Commercial Evaluation of Sealing Solutions

At Gallagher Fluid Seals, engineering is central to every project and solution we deliver.  Our goal is to provide sealing solutions where there had been sealing failures, and our engineering team is among the most experienced and talented in the industry.

This blog post is the second in a four-part series discussing how we work with our customers to create a sealing solution for their most critical applications.  The second step in this process is commercial evaluation of sealing solutions.

Part II: Commercial Evaluation

Evaluate and Select a Manufacturing Partner

As an independent distributor, we have the freedom to be objective and create the optimal sealing configuration for your application.  Working with industry-leading partners like Parker®, Freudenberg®, Dupont Kalrez®, Garlock®, and many others, our engineering team will determine the best supplier for your specific application.

Our manufacturing partners all have core strengths.  The ability of Gallagher to blend these strengths into a single point of contact for our customers is central to our value proposition.  This can occur within a single application or across the sealing needs of a customer.

Furthermore, many of the manufacturing companies that Gallagher represents are global conglomerates.  Gallagher has spent the last 60 years developing these relationships, developing a network of technical and service contacts throughout these organizations.  This allows our customers to leave the heavy lifting to us and fight for your needs on a daily basis.

Our engineers will then work with the design teams of both our customers and supplier, to ensure all sides of the application are thoroughly considered and there are no surprises at the end of the project.

Develop a Viable Prototype

The goal is to produce a part which can be put into production without any doubt that it will perform to the standards of the customer.  The part initially created will go through various iterations of design, material, and specification.

Often times customers will request a virtual modeling of the application through Finite Element Analysis (FEA).  This allows for an optimization of the sealing system in a virtual environment to test different configurations and arrive at an ideal sealing component(s).   This process saves time and money for the customer as we can avoid unnecessary iterations of design and prototyping.

To ensure we have all the necessary application information to expedite this process, Gallagher has recently launched an Engineering Application Request (EAR) webform.  This is on our website, and can also be downloaded in PDF form.  It includes operating conditions, gland specifications, hardware information, etc.  This is all vital information for creating the best sealing solution for your application.

Budgetary Commercial Pricing

At this stage, budgetary pricing needs to be developed and shared.  We need to validate that we are still on track to solve the initial problem, and provide the value that we discussed during our investigation and analysis.

Often times within an application Gallagher will propose a ‘Good, Better & Best’ solution, and allow the customer to decide the ideal path forward based on their balance of performance and budgetary needs.  Sometimes the best seal for the application is overkill.  Gallagher Fluid Seals works with customers to provide the best seal for their needs, not necessarily the most expensive seal.

 The commercial evaluation of sealing solutions is only the second step in getting you the BEST seal for your product or application.  Continue reading our blog for the subsequent Parts of this blog series, “Designing a Sealing Solution.”

 Part I: Application Discovery & Review

Part II: Commercial Evaluation & Development

Part III: Prototyping & Testing

Part IV: Approval & Production