The careful selection of manufacturing materials can make the difference between a component fulfilling its design criteria and potential disaster.

We can provide assistance in selection and design review to assess the suitability of recommended materials and also make recommendations for remedial work to solve pre-existing problems.

With thousands of materials to choose from selecting the correct material for you application can be fraught with danger. By the time you have designed your product and selected your materials 70% of your development costs have been committed but more importantly 90% of your potential failure modes have been built in to your product.

We can help you select the correct material at the earliest opportunity. We will consider your product design, end application and potential abuse. We will guide you through the pros and cons of the various material options and can even arrange samples for you.

Whether its metals, plastics, rubbers, composites or ceramics one of our engineers can assist you in every step of the process.

One particular area that causes problems in industry is the selection of stainless steels; there is a common misconception that they do not corrode at all but this is not the case. We have extensive experience in steel selection and have seen many examples of their misuse, and can offer assistance in identifying the right grade.

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Purchase & Product Specifications

Even if you have made your own selection already or are committed to a particular type due to manufacturing constraints you may want advice on any potential pitfalls. Choosing the right material is just the first step. You should also consider having an agreed purchase specification and product performance specification early in the process. This will help protect you in the future in the case of any claims or disputes over material quality of product performance. We can also assist you in these apsects and our engineers have years of experience preparing these types of documents for large multi nationals.

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Alternative Materials

The various grades of materials may not stay the same throughout their life. Manufacturing locations may change, companies may cease to exist and grades may be rationalised. It is quite common for clients to have sourcing issues. They may require alternative supplies due to a product ceasing manufacturing or they may want to have dual purchasing options. Once in production they find that they want to fine tune the properties of the material in or to optimise their process. In all cases we can help you to source alternative options. We will do all of the time consuming element for you and present you with some clearly defined options. In some cases we can conduct screeing tests to agreed standards to assit you in the shortlisting of any options.

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Cost Reduction

It is not uncommon for a manufacturer to commit to production with a relatively high cost material or product. Cost can then be driven down by optimisation of the design and the materials used. We can help you with sourcing alternative more cost effective materials or looking for novels ways of reducing your product cost. We also work closely with other companies that can offer improvements in your moulding processes as ways of reducing cost.

Superheater materials selection