A physical reference chip
Signed and dated. Not just a Pantone number.
OEM buyer guide
Colour matching and batch consistency.
For anything a customer will see, colour is one of the two things they judge (feel is the other). Getting the colour right is straightforward. Keeping it right across every batch for years takes discipline that most suppliers don't advertise.
The problem
Silicone colour doesn't work like plastic colour.
In plastic, colour matching to a Pantone number is largely a solved problem — the industry uses standardised pigment concentrates, and match tolerance is tight. In silicone, colour behaves differently. Cure chemistry affects final shade; part thickness affects perceived depth; base grade affects translucency.
That means a Pantone number on a drawing is a starting point, not an answer. Two silicone suppliers matching to the same Pantone reference will produce visibly different parts. Your customer, who compares your first batch to your fifth, will notice.
The way we handle this is to match against a physical chip you sign off — a moulded piece of silicone in the actual grade at the actual thickness. That chip becomes the reference. Every subsequent batch is compared against it, not against a screen colour or a Pantone book.
Process
The route from your brand colour to a locked recipe.
Six steps that get followed in order. Skipping any of them causes trouble later.
Colour direction from you
A Pantone reference, a competitor swatch, or a physical brand sample. Any of these is a starting point.
Match samples produced
We mould three to five sample chips in the actual grade and thickness of your final part. Colour variants around your reference.
You sign off a chip
You pick the winner from the physical samples. That chip is retained as the reference. Signed and dated.
Pigment recipe recorded
The pigment concentrate and loading percentage that produced the chosen chip is recorded against your part number.
First production batch matched to chip
First real batch compared to the signed chip under standard lighting. Any drift corrected before batch ships.
Reference chip lives with the tool
The physical reference chip is stored with the tool records. Every subsequent batch is compared to it, not to memory.
Across years
Three disciplines that keep colour stable.
Pigment supplier locked
Pigment concentrate source is fixed at first sign-off. Any supplier change communicated to you before it hits a batch.
Base grade locked
Silicone base grade also affects final shade. Grade change requires new colour verification.
Cure temperature and cycle documented
Cure conditions affect final colour. Cycle parameters recorded and held. Any process change flagged for colour re-check.
Watch-outs
Four issues that trip suppliers up.
These are the failure modes we see most often when a new customer arrives from a previous supplier.
Matching to screen colour instead of physical
The screen shows a colour that can't be achieved in silicone at that grade. Physical matching prevents the disappointment.
Not accounting for part thickness
A pigment loading that looks right in a 2mm sample looks weak in a 5mm part. Match at the actual thickness.
Ignoring translucency
Silicone is often slightly translucent. Colour behind it changes what you see. Match the part in its final configuration, not in isolation.
Supplier change without re-verification
A silicone supplier switching pigment source without telling anyone. If your supplier can't tell you where their pigment comes from, that's a warning sign.
In practice
Four things to include on the drawing.
Tolerance in Delta-E or descriptive terms
How close to the reference the batch has to be. Realistic values, agreed with your incoming inspection.
Lighting standard for inspection
D65 or equivalent. Colour matching under different lighting gives different answers.
Reject criteria
What happens if a batch drifts beyond tolerance. Named action, not just 'reject'.
Keep reading
More guides from the workshop.
Moving from prototype tooling to production
Your product is real. You've made prototypes, maybe pilot runs. The design is stable and the volume forecast is starting to be…
Read the guideChoosing a Shore hardness for your silicone part
Shore A is the number that appears on nearly every silicone drawing and is understood by almost nobody outside the rubber trade.…
Read the guideTolerances in moulded silicone and rubber parts
Rubber moves. It shrinks as it cures, flexes when you measure it and relaxes in the bag. Specifying it like machined metal leads…
Read the guideDesigned and developed in the UK. UK moulding capability, with some higher-volume production placed with trusted partners where that's the right commercial answer.
Get in touch
Tell us the part, the volume, and the timeline.
Rough annual volume, target unit price, and any deadlines. That's enough to work out whether compression, LSR injection or something else is the right tool.
Real people, a real workshop
You deal with the people who make it.
No call centre and no middlemen. When you contact TCI Products, you speak to the team who design, build and check your mould.
- A real Warwickshire workshopUnit 15, Waterloo Park, Bidford-on-Avon, Alcester B50 4JG.
- Real people on the phoneCall the team on 01789 224228, Monday to Friday.
- The same team on every jobDesign, production and aftercare come from the people you see here.
- Part of TCI GroupFive specialist brands, one engineering team. Visit TCI Group.
Thomas LaneManaging Director
George PrestonDesign & Project Manager
Kelly BallingerHead of Partnerships
Jim AndertonProduction Manager
TheodoreEmployee Welfare