Quality Control

Quality Control is simply the number one priority at ENA Advanced Rubber Technologies. Our quality control program begins with our tool design and receipt of our raw materials. Once our tools are produced and tested, and our raw materials are received and validated. ENA goes through extensive QC procedures to ensure the customer is going to receive consistent parts in compliance with the specification every time.

From primary/secondary compounding, to production, to handling and packaging, all parts are treated and documented in compliance with our ISO and TS certifications. A major advantage and strength of ENA is our investments in the most advanced Quality Control equipment and technology including Rheometers, DOSS Automated Visual Inspection Machines, Micro-Vu dimensional measuring instrumentation, Digital Micro Hardness testers and many more highly advanced test equipment and analytical machines.

All parts produced at all ENA manufacturing facilities are 100% visually inspected which is NOT industry standard practice. In addition, our Quality Control engineers continuously take random samples from the production floor and submit them to our test labs for detailed computerized dimensional and material compound analysis.

ENA is quick to respond to any material certification or compliance requirement requested by the customer. We are knowledgeable and highly capable of meeting or exceeding most all material certifications and compliance approvals required by industry, including, but not limited to, the following:

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	Engineer reviews Critical-to-Quality (CTQ) dimensions of new production part.
	QC Technician inspects o-ring under high-powered microscope.
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	QC Engineers examine parts on computerized Tensile Strength Tester.
	O-rings under high-powered microscope to check for tolerances, potential defects and general quality assurance.
	QC Engineer inspects rubber gaskets randomly pulled from production floor. All data is recorded in computer system and linked to back to customer's original purchase/work order.
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	QC and Engineering lab - ENA maintains the most current QC and engineering software available on the market. We are able to receive and work with most all modern engineering packages and produce customer specific drawings and revisions if necessary.
	Random testing of o-ring parts in QC lab.
	Material Engineers and Chemists can provide our customers with detailed material compound reports and lot traceability documentation.
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	Technician examines parts for surface and dust contamination on automated inspection machine.
	QC Technicians reviews drawings against parts on production line.
	ENA factory workers inspects custom NBR rubber parts before packaging and final shipment.
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	ENA factory inspects and does final trimming on custom Silicone parts.
	QC Engineer reviews parts in test lab.
	ENA systematically pulls parts from the manufacturing cells in the factory and takes into test labs to check quality in compliance with our ISO processes.
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	Factory workers inspect Viton and Silicone o-ring parts checking for additional necessary de-flashing
	QC Engineer programming Vibration and Dynamic Rubber Testing machine.
	QC Technician operates DOSS Automatic Inspection Machine for o-rings.
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	Report generated from DOSS Automatic Inspection Machine shows critical dimensions of o-ring. This machine can inspect up to 30,000 o-rings per hours for critical dimensions/tolerance and surface contamination.
	Every single part (100%) produced in ENA factories are visually inspected.
	Thousands of rubber grommets being inspected by ENA employees. Workers are cross-trained in various aspects of the manufacturing processes and rotated to different cells every couple of hours.
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	QC Technician reviews customer specifications and tolerances against parts run in factory. ENA performs random testing of parts in QC lab per customer request and in compliance with our ISO and TS certifications.
	Cryogenic Nitrogen De-Flashing Machine: ENA North America sales guys, Jim and Chris at factory reviewing customer parts being de-flashing on our cryogenic de-flashing machine in China.
	Stone Tumbling Machine ensures ultra smooth surface of finished parts - a smoother finish that can be achieved via manual trimming and de-flashing. Ceramic balls are used in stone tumbling process. Stone tumbling is a final process in the rubber production process that ensures maximum smoothness on surface of parts. Parts will be run through stone tumbling process at customer's request or for parts that simply require ultra smooth, clean surface.
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	Trimming department: Worker trims custom OEM parts to very fine details. Once this batch of parts goes through the trimming and de-flashing process, all parts will go to another trained worker in the Inspection department for 100% visual inspection. Randomly pulled parts will also go to QC lab for detailed inspection under high-tech equipment. All of these processes are recorded and documented.
	De-Flashing of rubber gaskets before final inspection process
	Department for  visual inspection of parts – all parts at ENA are 100% visually inspected
	Workers "punch out" o-ring parts from flashing - a very tedious process.
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	Sample sheet of rubber flashing after o-rings have been "punched out" in de-flashing department.
	QC Technician examines parts on Micro Vu machine.
	Quality Control Engineers are going to be found on the production floor at all times pulling parts at random for review and testing in our engineering labs. During a visit to an ENA factory you will typically see ENA QC Engineers walking the production cells wearing the red jackets. Pictured here, QC Engineers pull very large gaskets (3-4 ft. in diameter) from the larger presses and take back to lab for review and documentation. Any defects found will result in complete review from material compounding to tooling to general procedures by the worker at his work station (presses).

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Quality Control Equipment

	Rheometers All ENA facilities are equipped for both primary and secondary compounding of rubber materials, a major supplier advantage. We utilize high tech MDR type Rheometers in our processes to ensure that our materials "match up" or meet the specified formulations. Full documentation can be provided to customers. Our Rheometers are in compliance with ASTM D5289 and ISO 6502 standards. Rheometers provide excellent reproducibility and repeatability by our exclusive DSP analyzing programs. We can produce very high sampling rates up to 1200 points per one oscillating sign wave to reflect the curing and chemical interactions of rubber. With VCH software utility, the accuracy of die oscillating frequency and torque transmission can be checked automatically. Our U-Cad software provides contour lines of physical properties to help the user choose and match the proper rubber formulation. Finally, our Rheometers provide S, ML, MH, CRI, loss angle, tangent ä, and plots % of homogeneity variation.
	Aging Oven Testers ENA utilizes Aging Oven Testers at all of its manufacturing facilities to perform degradation studies of rubber when heat is subjected to a rotational condition for a specified period of time. Theoretically, a test session in 70 degree C for 24 hours straight is equivalent to six months of exposure to the specimen in normal conditions. Our aging ovens provide extremely high precision and stable temperatures with even flows throughout the test chamber.
	Computerized Tensile Strength Testers All ENA manufacturing facilities utilize tensile strength testers which test the physical pulling force strength of rubber. Our equipment has capacity below 2000 kgf and provides tensile strength tests, tear tests, H-Drawing tests, compression tests including set up of its stop force. We can provide adhesive tests able to auto-calculate average forces at low, middle and high points. All test curves and values are shown simultaneously while testing. It not only enables the user to gain and save feedback information for product parameters, but it also allows us to recall and print out customer documentation.
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	Ozone Tester Chambers ENA utilizes ozone test chambers in compliance with ASTM D-1171, JIS K-6259 and ISO 1431 standards. Our testers specifically test for ozone compatibility with concentration, temperature, and chamber humidity. All these variables are controlled and dynamically monitored via computer. Ozone concentrations are recorded automatically and displayed on the computer screen every 2 seconds. Our ozone testing machines are all CE certified and developed in conjunction with ITRI (Industrial Technology Research Institute).
	MICRO-VU© Machines Each ENA manufacturing facility is equipped with state-of-the-art Micro Vu© machines. Micro Vu machines are the most accurate and reliable measuring devices to obtain dimensions of parts.
	DOSS Inspection Machines ENA has made substantial investments in DOSS Automated Visual Inspection Machines. We currently utilize multiple types and styles (semi-automatic - fully automated) DOSS equipment for all types of parts inspections and product quality detection. These machines have outstanding quality control features. Generally speaking, our DOSS machines can inspect and determine: Product Dimensions (.3 - 53mm), Thickness (.8-10mm / flexible -solids), Product Color (including clear), Surface Conditions (dust or general cleanliness), Physical Shape Defects (ovals, round, square and critical tolerances, etc). Our DOSS machines can feed, run and pass or reject parts at rates up to 72,000 parts per hour.
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	Endurance Testing Machines ENA's Endurance Test Machines allow us to test for the endurance and life expectancy of rubber parts (i.e. rubber bushing, grommets and other parts) that are in dynamic, moving applications.
	Material Hardness Test Equipment At ENA, we believe we have the most advanced equipment in the industry for material hardness (shore, durometer) testing. We have substantial investments in all of our manufacturing facilities in hardness testing equipment. We test for material specifications and maintain detailed records and data for our customers at all phases of production - from compounding to prototype to production of parts (systematic and random sampling).
	Vibration Simulator and Dynamic Rubber Test Equipment ENA's Ektron Intelligent Rubber Test equipment measures the dynamic behavior of rubber compound and simulates the behavior in different temperature environments. It provides the function of measuring the elastic and viscous properties of the parts and materials. This equipment is very suitable for predicting the heat-build-up of rubber and getting the information of dynamic behavior in the rubber industry. Fully computerized Ektron test equipment is used widely throughout all ENA manufacturing facilities, particularly in Research and Development processes for our customers.

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