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.