We often get calls from customers looking for O-rings in a hurry. The caveat is, they are producing a component for an automotive company and a PPAP is required. We must explain that we cannot provide a PPAP for our off the shelf O-rings. This makes getting a project off the ground quickly almost impossible. New tooling must be built, a PPAP submitted to the customer, and then production ran after the PPAP is approved. This article is meant to explain why we can’t use standard tooling to provide PPAP O-rings and why new tooling must be produced. It will also explain why PPAP O-rings may be more expensive than standard O-rings, even though they may seem similar in appearance and material.
PPAP O-rings are required to maintain a certain capability level (CpK). Typically, standard tools are not capable of maintaining the proper CpK level so specially built PPAP tools must be used instead. In order to meet the CpK requirements, these PPAP tools are usually created with a smaller number of cavities, and would only be used for that one specific customer who it was built for.
The standard tools are used to produce O-rings for a vast number of customers, so those standard tools often need to be replaced due to the wear and tear caused by the high production volume. If we were to PPAP off of that standard tool, a new PPAP would have to be submitted each time the tool was replaced. If you have more than one customer with a PPAP off that tool, then all of those customers would have to approve of a new PPAP. If the customer were to make a change to a PPAP O-ring, that would affect all of the other customers buying O-rings off of that tool. Essentially, that would be allowing one customer to have control over a standard O-ring, which impacts many other customers costing both time and money for everyone involved.
Since the PPAP tools are typically smaller, and since there are are other processes that need to be put into place in order to maintain the PPAP requirements. In order to meet these requirements, PPAP O-rings are typically more expensive than the standard off the shelf O-rings.
If you have any questions, please give us a call. We are Monroe! How can we help?