Reacting to Market Growth with Equipment and Engineering Knowledge at ARDL

By Liz Stevens, writer, Inside Rubber

Electric vehicles, new lines for rail travel, material development and increasing safety standards – as the markets change, flexible companies must react with new resources, from machinery investments to investments in their people. While Akron Rubber Development Laboratory (ARDL) has had an engineering department for more than 25 years, it recently launched an initiative to expand the department, growing not only its equipment and capabilities, but also its staff.

Adding Capacity

Capital expenditures often are made to increase production capacity, whether adding new equipment to run alongside existing assets or replacing older technology. ARDL – a provider of provides characterization for material, small parts and full-scale parts – chose to follow both paths, growing through the acquisition of load frames, actuators, thermal chambers, shakers and other assets from Experimental Services, Inc. (ESI) in the fall of 2020 and with the addition of new controllers and a video extensometer. ESI, based in Akron and in operation for 30 years, specialized in engineering testing and provided static, dynamic, fatigue and vibration testing.

“ARDL’s engineering department,” said Chelsye Dailey, engineering manager, “focuses on standard and custom testing for quality control, qualification, engineering, research and development, proof of concept, and more. We offer dynamic mechanical analysis, fatigue and durability, vibration, FEA support testing and various life prediction.” With the ESI assets, ARDL has gained equipment that increases its testing volume capacity, its load capacity and its vibration/frequency testing abilities.

“These equipment acquisitions,” she continued, “have significantly expanded our capabilities for larger-scale part testing and more customizable options for mechanical and dynamic characterization.” The equipment includes large temperature chambers as well as specialized structural actuators which allow for simultaneous testing and facilitate a great range of directions and orientations for testing. “ESI had controllers that allow for synchronization of multi-axis testing,” she explained, “and that do other, more sophisticated analysis behind the scenes. We also purchased a new MTS controller that is state-of-the-art.” The controller features upgraded software and includes more processing power for controlling frames and actuators.

As a result of the expansion initiative, ARDL now can offer services for a wider range of projects and at any point in a project’s life cycle. “It doesn’t matter what stage of the project the customer is in,” said Dailey, “we can help. We have engineers on staff who can interpret specifications, help design tests and design the fixturing necessary for testing.”

Acquiring Knowledge

Without human expertise, the additional equipment would sit idle – so ARDL has invested in growing the engineering knowledge base as well. Dave Houk, who holds a BS in mechanical engineering, has been at ARDL for 24 years and has a wealth of historical knowledge that has been valuable as new team members have been added to the department. “He has an amazing memory for the projects conducted here over the years,” Dailey said. “He has so much experience that when a customer needs a custom-designed test, Dave can almost always recall a similar test done in the past, allowing us to address our customers’ unique testing needs.”

Seth Glasgow was hired when the company acquired ESI’s assets. Glasgow also has a BS in mechanical engineering and has QC experience from his work with a firm specializing in bushing and large-scale dynamic testing. “I’ve held roles in R&D and manufacturing,” said Glasgow. “These roles included exposure to rubber and plastics but, in particular, my prior experience with hydraulics made for a seamless transition to learning about the hydraulic nature of the test equipment we use at ARDL.”

“The consultants from ESI,” said Dailey, “have spent a lot of time mentoring Seth. We felt that acquiring the vault of knowledge from ESI was just as important as acquiring their testing equipment.

Another recently hired department engineer is Joe Fiocca. “Joe came from the rubber industry,” said Dailey. “He has 30-plus years of experience in rubber manufacturing as well as mechanical design experience. He is an expert in designing tests and designing test fixturing, and he has a great understanding of the material itself.” With his rubber industry background and his BS in mechanical engineering, Fiocca can make suggestions from the test perspective.

Dailey herself joined ARDL in 2021 with a BS in mechanical engineering from Youngstown State and a Master’s in engineering and industrial management from Ohio University. She came to the role with a decade of experience in stress analysis and structural design, as well as project and personnel management experience. An assignment in Denmark gave her an opportunity to work with EN specifications.

Growth in Markets and Materials

ARDL has expanded its engineering department for a variety of reasons. “ARDL serves 11 of the 12 essential industries,” said Dailey, “so we have a huge range of customers, many of whom have increasing testing requirements.” New materials are being introduced for some products, and many products now need to be more durable than ever. “We see customers push the limits in every direction all the time,” she explained. “We are seeing new materials that require testing and we also are seeing more stringent safety requirements. Demand for re-vetting is on the rise for customers who have launched new applications for an existing material or for material that now is seeing different loads.”

Dailey pointed to the automotive market as an example. “As we move toward electric vehicles,” she said, “a lot of revetting must occur; we are seeing an uptick in electric vehicle testing across our company.”

The rail travel industry is another area where testing demand is expected to grow. “Rail travel,” said Dailey, “has changed over the years and a lot of extra rail line coverage is being added, especially in countries that we serve outside of the US.” Glasgow noted that the acquisition of ESI’s testing equipment allows ARDL to expand into these markets. “One example of this,” said Glasgow, “is the testing of railroad elastomeric pads, also known as DFF’s (direct fixation fasteners), which provide the noise and vibration mitigation for the entire rail support system in the railroad industry.”

In other markets, products have been tested for roomtemperature operation; nowadays, ARDL is seeing testing requests for extreme temperatures as well. “And defense and aerospace,” said Dailey, “are always pushing the envelope. Our expanded load capacity allows us to do more large-scale testing and perform more of the testing in-house.”

As Dailey sees it, ARDL is unique in the breadth of services it can offer to customers and the depth of knowledge that its engineering department contributes to R&D and testing projects. “We now have the equipment, the ability and the staff to go far beyond what we offered customers in the past,” said Dailey. “We are focused on being a start-to-finish resource.” n

Akron Rubber Development Laboratory (ARDL), Barberton, Ohio, is an international laboratory established in 1962 that provides testing, development and problem-solving services for the rubber and plastics industries. For more information, visit www.ardl.com.

Practice Advice for the Rubber Industry

Ice Miller focuses on meeting the needs of our clients quickly, efficiently and cost-effectively. Ice Miller attorneys with rubber industry experience can assist with your greatest legal challenges. Contact Josef Keglewitsch at 614-462-2279 or josef.keglewitsch@icemiller.com for more information.

300+ lawyers in Columbus and icemiller.com

Other Offices

J O I N T H E N E T W O R K T O D A Y !

A S S O C I A T I O N F O R R U B B E R P R O D U C T S

M A N U F A C T U R E R S

B e n c h m a r k i n g | I n d u s t r y S t a n d a r d s |

T r a i n i n g | N e t w o r k i n g | a n d m o r e . . .

L i s t e d i n R u b b e r a n d P l a s t i c s N e w s " T o p 5 R u b b e r

I n d u s t r y A s s o c i a t i o n s Y o u S h o u l d K n o w . "

V i s i t a r p m i n c . c o m f o r m o r e .