Case Study: Silicone Product Manufacturing Process – From Design to Mass Production

In the field of silicone product manufacturing, every high-quality product is the result of strict process control, professional technology and rigorous quality inspection. As a professional silicone manufacturer focusing on foreign trade, we have successfully completed thousands of silicone product customization projects for overseas customers, covering kitchenware, baby products, medical devices, automotive parts and other fields. This article takes a custom silicone baby feeding set project as an example, detailly interprets the complete manufacturing process of silicone products, showing our professional strength in product R&D, production and quality control.

A well-known European baby product brand contacted us, hoping to customize a set of safe, non-toxic and durable silicone baby feeding set, including silicone bibs, silicone feeding spoons, silicone food storage boxes and silicone teething sticks. The customer put forward clear requirements: the product must meet FDA, LFGB and EN 71 food-grade & baby safety standards, have a hardness of 40-50 Shore A (soft and non-harmful to baby’s gums), good flexibility and wear resistance, and be free of BPA, phthalates and other harmful substances. At the same time, the product needs to be customized according to the customer’s brand design, with cute shapes and non-slip surfaces, and the delivery cycle must be controlled within 15 working days. Combining the customer’s needs, we formulated a detailed manufacturing plan and completed the project smoothly. Below is the specific manufacturing process of this silicone baby feeding set.

Before starting production, our engineering team conducted in-depth communication with the customer to confirm the product’s size, shape, performance requirements and application scenarios. The customer provided the basic design drawings of the feeding set, but there were deficiencies in the anti-slip design of the spoon handle and the leak-proof structure of the bib. Our team combined years of experience in silicone baby product design, optimized the spoon handle with a non-slip texture design (easy for babies to grasp) and added a leak-proof edge to the bib, and submitted a 3D design drawing to the customer for confirmation. After 2 rounds of revision, the design plan was finally determined.

At the same time, we selected baby-grade silicone base material that meets FDA, LFGB and EN 71 standards, and tested the material’s non-toxicity, softness, high-temperature resistance (up to 120°C, suitable for disinfection) and other performance indicators in advance to ensure that it fully meets the customer’s requirements. The material selection report and test results were provided to the customer for review, laying a solid foundation for subsequent production.

The quality of silicone products starts with raw materials. We selected high-purity silica as the core raw material, which was purified to remove impurities, ensuring the purity reaches more than 99.5%. Then, we matched the baby-grade silicone base polymer with functional additives in strict proportions: reinforcing filler (fumed silica) to enhance the product’s tensile strength (prevent tearing), colorant (food-grade, non-fading pigment) to match the customer’s brand color (soft pastels), curing agent (platinum curing agent, non-toxic and odorless) to ensure uniform curing, and anti-bacterial additive to improve the hygiene performance of the product (suitable for baby use).

The compounding process was completed in a professional Banbury mixer, with the temperature controlled at 80-100°C and the mixing time at 20 minutes, ensuring that all additives are uniformly dispersed in the silicone base material. After compounding, the silicone compound was taken out and cooled to room temperature, and then cut into small pieces of appropriate size for subsequent molding, avoiding the influence of uneven mixing on product performance.

According to the product’s complex structure (such as spoon handle texture, bib leak-proof edge) and high safety requirements, we adopted Liquid Silicone Rubber (LSR) injection molding process, which is precise, clean and suitable for baby products. First, the two-component LSR (A/B ratio 1:1) was vacuum degassed to remove bubbles (avoiding air holes in the product), then injected into a preheated mold (80-100°C) by a screw/plunger, and the mold was customized according to the 3D design drawing to ensure the shape and texture of each product are consistent.

After injection, the product was cured by platinum catalysis in the mold, with the curing temperature set at 150°C and the curing time at 20 seconds. During the vulcanization process, the silicone polymer formed a three-dimensional network structure, making the product soft, flexible and non-toxic. After curing, the product was automatically ejected from the mold, ensuring no manual contact (avoiding contamination) and consistent size and performance of each feeding set.

After molding, the surface of the silicone baby feeding set had a small amount of flash and burrs (especially at the mold joint), which would be harmful to baby’s delicate skin. We adopted manual trimming + frozen deburring technology: first, manual trimming to remove large flash, then put the product into a liquid nitrogen freezer, and the burrs were frozen and brittle at low temperature (-196°C), then removed by high-pressure sandblasting, ensuring that the edge of the product is smooth and burr-free, and the surface is free of sharp points.

Subsequently, we performed surface smooth treatment on the product according to the customer’s requirements. The surface of the treated feeding set is soft and smooth, not easy to accumulate dirt, and easy to clean and disinfect (suitable for boiling or steam disinfection). We also printed the customer’s brand logo on the bib and spoon handle by laser engraving (non-toxic, non-fading, in line with baby safety standards). After surface treatment, the product was inspected manually to ensure that there are no scratches, bubbles or color differences on the surface.

Quality inspection is the key link to ensure product qualification. We conducted a full inspection of all finished products, including three aspects:

• Dimensional Inspection: Use a caliper and a ruler to check the size of each part of the feeding set (bib size, spoon length, storage box capacity), ensuring that the error is within ±0.1mm, which meets the customer’s size requirements and baby use comfort.
• Performance Testing: Randomly select 10% of the products for performance testing, including hardness test (40-50 Shore A), high-temperature resistance test (120°C for 30 minutes, no deformation, no discoloration), tensile strength test (prevent tearing), anti-bacterial test and non-toxicity test, all indicators meet the agreed standards and baby safety requirements.
• Compliance Testing: Send the product samples to a third-party testing agency for FDA, LFGB and EN 71 certification testing, and the test results show that the product is non-toxic, harmless, free of BPA and phthalates, and meets the baby product safety standards of the European market.

Unqualified products were scrapped on the spot, and the test results of qualified products were recorded in detail to form a batch quality report, which was provided to the customer for reference.

According to the customer’s export needs and baby product characteristics, we adopted food-grade, environmentally friendly packaging: each feeding set was independently packaged with food-grade PE film, then put into a colorful corrugated carton (printed with baby-friendly patterns and the customer’s brand logo), and the carton was equipped with buffer foam to avoid damage during transportation. At the same time, we attached the product quality report, FDA/LFGB/EN 71 test report and customs declaration materials to facilitate the customer’s customs clearance.

We chose a professional international logistics company, and the goods were delivered to the customer’s designated warehouse in Europe within the agreed 15 working days. After the customer received the goods, they conducted a sampling inspection, and all products met the requirements (safety, shape, quality), and the project was successfully completed.

This custom silicone baby feeding set project fully reflects our professional capabilities in silicone product manufacturing: from demand communication and design optimization to raw material selection, molding, post-processing and quality inspection, every link adheres to strict standards, ensuring that the product meets the customer’s requirements and international baby product safety standards. For many years, we have always taken “quality first, customer-oriented" as our purpose, providing high-quality silicone product customization and OEM/ODM services for overseas customers.

Whether it is silicone baby feeding sets, kitchen silicone products, medical silicone products or industrial silicone products, we can formulate a personalized manufacturing plan according to your needs, and use professional technology and strict quality control to create high-quality silicone products for you. If you have relevant customization needs, welcome to contact us to discuss cooperation.