Working with the High-Compliance Needs of Military Applications

Military products and applications demand extremely high reliability and durability because of the likelihood that they will be put to the test in some very extreme environments. This means that military departments that design, develop, and otherwise work on these projects must source materials and parts from companies that understand and meet the established standards and regulations.

Military applications need to be completely reliable, even under the most rigorous conditions. To that end, suppliers must institute their own quality assurance processes on their design, production, and testing phases.

What Are Military Spec Products?

“Military spec” refers to the higher-grade materials that go into every project that could be subjected to heavy usage. These materials must be tough and reliable enough to function properly in a wide range of military industry applications.

The military sector is often called a high-compliance industry because of all the rules and regulations surround any parts and compounds used in any production. Products can only qualify as military spec when they are in full compliance with these requirements.

The exact characteristics of a certified material can be different, but in general, the quality assurance team should make sure that any product shipped off to the military sector must be compliant in strength, durability, temperature resistance, flammability, and other factors.

Exceeding Standards

In truth, it’s not enough just to meet the standards set by different regulatory organizations – not when product failure could lead to potential harm or damage.

At Clark Rubber & Plastic, we have implemented a cutting-edge quality assurance system to make sure that every product that leaves our facilities easily meets and then exceeds the normal requirements of our customers in their industry.

This means that we have ISO/TS 16949:2009 compliance, and we work with certified materials testing facilities and an outside calibration facility to ensure our military spec products deserve the name.

Why It’s So Important

Whatever the final military application, it’s a safe bet that it is going to be put through some extreme environments and heavy usage. This means there is no substitute for effective, detailed, and reliable quality assurance.

These products may be taking some people into some life-threatening situations. They have to perform like they’re supposed to, whether they’re going into sandy, dusty, or watery locations in the middle of some extreme temperatures and locations.

Our materials and products are regularly used in tanks and other vehicles, armaments and munitions, engine parts, marine vessels, airplanes, and more. It’s critically important to ensure safety in them all.

Setting Standards

The Department of Defense does more than just lay out the regulations that govern how products are used in military applications. It also produces a lot of documentation for products and processes and materials that help establish some standardizations.

For example, the DOD may create special documents that make it possible for different agencies or branches of the military to source materials and know exactly what they are going to get. This will lead to a certain level of commonality between all the different departments, which can help streamline the supply system and ensure every branch gets the materials they need.

In order to supply products for the military, producers must meet these standards so that they don’t contribute to bloating the military processes.

Keeping Up with New Developments

Technology, processes, and materials change and develop over the years, which means our manufacturing methods and quality assurance systems have to evolve to keep up. This can make producing military-grade products a challenge, but it is absolutely necessary to ensure the reliability and durability of every product.

This means that, in order to keep up, we have to maintain our quality management systems and constantly improve on what we’re already doing. This mean employing internal and external audits, reviewing policies and reports, taking all the necessary corrective and preventive actions, and making sure that the entire staff knows and understands these requirements.

Military products are very likely intended for applications that demand reliability in some very severe environments and applications. In order to ensure that they are dependable in these difficult conditions, we continue to devote a lot of time and effort to design, production, and testing every part of our production process so it will always meet the necessary requirements, even in a high-compliance industry.