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Partnering August, 2015 Profiting with Full Capacity Injection Molders By Ed Sullivan
finding that they can gain significant competitive advantages when they do business with a domestic shop that offers a full spectrum of services under one roof. Among those poten- tial advantages are: improved mold design, lower cost of ownership for that tooling, more consistent product quality, faster deliveries and more flexible volume requirements. In addition, injection molders
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that provide part design assistance and prototyping can ensure a more efficient and often lower cost manu- facturing process. It can also help eliminate the expense and downtime involved in making alterations to tooling due to design issues with the original mold. Although not all shops offer
flexible volume requirements, there are those that position themselves to provide volumes ranging from hun- dreds to many thousands of injec- tion-molded parts on an economical basis, enabling manufacturers to test market or roll-out their products with lower initial investments. Injection molders that have in- house tool rooms and mold design
anufacturers that use injec- tion molders to produce com- ponents or assemblies are
specialists enable manufacturers to work with the same people from con- cept to completion, which makes tool- ing production more efficient and eliminates the “blame game” of hav- ing to deal with multiple vendors. It also enables the tooling specialists to develop the molds specifically for the products they will produce, and to ensure that molds will meet cost and lifespan requirements. “Tooling is a sizable investment
to begin with, so it is highly advanta- geous to work with an injection mold- ing company that can assist with the initial design as well as handling the production and maintenance of molds on a long-term basis,” says Jake Carse, founder of Fikkes Sport- ing Goods, Vancouver, Washington. “I believe it is particularly im-
portant to be able to get personal as- sistance on tooling from the injection molder at the design stage of our products,” Carse says. “I approached our supplier, Rex Plastics, with an initial drawing that was done by hand. It was rather rough but con- veyed the basic concept behind the product design. As a first step, the in- jection molder took that sketch and was able to turn it into a 3D Auto- CAD file. From that point we went
back and forth on various design fac- tors, particularly the functionality of our product. When that was settled, which was fairly quickly, they were able to complete the design and pro- duction of the mold.” Carse adds that it is also impor-
tant that the injection molder can manage any changes in tooling that may be necessary due to evolutions in the design of an OEM’s product, and do so on an economical basis. Rex Plastics, Inc. (Vancouver
Washington), Fikkes injection mold- ing vendor, is a supplier of thermo- plastic and renewable biopolymer products. The company has a full- service in-house tooling department that provides customers with rela- tively inexpensive mold design and production, including modifications, all of which are aimed at providing quick turnaround and minimal downtimes.
Design Collaboration Greg Nuber, Sales Manager at
Big Blok LLC, says that supplier col- laboration with the injection molder on tooling design was an essential re- quirement for his company. Big Blok manufactures contain-
ers from high quality LDPE (Low Den- sity Polyethylene) designed for supply- ing items such as water, fuel and grain during emergency relief efforts. The lid for these interlocking containers, which range in size from 10 gallons up to 37 gallons, is made of thermoplastic and provided by Rex Plastics. “Because our Big Blok contain-
ers are used for emergency relief, we anticipate that the loading and ship- ping and then unloading and dis- pensing of supplies put into the con- tainers will all be done under ad- verse conditions,” Nuber explains. “Therefore, the design and construc- tion of the container lid is of vital im- portance. And that was a major crite- rion in determining our selection of our injection molder. When we creat- ed our current lid, we had to create a new mold. It was very complex, so the injection molder took charge of the design work and told us what we should look for, and then reviewed the detailed drawings with us. It was a very comprehensive process.” As an example of its standard
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design collaboration, Rex Plastics provides a free design evaluation, and then recommends either “design for manufacturing” expertise (at no cost to fine-tune the customer’s prod- uct), or will quote a more extensive re-design if that is required to get the product ready for manufacturing.
Secondary Services Another important in-house ca-
pability that some domestic injection molders offer is that of secondary services. These can range from color printing, 3D printing, ultrasonic welding and drilling and tapping of molded parts to a variety of assembly procedures. In the case of Fikkes, Jake Carse says that his injection molder provided the secondary serv-
ice of installing a metal insert into the first run of the Fly Hiker Trekking Pole. “Having our molding supplier
handle that at the beginning helped us get our first products out the door more efficiently,” Carse explains.
Flexible Volume Requirements As an adjunct to in-house de-
sign and production capabilities, many OEMs — particularly smaller and mid-size manufacturers — find it highly advantageous to deal with in- jection molders that offer flexibility in pricing and services. Smaller com- panies, and start-ups in particular, may not be experienced enough to fully anticipate the complexities of tooling design and the volume and cost commitments that are involved in doing business with many injec- tion molders. However, some shops offer greater latitude on those tooling and injection molding volume re- quirements, plus some other al- lowances that can be very helpful to smaller manufacturers. Rex Plastics, for example, pro-
vides a lifetime guarantee of the molds they produce as well as a rebate on the cost of design and prototypes for cus- tomers who utilize its tooling and in- jection molding processes. This suppli- er also has flexible volume require- ments with no minimums. “If your supplier is flexible on the
costs of tooling and volume require- ments, you have a much greater op- portunity to test your ideas,” says Carse. That is because you’re not sit- ting on so much inventory and so much of an investment that you can’t afford to try to modify and improve your product.” Carse says it is very difficult to
get this type of flexibility from over- seas vendors. He feels that high vol- ume requirements, protracted turn- around times, and design limitations due to communication challenges can devastate the profit incentives for sourcing overseas. “I believe it’s pretty tough to do
business overseas without losing money - at least initially,” he explains. “It may be appealing when you first look at it, probably because it appears to be cheaper. But in my experience in getting work such as injection molding done overseas it has not really been less expensive; it has been at least the same cost . . . plus more headaches and longer turnaround times.” Conversely, if the injection
molder offers lower, more flexible pricing for tooling along with lower volume requirements — perhaps be- ginning with production of as few as 100 items — small businesses and even inventors can afford to develop or test market their products without making an overwhelming invest-
ment, Carse advises. Contact: Rex Plastics, Inc.,
12515 NE 95th Street, Vancouver, WA 98682 % 800-839-0366 or 360- 892-0366 fax: 360-892-1507 E-mail:
service@rexplastics.com Web:
www.rexplastics.com r
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