Mold design and construction is a critical part of the injection molding process, and until somewhat recently, you didn’t have many options as to how you’d build your mold. Tool steel was (and remains) the most popular option, chosen for durability and machinability, and softer metals such as aluminum were sometimes used for specialized, shorter-run scenarios. The effort of creating a mold from a different material was viewed as not worth the investment, since the intensity of the injection molding process meant that molds made from other materials could only produce — at most — a few parts, if they worked at all. Different processes, like conventional machining, were thus seen as more cost-effective at such low quantities. The widespread availability of 3D printing has changed that. With more and more material options, more process expertise, and more pushing of the boundaries previously adhered to in manufacturing, 3D printing molds…

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If you’re a regular reader of our blog, you know that we like to discuss both the established tenets and best practices for injection molding, as well as the many ways in which the process — and the manufacturing industry as a whole — continues to evolve. Innovation in injection molding is an ongoing process, often tied to innovation in other processes, such as 3D printing, or advances in areas such as materials. In this piece, we’ll examine some of the latest innovations as well as the growing trends in the field. A More Engineered Approach to Design The topic of manufacturability as a design best practice is something that we’ve discussed several times in the past, so we’ve been pleased to notice that a more engineered, integrated approach to product design — with manufacturability as a key consideration — seems to be taking hold. What this means is that…

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Injection molding is, in many ways, one of the most cost-effective manufacturing processes available — that fact is one of several reasons why it’s so commonly used. Among those other reasons: versatility, relative speed, and access and availability. In this piece, however, we’re going to focus on that cost-efficiency aspect, and how to maximize it by lowering your production costs in targeted areas. The value of injection molding lies in its ability to produce a broad range of part types and designs, at scale, with a relatively fast turnaround time. We’ll look through the lens of that value to help locate areas for even greater efficiency and lower costs. When assessing areas where you might want to reduce your injection molding costs, there are two big-picture areas to consider: what you can do as a product developer or designer, and what the manufacturer can do as your production partner. While…

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