Case Study 1

An electronics manufacturer and distributor company approached Schlotter Precision Products (S.P.P) with a new product they were having produced in China. They were experiencing a 90% reject rate after receiving parts with extensive assembly and secondary operation required. We were asked if we could evaluate some rejected parts and recommend corrective action. We first determined what material the product was produced from, in this case PBT – (VALOX) 30% glass filled. The material selection in our opinion was the right one, however, the parts as molded were de-grated, meaning the material was overheated, causing fractures in the part wall section after torque was applied to the screws that retained the wires for the connection. Our first suggestion was to have them send us the existing mold to sample in the same material, thereby eliminating the de-grated condition. The response we received was they did not know exactly were the location of the tool was and or the company name that produced the parts.

S.P.P. suggested the following:

Re-design the product as a one pc. unit, thereby eliminating thin wall sections, which added strength to eliminate cracking after tapping operation. We constructed two-cavity inserts only to run in S.P.P. master unit at considerable cost savings and we implemented a torque requirement to the product after tapping. In a five-week turnaround we had 50 thousand parts to our Customer for final assembly. Upon receiving parts after assembly a 100% acceptance level was achieved.