Follow each silicone part from material lot to post-cure oven and pack.

Silicone work is quiet and exacting. A two-part liquid kit, a gum stock or a colour masterbatch goes into a tool, and a gasket, a seal, a keypad or a tube comes out. Tiny changes in cure, hardness or cleanliness decide whether the buyer accepts the part, and the buyer may ask about it months after the carton has been delivered and opened. The paperwork must follow. It rarely does.

Silicone component manufacturer software puts the lot, the mould, the press and the oven on one job record. Buyers in food, medical and electronics ask where a part came from. Send us your tool list, oven schedule and part numbers, and each lot gets traced from the first kit to the final carton.

An order arrives with a drawing, a Shore hardness, a colour and a lot size. The planner picks the tool, checks that the cavity inserts are clean and that the liquid kit or gum stock is in date, and books a press. The operator sets temperature and cure time, runs a first-off piece and walks it to the lab bench for a hardness reading and a dimensional check against the drawing. Only then does the run begin.

Moulded parts go to a trimming bench or a cryogenic deflasher. Next comes the post-cure oven, where trays are loaded by lot and held for a set time. Inspectors count visible flash, tears and short fills under a bright light, and they note which cavity each faulty piece came from whenever the tray allows it. Counting is slow. Parts are bagged in a clean area, labelled with lot and quantity, and boxed against the delivery note.