Keypad and button manufacture
Silicone keypad mats and moulded buttons with a defined tactile feel, integrated conductive contacts, and graphics either printed on top or moulded…
See the serviceProject record · Precision electronics · Compression
A precision electronics maker's keypad batch.
A silicone keypad mat for a hand-held industrial device. Buttons that had to feel decisive without being noisy, conductive contacts that had to make circuit closure reliably, batch consistency across a five-year programme.
The brief
A keypad for a hand-held industrial instrument.
A precision electronics maker builds hand-held instruments for field engineers. Their product uses a silicone rubber keypad — twelve buttons over a PCB — and the feel of the buttons was one of the things field users specifically praised in reviews.
The existing supplier had been running the keypad on compression tooling for three years. The parts were fine but batch drift had crept in: successive batches were coming through with slightly different button feel. Users noticed. Reviews started to mention it. The customer needed a supplier who would hold the feel stable across every batch.
They approached us to take over the programme. Not with any dramatic design change — the keypad worked — but with the discipline to hold it consistent.
The problem
The drift wasn't in the drawing; it was in the material and process.
When we reviewed batch records from the previous supplier, the pattern was clear: silicone grade had been swapped between batches (a supplier change had happened upstream without being flagged), and cure cycle had been adjusted for cycle time. Both changes were individually small; together, they'd changed the actuation force and the click sensation.
The fix wasn't to redesign the keypad. It was to lock the grade, lock the cure conditions, and hold both across the remainder of the programme. And to establish a golden sample so any future drift could be caught at first-off rather than after ship.
We also proposed pressing sample mats in three durometers — the current grade plus one either side — and letting the customer's product manager wear-test them. The purpose wasn't to change grade, but to verify that the current spec was actually the right one, and to have documented evidence if drift ever needed to be defended.
What we changed
We locked the grade, established a golden sample, and pressed test mats to confirm.
The hard part wasn't manufacturing. It was documenting the manufacturing so it couldn't drift.
Grade specification locked
Silicone grade formally documented and signed off. Any change requires customer approval; no upstream supplier substitution.
Three-durometer wear test
Sample mats pressed in current grade and one either side. Customer's product manager wore each in the field for a day. Current grade confirmed as correct.
Golden sample established
First batch after grade lock produced the golden sample. Signed off, retained, referenced for every subsequent batch.
Cure cycle documented and locked
Cure temperature, time and pressure formally documented as part of the run record. Any deviation requires quality sign-off.
Conductive contact placement inspected
Contact placement inspected at first-off on every batch — the electrical function is as important as the feel.
Rolling batch supply against reference
Batches produced against the customer's schedule. Each batch first-off compared to golden sample. Two years in, no user complaints about drift.
The commercial shape
The unit price stayed similar. The reliability of the supply changed.
Compression tooling investment was already sunk from the previous supplier — the customer owned the tool. We took over on the existing tooling with material and process discipline layered on top.
Per-part cost was roughly comparable to what the previous supplier had been charging. What changed was consistency: batch-to-batch feel drift eliminated, contact placement reliability improved, and customer-facing quality complaints stopped appearing in product reviews.
For a mature product where the drawing is stable and the volume is predictable, this kind of supplier transition is often more about discipline than about cost. The commercial value shows up in things you don't lose, not in a lower unit price.
“The keypad hasn't changed since we moved suppliers. That's exactly what we wanted.”
Services used
How this programme was actually delivered.
Compression moulding
Solid silicone or rubber pre-formed, loaded into a heated steel tool, and pressed under cure. Sensible tooling cost, thousands of parts per tool, and…
See the serviceElectronics-grade manufacturing
Silicone moulding for electronics OEMs — insulating gaskets, sealing membranes, keypad mats, connector boots, enclosure seals. Electronics-grade…
See the serviceMore project records
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The commercial shapes described in our project records are examples of what's worked, not prices we're quoting today. Every programme sizes differently based on part geometry, annual volume, material family and paperwork requirements.
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Designed and developed in the UK. UK moulding capability, with some higher-volume production placed with trusted partners where that's the right commercial answer.
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Tell us the part, the volume, and the timeline.
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