Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • European Rubber Journal
  • Plastics News
web
Subscribe
  • Login
  • Register
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • ITEC
    • Automotive
    • Tire
    • Non-Tire
    • Suppliers
    • Silicone
    • Latex
    • Coronavirus
    • Executive Action
    • Government/Legal
    • Opinion
    • Technical Notebooks
    • International Elastomer Show
    • Women in Tire & Rubber
    • HEXPOL Sponsored Content
    • Goodyear recognized by Lockheed Martin as 'elite supplier'
      EV tire advancements to help secure future
      Lambillotte: Only question on AVs is timing
      CAR official says EV future brighter than autonomous
    • Smithers webinars focus on performance materials in green tires
      Ford to close 3 plants, end production in Brazil, costing $4.1 billion
      Study: Vehicle buyers cling to familiarity amid pandemic
      Kumho launches commercial LT, performance tire lines
    • Smithers webinars focus on performance materials in green tires
      Ferentino Tyre opens Sri Lanka plant; eyes exports to U.S., Europe
      Kumho launches commercial LT, performance tire lines
      Taiwan tire makers propose settlement of import duties case
    • JobsOhio funding gives Sperry & Rice room to grow
      TRAC's Glenn Maidment caps 51-year rubber industry career
      LafargeHolcim looks to solidify U.S. presence with Firestone Building Products purchase
      Hankook Tire holding company adopts Hankook & Co. identity
    • Smithers webinars focus on performance materials in green tires
      Endurica earns prestigious Tibbetts Award from SBA
      Kuraray to raise elastomer prices again
      Synthomer optimistic, raises earnings forecast
    • Safic-Alcan extends distribution agreement with Momentive
      Momentive aims to grow silicone presence in Asia-Pacific region
      IRP Medical solidifies portfolio with KDL deal
      Rubber lab services firm Ace reports record year
    • ASTM cancels April meetings as COVID-19 continues impact
      Paycheck Protection Program funding reopens Jan. 15
      Detroit Auto Show canceled; alternative event being planned for September
      Top Glove reopens COVID-hit factories with enhanced precautions
    • Jack Murphy joins Akron Dispersions
      Adriano Alfani named Versalis CEO
      Maroon Group adds to Southeast sales team
      ASTM taps rubber executive as new board member
    • Paycheck Protection Program funding reopens Jan. 15
      Taiwan tire makers propose settlement of import duties case
      Lobbying group unveils policy agenda to speed transition to EVs
      NADA, bank group to assess political contributions after U.S. Capitol siege
    • Column: Pandemic looms over everything in life, business in 2020
      Column: Lessons from the 2020 Best Places to Work
      Editorial: Silicone hit hard by pandemic, expected to bounce back
      Column: Still far way from normal
    • Effects of multiple repurposed materials for reinforcements of standard rubber compounds
      Impact of peroxide blends on the cure rate and aged properties in HNBR
      Techniques to detect long chain branching in polymers
      A comparative study looking at effects of curing kinetics and batch variation on SBR injection molding and numerical analytics
    • WORD panelists say evolution, authenticity keys to success
      IEC keynote: Communication key to logistics
      IEC speaker: Specialized elastomers may reduce spread of life-threatening pathogens
      Rubber Division seeking abstracts for Spring Technical Meeting
    • WORD panelists say evolution, authenticity keys to success
      New video celebrates women in rubber industry
      ITEC panelists say women can thrive in tire industry
      Rubber Division planning second Women of Rubber event
    • Sponsored By HEXPOL Compounding
      Faster Access to Your Polymer Compounding Experts Around the World
      Sponsored By HEXPOL Compounding
      Take a walk thru a HEXPOL Lab
      Sponsored By HEXPOL Compounding
      HEXPOL offers a unique selection of High Performance Elastomers to match your application requirements
      Sponsored By HEXPOL Compounding
      It’s what you can’t see that makes the Difference at HEXPOL
  • Blogs
    • Products
    • Wacky World of Rubber
    • New Products: MonTech introduces 1,500 kN lab press
      New products: 3M introduces new durable, pliable medical adhesive
      New Products: Lanxess launches energy-efficient PU elastomer
      New Products: MonTech automates bale cutter for safety, productivity
    • Wacky World of Rubber: How Trelleborg, teens sealed a spot in the world record book
      Wacky World of Rubber: Of chicken and feet, but not chicken feet
      Wacky World of Rubber: Time to go mattress shopping
      Wacky World of Rubber: Because nothing says football like 'frunk' shrimp
  • Newsletters
    • Rubber in Automotive
    • Silicone News
    • Latex News
    • Sign Up for Newsletters
    • Smithers webinars focus on performance materials in green tires
      Ford to close 3 plants, end production in Brazil, costing $4.1 billion
      Study: Vehicle buyers cling to familiarity amid pandemic
      Kumho launches commercial LT, performance tire lines
    • Safic-Alcan extends distribution agreement with Momentive
      Momentive aims to grow silicone presence in Asia-Pacific region
      IRP Medical solidifies portfolio with KDL deal
      Rubber lab services firm Ace reports record year
    • Jack Murphy joins Akron Dispersions
      Synthomer optimistic, raises earnings forecast
      Top Glove reopens COVID-hit factories with enhanced precautions
      Malaysia electronics group to enter rubber gloves sector
  • Multimedia
    • Videos
    • Photo Galleries
  • Directory
  • Resources
    • Classifieds & Mold Mart
    • Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Sponsored By HB Chemical
      The Company Behind the Inventory
      Sponsored By French Oil Mill Machinery
      Process Improvement, Cost Reduction with Custom Press Systems
    • Sponsored By Uncountable Inc.
      Cooper Standard deploys lab informatics platform to synchronize R&D
      Sponsored By Elkem
      LSR Select™: A solution to improve your financial impact in molding applications
      Sponsored By HEXPOL Compounding
      Peroxide Cureable Silicone Injection Molding
      Sponsored By HEXPOL Compounding
      Understanding and Selecting Performance Additives for Rubber Compounding
  • Data
  • Events
    • RPN Events
    • RPN Livestreams/Webinars
    • Industry Events
    • Past Events
    • ITEC Library
    • International Silicone Conference Library
    • 2021 Healthcare Elastomers Virtual Edition
      2021 Rubber in Automotive Virtual Edition
      2020 International Silicone Conference Virtual Edition
      2020 ITEC Virtual Edition
  • Advertise
  • DIGITAL EDITION
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
November 07, 2017 01:00 AM

Lab Integration tests the market

Kyle Brown
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Print
    Bruce Meyer, Rubber & Plastics News
    Lab Integration President Michel Therrien at the recent Rubber Expo.

    CLEVELAND—Elastomer Valley's newest member, Lab Integration Inc., is helping rubber part producers embrace the future with Industry 4.0.

    Lab Integration, a developer of rubber industry testing machines and software to test mechanical properties of a product, joined the Elastomer Valley group last year to bring in more knowledge and expertise, as well as to build its network, President Michel Therrien said during the International Elastomer Conference, held in Cleveland from Oct. 9-12.

    Lab Integration started in Oakville, Ontario, in 2002, delivering universal testing machine upgrades with calibration and repair for the rubber industry. The company started software development in 2004, and by 2006 was designing and manufacturing its own universal testing machines.

    After growing at the Oakville location for 12 years, Lab Integration moved to Sherbrooke, Quebec. Therrien is trying to continue that growth in the new office, including a goal to expand into more exports into the U.S.

    "We're selling testing equipment. This is not a commodity. This is not something people buy every day," Therrien said. "It's really about having our name out there so people know that there is an alternative to buying the typical from the big guys."

    Lab Integration, which has eight current employees, also helps producers implement Industry 4.0 standards, which can bring out new efficiencies in processes, he said.

    "Everybody talks about it, but not a lot of people are willing to implement it," he said. "There are a lot of benefits, and it's not that expensive. It just needs a bit of willingness to go for it."

    One Industry 4.0 success that Lab Integration was involved in came from another Elastomer Valley member, Waterville TG Inc., a producer of weatherstrips for global automotive companies. For product testing, 18 of Waterville TG's machines are centralized to a single server, where the results can be collected in one place. A product manager could look at that information and analyze the results. Currently, five of the Waterville TG plants are connected on the system, he said.

    "There are great benefits on their side with cost, efficiency, all the knowledge that's acquired with such a big implementation," Therrein said. "It was a beneficial cooperation that we're now trying to expand to other companies."

    Once the system was set up, Lab Integration took care of the details, establishing connectivity among the machines and the database, he said.

    "It's great for them because they've been able to improve, and say, 'This is how things go.' It was a great collaboration. It didn't even take two years to implement," he said.

    Lab Integration now is looking for more advanced customers in the rubber industry to connect with to develop more Industry 4.0 networks, Therrein said.

    "It's really sharing information, a database that talks to a database," he said. "It's just committing to it. It's not as costly or hard as people think, and it's certainly well worth it."

    Originally, Lab Integration manufactured universal testing machines with multiple purposes and applications within the automotive industry. But the universal approach made things too complicated for customers who just wanted a testing machine that could handle one test reliably, Therrein said.

    Instead of a universal testing machine, for example, a producer just wanted a pushout tester that would break the weld on a nut without being encumbered with multiple other features. So Lab Integration built machines and software that worked together to handle directly specific tests, then shares that information with a central database.

    Gathering that information in a useable database is a key point to get the customer the most out of the organized data, he said.

    "A pushout that can share information is immediately a very interesting product, especially if it's on the shop floor and you can't have a computer next to it," he said.

    With a machine designed to do the pushout and share the information in an approachable form, any technician can become an expert quickly, he said.

    "I want the users to look intelligent in front of our machines, and to know what they're doing," he said. "If it's too complicated, I scrap it, we missed the goal. It's got to be easy."

    One way that's done is through database views that can sort for particular information, so that when a user connects, the most important information is immediately visible rather than the entire database at once, he said.

    "That's a great and inexpensive way to connect data," Therrein said. "You can create a view, and have a central system that only looks at that view, not the specific database, so it's very efficient."

    As Lab Integration develops its offerings, it continues to grow, aiming for 10 employees by the end of this year and 15 by the end of 2018. A larger expansion, across the Canada-U.S. border is also in the works. Though the company has a few large contracts in the U.S., travel back and forth across the border is currently too difficult for workers to make regular trips. Therrein is in the process of looking for the right area in the U.S. to expand, with a particular focus on Ohio, Michigan and New York in 2018, he said.

    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Rubber & Plastics News wants to hear from its readers. If you want to express your opinion on a story or issue, email your letter to Editor Bruce Meyer at [email protected].

    SIGN UP FOR NEWSLETTERS
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Rubber & Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe Today

    Subscribe to Rubber & Plastics News to get the best coverage and leading insights in the industry.

    SUBSCRIBE
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter

    MISSION

    To serve companies in the global rubber product industry by delivering news, industry insights, opinions and technical information.

    web
    Contact Us

    2291 Riverfront Pkwy, Suite 1000
    Cuyahoga Falls,
    OH 44221

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1726

    Resources
    • About Us
    • Digital Edition
    • Contact the Staff
    • Advertise
    • Order Reprints
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    • Terms of Service
    • Careers
    • Ad Choices Ad Choices
    • Sitemap
    Partner Sites
    • Tire Business
    • European Rubber Journal
    • Plastics News
    • Plastics News China
    • Urethanes Technology
    • Automotive News
    • Crain Brands
    Copyright © 1996-2021. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • ITEC
      • Automotive
      • Tire
      • Non-Tire
      • Suppliers
      • Silicone
      • Latex
      • Coronavirus
      • Executive Action
      • Government/Legal
      • Opinion
      • Technical Notebooks
      • International Elastomer Show
      • Women in Tire & Rubber
      • HEXPOL Sponsored Content
    • Blogs
      • Products
      • Wacky World of Rubber
    • Newsletters
      • Rubber in Automotive
      • Silicone News
      • Latex News
      • Sign Up for Newsletters
    • Multimedia
      • Videos
      • Photo Galleries
    • Directory
    • Resources
      • Classifieds & Mold Mart
      • Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
    • Data
    • Events
      • RPN Events
      • RPN Livestreams/Webinars
      • Industry Events
      • Past Events
      • ITEC Library
      • International Silicone Conference Library
    • Advertise
    • DIGITAL EDITION