamics of the application in its desired use.
Design for Tooling – Real Seal has entertained numerous projects where a review of the tooling necessary to meet design criterion can be modified to save considerable money on tooling costs. The intricate aspects of tool design, including gate locations, parting lines, radii as opposed to sharp corners, and symmetry wherever possible can make a difference of thousands of dollars in tooling costs, depending on the intricacy of the design and number of cavities.
Design for Assembly – We have experienced numerous situations where the application engineering is on target, but when the part is supplied, engineers responsible for final assembly of the completed product struggle. This may be due to an inability to locate or position the part properly in the assembly, or it could be as simple as not considering right hand and left hand versions of the design, which must be clearly identified to avoid confusion when the components make their way to final assembly. Real Seal has the experience and resource base to make suggestions that would impact these considerations, which may add considerable value.
You can see more detailed video articulation of these concepts on our website (www.real-seal.com), and always feel free to contact us here at Real Seal.
