A Trip Down Memory Lane: Raychem’s Relentless Pursuit of “Better Than Good Enough”

For this week’s trip down memory lane, we’re heading back to Des Moines, Iowa — September 1974.

Last week, I shared the results of a Raychem product evaluation involving a shrink sleeve applied to corrugated pipe. The verdict? It didn’t go particularly well.

But if there’s one thing Raychem was known for, it was thoroughness. When a company invests a significant portion of its revenue into research and development, it doesn’t walk away from a challenging application after a single setback. Quite the opposite.

So the story continues.

This time, Raychem evaluated whether a heat-shrink sleeve could successfully seal a simple corrugated pipe connection. By most accounts, the results were… okay.

And that was the problem.

“Okay” was never the goal. In fact, good enough was never good enough in Raychem’s world. If a product didn’t meet the high standards Raychem was known for in the marketplace, it simply wasn’t acceptable—regardless of whether it technically worked.

That relentless mindset—pushing past acceptable and striving for truly dependable solutions—is a big reason Raychem became the industry leader it was. And thankfully, that same philosophy still lives on today within the Henkel family of companies.

Because real innovation isn’t about settling. It’s about learning, improving, and refusing to compromise—especially in demanding, real-world applications.

Up next week: heat-shrinkable sleeves used to repair leaking gas lines. You won’t want to miss it.