When a manufacturer of a material that is used for an entire line of products informs you that they can no longer supply this material it can be difficult to find a replacement material to perform to the same specifications. Once you've determined a number of potential alternative suppliers / materials, what's next? Depending on how the material is used in the products and the percent of parts in the product line that are made from this material will probably determine how stringent and extensive of a qualification process should follow. In a recent case of this kind at my company, this was exactly the case. A plastics manufacturer was experiencing issues with meeting demand and informed us that the material would no longer be available in 6 months. The typical qualification process …
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