Converting Ideas into Solutions ®

Case Study - Metal Pan Sealing

Customer Need

Our customer, a manufacturer of appliances and fixtures for the foodservice industry, had an issue with holding containers supplied to one of their customers. They were looking to create a water-tight seal around seams in the units to prevent water and cleaning solution from leaching through and corroding the copper refrigeration piping. The corrosion of the pipes required that units be replaced, as the construction of the units prevented any rework from being possible. Our customer was seeking a solution that would both work with the units currently in place as well as any future units they manufactured. Unfortunately, working directly with an adhesive manufacturer had yielded no viable solution, so they turned to Budnick for help.

The Budnick Solution

After reviewing the customer's needs, the Budnick representative searched for a solution. During an entirely separate Budnick supplier presentation, a product was presented that had been designed for sealing roofing and metal enclosures. The extra thick nature of the product and its acrylic base would help make it easily cover any corners without puncturing while being highly resistant to any chemicals in the cleaning solution. There was concern about the product requiring NSF approval, but it was determined there would be no potential for contact between the product and any food. Budnick brought the product to the customer where they ran it through testing for six months by subjecting it to water and a standard cleaning solution. After passing those tests, the product was field tested and proved to be the ideal solution for this customer - preventing them from having a mass recall and providing a solution for future builds.

Working Smarter

Budnick prides itself on having a team of solution providers that think outside of the application for which a product is "intended." Using our knowledge of adhesives and their properties, and the catalogs of a variety of manufacturers, we were able to design a solution perfect for our customer utilizing a product outside of its original design intent.