When Your Suppliers Can’t Meet Your Needs, It’s Time to Explore Other Options
It’s no secret that organizations today are having trouble relying on past relationships when it comes to heat shrinkable tape suppliers. With materials continuing to be less available, yet demand for goods — ones that deliver lasting quality and performance — growing despite recession fears, material management and procurement leaders need more reliable sources of supply without the extra cost or sacrificing quality.
If your organization has been struggling to find heat shrinkable tape suppliers, or a current partner hasn’t been able to live up to service expectations, it’s crucial to evaluate your options sooner rather than later. Continuing to work with a partner that can’t meet your needs will lead to long-term negative outcomes, such as the inability to keep up with demand, inventory shortages, the need to lean on more expensive suppliers, placing more costly short-term orders for materials to bridge gaps, and more.
Here, we’ll explore a few key characteristics to consider when evaluating heat shrinkable tape suppliers — ones that will not only ensure that you have a reliable material partner but also one that can support your distinct production needs.
Characteristics That Indicate an Ideal Heat Shrinkable Tape Supplier
A Strong Product Portfolio
Depending on your product line, you might need heat shrinkable tape suppliers that specialize in one solution type or many. What’s important to consider here is that the partner is able to adapt to new needs. Whether you have one product or thousands, will they be able to pull from a portfolio of shrink tape solutions to help you keep production moving? Will they be able to quickly supply a solution for a new product or a change in the design or performance of an existing product?
- When needs change, your production may need to change as well. If your product is evolving, it might be time to find a new shrink tape to help you achieve your goals.
Application Evaluation Capabilities
Does your partner focus on offering off-the-shelf solutions, or are they a custom shop? Can they do both? More importantly, are they going to work with you to find the ideal heat shrinkable tape? An off-the-shelf solution might deliver some measure of performance, but will it maximize it? The right partner will deliver tailored shrink tape that meets parameters such as high-temperature performance, optimal shrink force and shrink percentage, and other needs.
- The right heat shrinkable tape suppliers will work with you to deliver the best possible outcomes. Learn what else you should consider in a supplier.
Supply Chain Resiliency
Today more than ever, certain material manufacturers are having a difficult time either managing their own supply or keeping up with demand. Woven nylon tape (also called sail cloth or wrap tape) is one notable example. While this material has its uses, if it’s not available when you need it, you need to find alternative solutions. Polyester, ETFE, and polyimide heat shrink tapes are more readily available solutions that provide greater compaction, ease of use, application speed, and even cost-effectiveness.
- Industries worldwide are experiencing significant change. As a result, more reliable and responsive suppliers are needed. Learn why Dunstone should be on your list.
Find the Right Heat Shrinkable Tape for Your Products
Every product is different and requires the right production materials to make it a success. For example, some composite parts use raw materials and resin systems that produce gasses and vapors. These must be allowed to escape the composite layup during the curing process. In this instance, a perforated shrink tape would be needed (contrary to popular belief, these perforations aren’t for allowing excess resin to escape — just outgassing).
Another example is a composite product that requires an extremely high curing temperature. To ensure success, and so the tape doesn’t fail, a polyimide tape would be needed. This material can withstand temperatures three times higher than standard shrink tapes and is useful for a variety of other purposes, such as electrical insulation.
A final consideration — and one that’s becoming increasingly important in today’s tight labor market — is automation. Heat shrink tapes are often hand-wrapped around a part, which requires precision to ensure a consistent outcome. However, some shrink tapes can be produced on laterally wound cores, allowing them to be used with traverse winding mechanisms and eliminating the need for hand-wrapping.
- Is your team hand-wrapping composite parts with shrink tape? Get tips on how to properly apply the shrink tape and get the results you’re looking for.
What Problems Have You Been Chasing in Your Process?
With decades of experience in helping companies across a variety of markets find the right shrink tape for their needs, Dunstone is the heat shrinkable tape supplier you’ve been looking for. We source all materials from domestic suppliers, and we offer a broad portfolio of products along with the capabilities, technical expertise, and resiliency you need to keep up with demand and deliver consistent results.
Best of all, we provide complimentary samples of our Hi-Shrink Tape products. Simply reach out and let us know some details about your application. We’ll ship a sample of an in-stock Hi-Shrink Tape to you for testing in your production environment. From there, you can either order the tape at your desired quantities or work with our engineering team to further refine the tape to your unique application.