Custom Rubber Solutions Solve Industry Problems
08-22-2012
Since it was founded in 1925, the Hygenic Corporation has become a global leader in manufacturing, development, and innovation in the rubber industry, making Hygenic Customers’ first choice for elastomeric tubing, latex sheeting, rubber profiles, and many other natural and synthetic rubber products. But occasionally, standard elastomeric products don’t meet customers’ needs for unique applications.
If you need custom rubber products for unique applications, Hygenic has the experience to produce effective and innovative solutions. Customers from many industries have worked with Hygenic to identify the key design features specific to their needs, creating an effective custom rubber product that could only be manufactured by Hygenic.
Solving a Sticky Situation
In the medical industry, non-latex and synthetic rubbers are commonly used to avoid irritating latex allergies. But in the food industry this is often overlooked, even though food manufacturers frequently use latex sheeting to prevent dough from sticking to molds.
Because of an employee’s latex allergy and potential latex sensitivity in consumers, a food industry customer asked Hygenic to develop a synthetic rubber, non-latex sheeting product to be used instead of the usual latex sheeting.
Though Hygenic makes standard synthetic rubber sheeting and non-latex sheeting, a custom product needed to be developed to meet the high standards for materials used in the food industry. Equally important, the synthetic rubber sheeting had to work just as well to prevent sticking as the latex sheeting usually used in this application.
The innovative engineering team at Hygenic was able to create custom non-latex rubber sheeting that meets food industry standards, works just as well to prevent food sticking as latex sheeting, and avoids aggravating latex allergies.
A New Product for a New Process
As Hygenic’s customer’s companies grow, change and improve their processes Hygenic helps them along the way, creating custom rubber products for new processes or reformulating products that have been used for years to keep up with changing technologies.
Recently, a customer that had been a partner for over 30 years approached Hygenic with a new problem: the braided tubing product they had been using was discoloring the coolant used in a process.
After discussion with Hygenic engineers, it was determined that the natural rubber tubing was being used differently than it had been originally. Now, an ingredient used in the manufacturing process leaked from the tubing when coming in contact with coolant, causing the discoloration. Hygenic’s engineers were able to develop a custom tubing formulation for the customer that did not cause discoloration in their product.
A Problem only Hygenic Could Solve
When an equipment manufacturer in the agricultural industry needed a custom rubber product for a new process, the company had a difficult time finding a rubber manufacturer with the ability to meet its needs. The agricultural company was looking for long links of natural rubber profiles that could be cut into smaller pieces, a product that many rubber manufacturers were unable to create.
Because of its proprietary manufacturing process, Hygenic was able to create natural rubber profiles in the length needed by the customer. So, this European company traveled to the Hygenic Corporation in Akron, Ohio to have the custom rubber profile created.
The Hygenic Corporation’s innovative custom rubber products have been used in the medical, welding, agricultural, food and many other industries. Contact Hygenic or visit hygenic.com to find a solution to your manufacturing and rubber needs.