3M™ VHB™ Tape Solution for Vehicle Latches

BACKGROUND

A company that manufactures industrial latches for enclosures and cabinets on service trucks, buses, and heavy-duty equipment has been a thriving customer of PGC’s. Over the years, we have prototyped various gasket sealing solutions for the company, including adhesives such as 3M™ VHB™ tape. Recently, the company asked PGC to develop a new solution for one of their series of handle latches.

CHALLENGE

The latch’s components were made of steel and high impact plastic. The latch assembly had to be able to adhere to a number of different substrates, and be strong enough to withstand the forces of repeated openings without allowing moisture to penetrate the latch mechanism.

SOLUTION

The customer had requested PGC to develop a solution that incorporated 3M™ VHB™ tape. However, they asked us to go a step further and quickly prototype an alternate option solution with a special VHB™ that wasn’t one of the hundreds of adhesive materials in stock.

Thanks to our strong partnership with 3M™, PGC was able to acquire the correct width of sample material we needed to prototype a solution. Then, we used our laser cutter to quickly create parts to the specified dimensions for trial testing After testing the product, it became clear that the selected special VHB™ tape was the ideal solution for our customer’s industrial latches. When those performed flawlessly, the customer placed a larger order to get production parts in stock and out into their customer’s hands.

RESULT

PGC was able to go the extra mile for a newer customer to make sure the solution we provided would work in the long term. The customer was very happy with our solution and appreciated our ability to acquire the tape we needed for testing. We look forward to continuing to build this strong relationship in the future.