Corry Rubber Corp.

Company: Corry Rubber Corp.
Product: Custom Molded and Extruded Elastomeric Components
Annual Sales: $7 million
Number of Employees: 57
Year Founded: 1961
Location: Corry, PA

Situation:

A major automotive manufacturer wanted Corry Rubber to reduce its price on a component part despite the company's increased material and labor costs. The part, called a body cushion, is a rubber insulator mounted between the frame and passenger compartment of a pick up truck used to cushion the ride and isolate vibrations. A Corry Rubber team determined that a metal ring on the body cushion could possibly be replaced with a less expensive injection molded glass-filled nylon ring of equal size.

Project:

The PTDC was contacted to verify the feasibility of using a nylon ring in place of the metal part, and to suggest a list of molders capable of producing the ring. PTDC director Bill Roche made suggestions regarding tooling design and the production process, then worked with Viking Plastics, Inc., the chosen molder, to develop and produce prototype rings for customer inspection.

Result:

The nylon ring created a 15 percent cost savings with no change to the body cushion's dynamic properties. Waste was also reduced -- for every 1,000 metal rings produced, 210 pounds of scrap steel was created. Any nylon scrap can be recycled directly into new rings. As a result, production has increased from 112,000 to 170,000 rings per week. The savings to Corry Rubber's customer is approximately $170,000 per year.

Company Comments from Ernie Ferro, Jr.; President:

"Corry Rubber didn't have any experience with the injection molding process used to make glass-filled nylon rings. The PTDC eliminated our learning curve, and got us moving ahead without any false starts."