Research Paper on Metal to Rubber Bonding

Project Identifiers

The MTRB/18 is a project by Kelseal Rubber Mouldings, an Australian company known for commercial rubber manufacturing and supply. The project entails metal to rubber bonding, which, as the name suggests, involves the bonding of rubber to metals. The project manager is Dr. Jason English, and the project commenced on 1st September 2018.

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Progress Summary

The metal to rubber bonding is a generic process and covers specific interdependent processes. The products are usually used in isolation of vibration and noise in engineering and automotive applications. Larger units can be used to decouple translational movement for buildings and bridges. The project involves five steps, namely, the elastomer type, surface preparation, primer, and adhesive application molding and finally testing (Shaw, 2015). The target for the project is 350 tons of small-sized rubber molds (including 70 tons of grommets, 80 tons anti-vibration pads, 50 tons of plate form mounts, 80 tons of HVAC Neoprene mounts and 70 tons of small industrial engine mounts), and 250 tons of large-sized rubber molds (including 100 tons of two-piece mounts, 80 tons of large sandwich mounts and 70 tons of compressor mounts). By the end of the fourth week, the project produced 60 tons of small-sized rubber molds and 35 tons of large-sized molds.

Milestones and Deliverables

Percentage Milestone Complete

The first milestone for the project involved the production of 75 tons of small-sized rubber molds, and 50 tons of large-sized rubber molds in the first month of running the project operations. The small-sized rubber molds include 14 tons of grommets, 17 tons of vibration mounts, 12 tons of plate form mounts, 18 tons of HVAC Neoprene mounts and 14 tons of small industrial engine mounts. The large-sized rubber molds include 20 tons of two-piece mounts, 17 tons of large sandwich mounts and 13 tons of compressor mounts. By the end of the 1st week of the project, the machinery required to have been prepared and tested for the activities and by the end of the 4th week of the month the procedures should have hit the target for the month. The testing of machinery, however, took longer than expected due to a breakdown of one crane that was to be used in the feeding of rubber in the mills.

Nevertheless, the operations kicked off by the mid of the second week and by the end of the 3rd week, the activities have yielded 60 tons of small-sized rubber molds and 35 tons of large-sized rubber molds. The production of small-sized molds includes 15 tons of grommets, 14 tons of vibration mounts, 10 tons of plate form mounts, 15 tons of HVAC Neoprene mounts and 8 tons of small industrial engine mounts. The production of large-sized molds includes 15 tons of two-piece mounts, 10 tons of large sandwich mounts and 10 tons of compressor mounts. So far the production places the percentage milestone completed at 85% and 70% respectively.

Planned Start and Finish

The scheduled launch of the project, as mentioned was at the 2nd week of September 2018, and the finish of the project should be by 30th January 2019, which is in 5 months' time from the starting date. However, the actual starting time was the 3rd week of September 2018, but the project has since got on track and the exact finish time is still projected to be the end of January 2019.

Issues, Risk and Change Management

From the previous reporting, which was done before the testing of machinery, the only open problem has been the breakdown on one of the cranes used to feed in rubber into the mills, which delayed the actual start time by some days. So far, however, there are no open risks encountered, and with the project back on track, there are no open change requests yet.

Team Progress

The functions planned for the previous month involved preparation of the manufacturing team and readying the machinery for testing. All the works were completed as scheduled, and all have so far been successful. For the coming month, the tasks entail continuation with the production of the rubber molds.

About Kelseal Rubber Molding Pty Ltd

Kelseal Rubber Moldings Pty Ltd is an Australian company, owned and run by Australian nationals. The company has been operational for 35 years now, since 1983 to 2018, and is experienced in manufacturing rubber parts, washers, rubber to metal bonding and seals with excellent levels of tolerance that have previously not been discovered in the Australian rubber industry.

The Importance of Quality Management

Quality management refers to the coordination of activities, within an organization to control the organization and to improve effectiveness and efficiency of its performance in the market. Therefore, quality management forms a foundation on which the value of an organization is built (Goetsch, 2014). The superiority of a product is an essential parameter that can differentiate an organization from its competitors, with companies having superior products managing to maintain a vast consumer base while those companies with inferior products struggling to create consumer base (Wiengarten, 2012). The measurement of product worth is done regarding durability, reliability, and performance of the product. Reliable products appeal to the loyalty of a consumer and makes them come back for other products. Durable products improve the consumer base, with client referrals from consumers that have used the company's products before (Wiengarten, 2012). The tools for quality management ensures changes in the processes and system that end up giving superior quality products and services since the goal involves the delivery of high-quality products.

The impact of negative experiences always outweighs that of positive experiences (Goetsch, 2014). Therefore, inferior brands reduce the revenue by a company; consumers have more products and services to choose from, hence making them more demanding than before. However, with quality management, consumers' satisfaction can be enhanced to increase the possibility of higher revenue generation as it helps the company to exceed customers' expectations. Additionally, prospects can be turned into loyal customers once the company meets the expectations. It is important to have loyal customers for a business to be guaranteed a steady revenue generation (Wiengarten, 2012). However, customer loyalty can only be assured if the products produced by the company represent quality. Quality management, therefore, helps an organization to identify the actual needs of a customer by collecting relevant data that would give insight into the demands of the customers.

By performing quality management, companies can gauge their weak areas and strive to improve. Repeated control can result in reduced expenses and increase profits. For instance, quality products would require less rework than products of poor quality, leading to fewer warranty claims and lowering the cost of production while increasing the sales and boosting profit margins (Wiengarten, 2012). Other reduced risks include reduced recalls of products once released for sales. With fewer recalls, the brand image can be protected, and customer experience bolstered hence boosting the satisfaction of customers and securing revenue for the company.

House of Quality Development

With many vibration mounts in the market, it is quite hard to know which product works best for given machinery. Vibration mounts are intended to ensure the smooth running of machinery, prolong its lifespan and reduced the risk of damage that could occur from excessive vibration while in operation (Shaw, 2015). The vibration from and equipment can be transferred to the support structure and travel over distance to be emitted as noise interference elsewhere in the machinery, hence the need to use rubber mounts that minimize the vibrations by the machine and reduce noise while also protecting the device from damage. Customers also prefer relatively lighter vibration mounts to avoid the addition of excess bulk to the machines.

Customer Wants

While there are numerous vibration mounts in the market to choose from, the essential feature that a vibration mount should have is to optimally reduce machine vibration and consequently avoid the risk of damaging the machine in the long run as much as possible. Customers, therefore, have specific needs when it comes to choosing the right vibration mount for the job. Certain features, such as the weight of the mounting, determine whether the consumer would prefer one mounting to the other (Goetsch, 2014). Most customers prefer rubber mounts with high resilience, and that can dampen the vibrations of the machines more.

How Product Satisfies Customer

Depending on the size of the machine, the preference of vibration mounts will differ from one customer to another. However, the most common need involves having a vibration mount that is resilient and can reduce vibration optimally. For Keseal Rubber Molding Ltd, the most appropriate rubber mounting according to the customer's need involves using natural rubber, which has high levels of resilience. The company, therefore, uses natural rubber to develop different sizes of vibration mounting for different machine sizes. The company uses a range of weights to determine the kind of vibration mounts that would suit a particular variety of machines. For instance, for devices weighing between 300kgs and 550kgs the company develops a universal vibration mount that can endure that range of machine weight and still reduce vibrations optimally (Hazra, 2017)

Additionally, the amount of rubber in the mounts during manufacturing should be optimally stiff to absorb enough vibrations but at the same time not too elastic to boost the vibrations. Therefore, by using a range of machine running speeds and machine weight in a vertical isolation formula, it is possible to obtain an optimal stiffness that can support the range of machines of a given range of pressure. From the preference of relatively lighter vibration mounts by customers, the mounts should then be relatively smaller in size though effectively absorbent of the vibrations optimally (Hazra, 2017).

Co-relationships

In meeting the customers' needs, the most important features of the vibration mounts are that it must be resilient and at the same time durable and absorbent. The first task for the company involves producing a resilient vibration mount. Resilience regarding rubber vibrating mounts involves resistance to breakage under maximum weight. Durability, on the other hand, involves endurance of the vibration mount for a long time. The absorbent feature of the mount, however, involves the vibration mount being able to absorb maximum vibration while under maximum weight. The question on how to develop a vibration mount that is resilient, absorbent and durable would require the use of a raw material that has proper elasticity and augmenting it with a stiff and durable material (Shaw, 2015). Achieve all three qualities of a vibration mount, Keseal Rubber Molding Ltd uses a mixture of natural and butyl rubber. Natural rubber has a high level of resilience and durability. However, butyl rubber, on the other hand, has high damping level, which makes it adequate for absorbing the vibrations. Therefore, with the right mixture of the two raw materials, the company can achieve the highest levels of resilience, durability and the ability to absorb vibrations (Hazra, 2017). With the increased level of damping depicted by natural rubber, the company can optimize the mixture to develop relatively smaller yet effectively absorbent mounts that can absorb maximum vibrations while maintaining less addition of weight to the machines...