Custom PVC Molding: Reengineer to Reduce Cost & Risks

Transforming conglomerations of standard fittings and pipe with custom PVC molding

Any trip to the hardware store will confirm that standard stock PVC pipes and fittings are commonplace in the market.  After all, PVC, the 3^rd most widely used plastic in the world, offers excellent durability, high chemical and fire resistance, processability, and low cost. These factors make PVC the material of choice across industries, including healthcare, HVAC, and more.

The challenge arises, however, when standard, off-the-shelf, parts are utilized for purposes different than originally intended. Instead, these standard parts are sub-assembled offline to produce the custom parts to perform a job function outside the original scope. Often, this creates a jumble of parts which require extra time, space and labor in the manufacturing process.

PVC Molding Solutions

Rather than utilize standard stock parts in your product subcomponents, consider the improvement possibilities if a custom PVC part came pre-assembled or manufactured in a single piece.

This example below illustrates how Sur-Seal reengineered one of our customer’s high-efficiency boiler components engineered with standard fittings. We transformed the condensate overflow trap and reduced the number of parts in the assembly from nine to four.

Reengineered PVC Molding: How This Helped

1. Fewer Parts = Reduced Cost
   It doesn’t take an advanced degree in manufacturing to know that adding complexity and additional steps to the production and assembly process ultimately results in higher cost of goods sold. While the use of standard PVC components seems to make sense – stock parts, they’re cheaper, right? – are you considering the additional cost of manufacturing, such as inventory cost for assembly SKUs, assembly takt time, and additional labor?
2. Fewer Openings = Fewer Potential Leak Paths
   Sur-Seal understood which assembly components were good candidates for custom PVC molding. Understanding this and reengineering the original design resulted in fewer openings. Reducing potential openings, such as threads or sealing surfaces, ultimately reduces the risk of product leakage and failure.

The original PVC standard fitting assembly process which bottlenecked production was replaced with a complete, supplied custom PVC part, ultimately reducing both production and inventory cost, as well as reducing the risk of product failure.

Contact Sur-Seal to learn more about how our engineering team can improve the efficiency and reduce the cost of your systems by reengineering PVC moldings.