During a new consumer device production readiness evaluation, the engineering team tested a water-based lamination glue for plastic boss and contact areas. The trial glue, originally designed for paper lamination, exhibited high viscosity and severe stringing during manual dispensing, posing a significant risk for precise assembly control.

We needed to evaluate the true bonding strength on critical structural points, review actual glue transfer after physical abuse testing, and determine the exact mass production controls required for glue volume, dispensing position, and curing time to prevent assembly failure.

Instead of accepting inconsistent manual application, I led the Product Engineering lab to execute a targeted and data-driven trial study:

• Empirical Bonding Test: Ran tests on 5 samples yielding an average pull strength of 14.14 (range 8.30 – 20.30), exposing high output variance due to dispensing instability.
• Abuse & Coverage Mapping: Intentionally over-applied glue prior to assembly. Post-abuse teardowns proved that while the top boss formed a visible ring, lower bosses had uneven strength, demonstrating that coverage relied dangerously on overflow.
• Risk & Odor Assessment: Logged environmental impacts, confirming the water-based glue had no strong odor, but mandated standard Quality/EHS verification via supplier safety data sheets rather than just visual approval.

Blocked direct release to mass production based merely on visual adhesion. I established a fixed process improvement plan requiring the supplier to provide an assembly-grade formula, alongside four rigid manufacturing controls for the next trial: