Grand River Rubber & Plastics Blog

NSF/ANSI Standard 61 establishes health-related requirements that regulate drinking water supplies. NSF/ANSI 61 sets health effects criteria for many water system components including plumbing, process media, protective barrier materials, rubber seals and gaskets and more used in potable water systems.

October is National Manufacturing Month and also National Employee Ownership Month.  Grand River Rubber & Plastics is a proud 100% employee-owned manufacturing company. Employee ownership is an integral part of our DNA. Throughout the month of October, we will be interviewing our employee owners about working at Grand River Rubber and what employee ownership means to them.

Recently, Grand River’s engineering team have gotten some questions about the use of Santoprene in lathe cut gasket applications. While Santoprene is growing in popularity, it has significant advantages and disadvantages that should be considered. While Grand River doesn’t carry thermoplastics such as Santoprene, our team has extensive knowledge of how Santoprene compares to elastomers in a variety of applications. Learn how Santoprene compares to elastomers below and decide if it is right for your application.

Grand River Rubber & Plastics strives to manufacture products that meet our customers' requirements and exceeds their expectations. Responsiveness, quality products, competitive pricing and on time delivery are just part of our commitment. We also offer a variety of value add services which are outlined below.

Choosing the correct lathe cut gasket materials for an application is a daunting task for many manufacturers. At Grand River, our extensive experience allows us to provide our customers with custom compounds that meet their specific needs while utilizing the most cost-effective materials. Below, we’ve listed some simple guidelines to assist you in choosing the correct material for your application.

Grand River Rubber & Plastics recently broke ground on a 11,500 square foot manufacturing space expansion. The addition will be primarily used for Grand River's Drum & Pail production line and will be combination of manufacturing space and raw and finished goods storage. The addition will also create a second story office space that will provide future expansion. 

A common misunderstanding we hear from our customers is asking for O-rings when they really require lathe cut gaskets. Many times, our manufacturing clients believe that O-rings and lathe cut gaskets are the same. Below, learn the main differences between lathe cut gaskets and O-rings and discover why lathe cut gaskets are favorable in many applications.

Grand River Rubber is proud to be the only lathe cut gasket manufacturer recognized on the Interstate Milk Shippers (IMS) Certified Manufacturers List of Single Service products. IMS was established by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration to ensure manufacturers and milk shippers are in compliance with the FDA and U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) guidelines. The Single Service Products list specifically classifies companies who manufacturer single-service containers and closures for milk and milk products.