Grade documented at first sign-off
Every programme starts with a formally documented material grade. Supplier, part number, technical data sheet, batch traceability format — all recorded before the first production batch runs.
Grades, families, colour, traceability
Materials.
Silicone comes in many families, several grades, and dozens of colour recipes. Rubber is broader still. Getting the material choice right is often the difference between a part that lasts the product life and one that gets returned in year two.
How we approach materials
Grade first, then colour, then paperwork.
For every part we make, three material decisions land at the start: which polymer family, which grade within that family, and which colour recipe. Sometimes the customer already knows all three. Often they know one and need help with the other two.
We don't sell materials — we buy them from qualified suppliers, mould with them, and hand you documentation for what's in your batch. That means the grade choice is genuinely open at the start of a programme; we're not steering you toward stock.
Once the grade is locked, we colour-match against a physical chip, not against a Pantone number. Pantone works for print; it doesn't survive translation to silicone pigmentation. A physical chip signed off under standard lighting is what stays consistent batch to batch.
Polymer families
The three broad families we mould, and where each fits.
Silicone (HCR and LSR)
The most versatile family. Excellent temperature stability, biocompatible grades available, wide durometer range, cleanable. LSR is the liquid two-part system for injection; HCR is the solid gum used in compression and solid-silicone injection.
EPDM, nitrile, natural rubber
Traditional rubbers. Excellent for outdoor exposure (EPDM), oil resistance (nitrile), or high mechanical performance (natural rubber). Compression-moulded, since these are supplied as solid gum.
Fluorosilicone and specialist grades
Higher temperature stability, fuel and chemical resistance, or specialist certifications. Cost more per kilo; used only where the application demands them.
Colour, grade and paperwork
The three things that travel with every batch.
Colour matched against physical
Colour matching is done against a physical silicone chip you sign off under standard lighting, not against a Pantone number. The pigment recipe is recorded and reused for every batch.
Batch record travels with every shipment
Material batch, colour recipe reference, cure conditions, first-off sign-off, tool ID and run date. In whatever format your quality system expects.
Change control is genuine
Once a grade or recipe is locked, changes require your sign-off. We don't substitute upstream and hope you don't notice. That's the discipline that keeps batch three years in feeling like batch one.
Related services
Where material decisions become manufacturing decisions.
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Tooling and part continuity
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Open the serviceDesigned 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