Value of Membership
Case Study #3 — DuPont Dow Elastomers

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Compromised Elastomer Sealing Products…
Cost More in the Long Run

Elastomers for o-rings, gaskets and custom shapes play a key role in preventing process leaks and incidents on our sites. Unfortunately, specification and procurement of elastomer parts is not quite as simple for metals, where many standards exist for all product forms, and the desired level of quality can be attained through well established protocols. The end users of metals can use quality level desired to estimate life and thus optimize costs.

It is all too easy to compromise the quality of elastomer products. That is why plants often report variable behavior from different lots of supposedly identical product. There has been little or no formalized training for end users on how to specify and procure elastomers for sealing products until the question was raised at one of MTI's forums. These are informal sessions, where technical information is shared, sometimes providing the seeds for new projects.

Seeds of a Seminar

At that time, DuPont Dow Elastomers had begun participating in MTI meetings, a privilege that the new joint venture enjoyed because both parent companies were members, the company had been developing a seminar to educate end users on "Elastomers 101" in order to raise appreciation of the need for effective specification and procurement. The seminar dealt with very real problems in the industry that is compounded by the complex supply chain that delivers products to end users. Because it is so difficult to verify the pedigree of elastomers, manufacturers who want to cheapen their products can:

• Incorporate lower performing elastomers in to the blend. The product may be called by a particular trade name, but it actually contains appreciable amounts of lower performing, cheaper products.
• Inclusion of reprocessed scrap from their manufacturing process. This scrap has inferior properties compared with virgin material
• Excessive amounts of inexpensive, lower performance fillers, are added
• Allowing shoddy quality assurance.

The multi-level elastomer supply chain contains many entry points for compromised products or substitutions. See Figure 1 (supply chain). One cannot afford to police every step to ensure delivery of consist, quality product. The seminar was designed to give the user the skills to take control of the supply chain and thus obtain dependable products at the lowest lifecycle cost.

One Stop Source

The MTI resource group reviewed the draft programs and made recommendations to ensure that it was generic and covered all manufacturers' elastomer products. DuPont Dow were happy to accept the oversight and now offer the improved course as an optional one day seminar. The one-day seminar has become one of the most successful educational events that MTI sponsors. It has also become accepted in the industry as the most comprehensive, one stop source of information on elastomer sealing products.

In co-developing the seminar with a major supplier, MTI has helped the industry obtain the lowest lifecycle cost for an important component of process equipment, while contributing to the technical education of its membership.

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