I’ll be honest with you…gaskets are not a sexy business.
We’re not advertising during the Oscars. No first round draft pick wants a custom gasket manufacturer to sponsor them.
But they’re pretty damn important.
And if you’ve ever blown a head gasket in your car, or had a bad seal shut down production at your facility, you’re probably nodding your head right now.
So while gaskets aren’t exactly late night TV entertainment material, they are a big deal if you maintain critical machinery of any kind.
And if you purchase, replace, or maintain gaskets as part of your work, there are some potentially surprising things you need to know to be able to do your job better.
And today, I’m going to walk you through them. So you can replace your busted gaskets faster and with a lot less headache.
So here they are…my “hot takes” for the unsexiest business of all: gaskets.
Hot Gasket Take #1: Stop shopping for gaskets. Start shopping for a gasket partner.
When a gasket busts — for whatever reason — it’s likely on you to find a replacement. If it’s a standard gasket, you may have an extra one on hand. If you don’t or if you need a custom gasket made, you’ll have to go shopping. But the absolute WORST time to go shopping for gaskets is when you actually need one.
As you scour the web or call up gasket supply companies to compare pricing quotes, you’re losing valuable time. Multiply this process by each gasket you need, and you’ll waste a ton of time.
That’s why I recommend NOT shopping for individual gaskets, but instead shopping for a supplier you can work with over and over. Vet them once, use them every time. It will save you a lot of headache and keep your systems moving smoothly.
An additional benefit of working with the same supplier: they should be able to keep a record of all your drawings and crank out custom gaskets from past orders. Now we’re talkin’.
Hot Gasket Take #2: Gaskets aren’t sexy. But getting them FAST is.
Yeah, gaskets aren’t super exciting to most people. But when your supplier tells you it will be 9 days until they can get them to you…they suddenly become a lot more interesting.
At Gorilla Gaskets, we can cut any gasket dimensions out of any material you need and ship it to you the same day.
There are sometimes exceptions to this, obviously, but 99% of the time, we can get it to you sooner and with higher precision and quality than anyone else.
Whether you work with us or someone else, find someone that prioritizes a speedy turnaround time (rather than just price).
Hot Gasket Take #3: English is Overrated.
There are many Hispanic workers in the US, and increasing production facilities in Mexico and Central America. So if your gasket supplier doesn’t speak Spanish, it can make things a heckuva lot harder to get what you need.
Por eso, en Gorilla Gaskets, hablamos español e inglés.
(Translation: “That’s why, at Gorilla Gaskets, we speak Spanish AND English.”)
So the language preferences of your team don’t have to complicate the ordering process, and you can get what you need quicker and easier.
Hot Gasket Take #4: The More Complex, The Better
Believe it or not, there can be a lot of creativity that goes into manufacturing the perfect gasket solution for your situation. That’s because not all gasket problems have obvious fixes.
So if you can make a single call to a true expert who has seen it all, and get guidance in finding a creative solution to a sticky situation, you might find yourself wanting to bust out a bottle of some fancy bubbly beverage.
At Gorilla Gaskets, we like those complex problems. Mainly because we get to flex our creative gasket muscles. The obvious plus-side to this is that when we help our clients solve them, they come back and work with us again. It’s a beautiful thing.
So bring on the complexity.
Hot Gasket Take #5: I take it back…Gaskets Actually Are Pretty Sexy.
In any industrial system, there are approximately 79 bajillion different types of fittings, connections, and components that all need to be joined and sealed according to their material, the type of fluid being contained, and the temperatures they’re exposed to.
They’re a big deal.
They are the hidden little component that makes complex machinery work like it should.
So yeah…I guess gaskets are pretty sexy after all.
And if you really understand how critical they are, how much is riding on them, and how much more efficient things are when they’re working well…then I hope you’ll see them for what they are: the most exciting little component in the whole system.
We’re standing by to cut anything to spec today.
Click here to request a custom quote.
Gorilla Gasket
3708 Estates Dr.
Artesia NM 88210
(575) 336-1446
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