Like injection and transfer, compression molded rubber parts and components are used in a variety of markets and applications. Some of these parts have a metallic insert that have the rubber bonded to a metallic insert that adds dimensional stability to the friction, sealing, or flexibility of the rubber surface. Compression lends itself well to small production runs and prototyping.

Compression molds and equipment are generally simpler in design and less expensive that those for either injection or transfer and have correspondingly lower overheads. Because the rubber preform is at ambient temperature when placed in the mold and sees less work on and flow of the material and than injection and transfer molding, the compression process generally requires longer time in the heated mold for complete crosslinking to occur. It is therefore slower and best suitable for smaller parts, lower volume production quantities and prototyping.

Most rubber compounds can be compression molded without process difficulty or special consideration. The end usage determines the design requirements and when an existing formula is not available that meets the design criteria, the chemist develops a compound to do so.