It’s been a busy 2025 for us at Apple Rubber. While we have plenty planned for 2026, we thought we’d reflect on just three of our favorite accomplishments and events from the past year. Between continuing our commitment to sustainability and attending trade shows in California and Germany, we’ve had quite a year.
Recapping MD&M West 2025
This past February marked our annual attendance at the Medical Design and Manufacturing (MD&M) West in Anaheim, California, which is one of the leading trade shows for medical component manufacturers. During the event, we saw many of our current customers and gained new leads from potential customers interested in working on new medical equipment projects. Our booth was a popular attraction; many attendees complimented our website (applerubber.com) and appreciated how easy our O-Ring Gland Calculator is to use.
We also received praise for our video in which we sent customized o-rings to Alaska for conservation researchers to capture vocalizations and behaviors of endangered beluga whales in an attempt to improve their survivability. As an extension of that video, we brought to MD&M West whale-shaped rubber keychains with a QR code that, once scanned, brings up that video for viewing. We handed out many keychains and were happy to bring the message of our Alaskan accomplishments to Anaheim.
This year sparked discussions about reshoring products due to recent political and economic trade policies. Apple Rubber was pleased to tell attendees that, while we offer some offshore options, all of our medical-grade materials and products are manufactured in our facility in New York. This allows us to maintain better control and higher quality standards, resulting in improved products and greater customer satisfaction.
Adding to this is our ability to produce liquid silicone rubber (LSR) in our Class 10,000 cleanroom and with our rubber injection molding machines. These give us a competitive edge over our offshore partners by reducing overhead costs and enhancing quality. We also increased our production to over 80% US-made products. This made for a very successful 2025 MD&M West show, and we look forward to returning in 2026.
Our Renewed Sustainability Pledge
Here at Apple Rubber, sustainability has always been integrated into our day-to-day operations. Our commitment to building a sustainable future through manufacturing processes and material choices centers on four key areas: environmental stewardship, social responsibility, ethical governance, and innovation for sustainability. We created a convenient place to read about our practices through our Sustainability page, found under the “About” tab on our website.
An example of what you can find on the Sustainability page is our key performance indicators (KPIs) between year-over-year metrics and goals; its current iteration compares 2024 to 2025. As we grow our annual production sales, we also aim to improve environmental sustainability. Our KPIs include measures of total and renewable energy consumption; weight of hazardous, non-hazardous, and recycled waste; and total water consumption along with amounts of water recycled and reused.
We also aim to increase our production sales at a faster rate than our total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Our 2025 goals build upon our estimated 2024 metrics as calculated by EcoVadis’ Carbon Calculator. These emissions are categorized into three “Scopes”: Scope 1 includes direct emissions from our own sources; Scope 2 covers indirectly produced energy; and Scope 3 encompasses purchased goods and end-of-life product disposal. All of this reflects our comprehensive commitment to a sustainable future for everyone.
Our Annual Journey to Germany
Late this year, we went to the 2025 CompaMed/Medica show in Düsseldorf, Germany. For those unaware, CompaMed focuses on medical component suppliers, and Medica showcases medical devices like ultrasound systems; these two trade shows form CompaMed/Medica. This year marked our 17th year at CompaMed; we spent five years before at the MD&M in Stuttgart, Germany.
This trade show lets us connect with familiar customers and introduce ourselves to new companies. Even away from the show, we were able to build strong relationships with residents throughout the city. Part of this comes from our European division customers engaging in strong design projects, with many of the prototypes being built in the United States.
Our presence at CompaMed/Medica was bolstered by our ever-increasing capabilities for the medical industry. An example is our MicrOrings®; these are o-rings less than one millimeter in size, and are used for sealing in new medical instruments. We also started using new NELA inspection machines for significantly reduced costs, as well as enhancing our LSR processing with new ARBURG electric injection machines; implementing ELMET LSR pumping units to ensure accuracy; and adding a high-speed computer numerical control (CNC) machining center in our in-house tool shop to create precision molds.
Let Us Help You in 2026
With the new year comes new challenges. If you need o-rings or are planning on starting a project, contact us. We’d love to help you out.