A successful injection molding project starts with the design of a product, and then the design of precision plastic injection molds. With the need for shorter lead times and better quality today nobody has time to get it wrong, so here&#;s how you can get it right.
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Plastic injection molds can be complicated to get 100% right off the bat, especially if you&#;re trying to get it done from the other side of the world. You&#;ve heard all the rumors about bad quality and cost cutting when it comes to China, and you&#;re probably scared you will get substandard products if you do place an order with a mold maker in China.
But how hard is it to get it right?
If an injection mold is correctly designed with expert drawings explicitly specifying all the tolerances, including the materials, steel grades, hardness and surface finish requirements, then a plastic injection mold can be built anywhere in the world.
True some companies have had problems in the past
Cost, it all comes down to the bottom line! Companies focus on cutting cost so much that they stare themselves blind at the actual good quality molds you can produce in China.
So why all the hype, are the Chinese dishonest?
In any business, you need to dot your I&#;s and cross your T&#;s, and you can&#;t generalize and call an entire country dishonest. As unlikely as it may sound it all comes down to communication, more precisely the breakdown of communication.
China prides themselves on producing excellent quality at the best pricing in the world, but if you don&#;t specify exactly what you require out of a mold, what materials to be used and merely accept cheap pricing for what it is, you&#;re going to burn your fingers. As the old adage goes &#;buying cheap is buying expensive.&#;
1. Know Where to Start
Firstly, you must understand that top quality molds are produced daily in China. But you need to follow a few "ground rules" to make sure you get top quality at the right price.
You must CLEARLY specify your requirements and only work with mold makers in China that you&#;ve vetted properly.
The drawings of your mold design need to be on point and drawn up by a professional, and there can be no margin for error. If you start your Chinese mold making communication and process with a well-defined drawing you've already won 90% of the battle.
Cost is key and it's all about the bottom line, but business is business!
For a plastic mold making company to quote 50% less than that of its nearest competitor for the SAME plastic injection mold, they have to cut their costs to below 50% of their competitors. This is typically reflected (or not reflected at all) in material selection, surface finishes, material hardness, lack of precision grinding of mating surfaces, and lack of close tolerances in wall thickness on thin wall products.
All of these problems can be avoided by the clear statement of specifications at the RFQ stage. The problem with obtaining quotes from mold makers in China is that when rigorous specifications are required, the price differential between quality mold makers (irrespective of global location) becomes minimal.
The total cost of ownership when outsourcing plastic injection molds should reflect all of the costs associated with testing and ultimately accepting a mold produced in a foreign country, and the additional precautions required to ensure that no technical errors are made because of language barriers.
There are a large variety of standard mold makers in China, and the most difficult thing is to choose the best fitting mold maker for a company from the onset. This can be a tedious process, and sometimes the results can be somewhat underwhelming.
Don&#;t despair!
Even though it&#;s relatively easy to find a trusted, well-known mold maker in Germany, UK, Japan or the US, finding a mold maker in China worth their salt (with reasonable pricing) is not as difficult as you might think.
In a previous blog, we looked at debunking the Bad Quality "Made in China" Myths, outlining why the stigma around this can be seen as misconstrued.
But for now let&#;s move on to what you can do to ensure world class molds, and keep them safe.
2. Make 100% Sure That You Own the Mold and Any Rights for That Mold
If you&#;re shipping the mold overseas, you will take possession of the mold, but still, there are areas you need to be very clear on with your Chinese mold makers, like complete ownership, IP, etc. However, if you&#;re producing with a factory in China it is critical you make sure that the mold makers understand that YOU own the physical mold.
Firstly - you need to make it clear to the manufacturer/factory in China can only use the molds for producing your products and that they can&#;t produce any products for a third party using your mold or mold designs.
Secondly - you need to make sure that if you want to move your mold at any point in time to a different factory, that the receiving facility will have the right to take possession of the molds and that you can freely move them to a new location.
Why would they try to keep your mold?
Chinese manufacturers have a strong incentive to keep your molds and prevent foreign buyers from moving to a new location or factory. In a lot of cases, the mold embodies most or all of the IP in the product.
With some products, the interior mechanism is based entirely on open source hardware. The exterior enclosure around the mechanism is, therefore, the primary protectable IP for the product. The intellectual property lies entirely in the molds used to manufacture the product case.
The outside &#;appearance&#; of the enclosure then becomes the ID of the product, and if that &#;appearance&#; isn&#;t protected, you will own NOTHING at all in the IP of the product. Without that IP in the mold protected, the Chinese factories can copy the product as they see fit.
On the other hand, in some products, the form embodies in the mold holds the entire value of the product. One example could be that of a single part used in an extremely complex engine, like that of a jet engine. After all the designing, engineering and testing is complete what will you be left with? A single part produced by casting into single or multiple molds.
In this instance, the molds embody the entire intellectual property for that part. In short, whoever owns or controls the IP in the molds is essentially in complete control of the product, so you can see why this is a crucial aspect of mold making in China.
What happens if the IP isn't defined?
If NOBODY owns any of the IP in the molds, they are then effectively classified as an open source, which means nobody owns any of the IP in the molds or for the product, which is a scary place to be. And the Chinese factories have figured this out which can make protecting your molds quite hard.
This means when you&#;re drawing up an agreement with the mold maker you can&#;t focus solely on ownership but have to consider the IP in the mold as well.
What Can You Do to Prevent Trouble Further On?
For one, speak to the experts to advise you don&#;t need to reinvent the wheel. For more info on the legal aspects and your understanding thereof you can read this short article from the China Law Blog &#;Product Molds And Tooling In China: Three Things You Must Do to Hang on to Yours.&#;
3. Your or a Trusted Third Party Should Be Present at the Mold Testing
The proof of the pudding is in the eating!
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Once the molds have been manufactured they have to be tested PROPERLY, reports filed, feedback is given on the outcome, and most important of all any faults or parameter fails needs to be rectified.
To do this, the mold is mounted onto adequately sized injection molding machines, set up for an optimized injection cycle, and launched for a limited production run with all the parameters of a full production intent operation.
This allows you to inspect the tools under real performance situations, fine tune its settings, and generate a complete report of findings including the points that need adjustment or improvement and tool modifications for a trouble-free operation that affords the mold a maximum lifespan.
It&#;s critical that yourself or a representative of your company be present and in most cases a third party QC company with a track record in experience to be present and advise on the outcomes of the mold testing.
You can NOT leave this in the hands of the manufacturer
The final steps in testing the mold can make a world of difference where the difference in success and failure is measured in micro-millimeters, and there&#;s no substitute for experience in this regard.
Make Sure You Request the Following from Your Mold Maker
- Verifiable references
- Origin of Steel with accompanying chemical analysis report
- Overall Capital investment of the mold maker (this must be made available from manufacturers, if the capital investment is on the weak side, less than a few million, it will indicate a small time operation.) A company's online presence can sometimes be misleading
- Are they an OEM or are they the middle man?
- Previous quality reports if available
- Quality System guides
- Case Studies of previous work
- Capabilities - do they outsource or is everything done in-house
- Capacity and lead time at the date of wanting to place your Purchase Order
We hope you find the information in this blog will set you on the path to source the best mold makers in China.
Do you have any questions about manufacturing molds in China? Any cautionary tales of your mold making stories in China? Please feel free to leave a comment below
One last note from the horse&#;s mouth:
&#;&#;I set up and managed a plastic injection mold and precision mold component manufacturing company in Shenzhen for four years. There are many reasons why it is difficult to get a quality product built there. While we were able to train our Chinese makers to do US quality work to 'tenths', it was not a quick and easy process and we had to be continuously vigilant as they would slip into the old ways if we were not watching. My simple advice in every circumstance would be to prove the product by complete inspection before it leaves China.&#; - &#;Huber&#;
What are some questions to ask before buying a mold in China?
Can you make a product that can meet my production requirements?
Can you achieve tight tolerances?
How many machines do you have?
Are you working with an experienced and professional team?
Do you provide prototyping services?
Do you have high-cavitation molds?
Whether you&#;re a private individual running a startup or a large industry dependent on OEM plastic injection-molded tools, you need to make sure that you&#;re partnering with the right molding company in China. There are certain questions to ask before buying a mold in China that can help you identify if you&#;re collaborating with the right company.
One thing you should prioritize is that you should be able to choose a company that can meet a number of your requirements. Not only will they help in providing you a mold that achieves tight tolerances, but they can also bring you the best outcomes when it comes to operational efficiency, practicality, and high-volume needs.
With all of these in mind, you have to know what you&#;re looking for in a plastic injection company. Before buying a mold, understand if that company is capable of meeting your production requirements, has the right machinery to perform the job, provides a range of prototyping services, and the like. Continue reading to learn more.
Can You Make A Product That Can Meet Your Production Requirements?
The first question you should ask before you choose a company that can supply you with an injection mold is if they have the capabilities to meet your production volume requirements.
Of course, you&#;ll get different answers depending on the industry you belong to. If your business is focused on the distribution of consumer goods, such as beverages or packed cosmetics, you need a reliable mold manufacturer that can perform production levels that reach a billion metric tons or more, each year.
Alternatively, if your business is involved in the manufacture of larger equipment, such as automotive parts or heavy machinery, see to it that your mold-maker in China can consistently dedicate their efforts to producing high-quality molds of these products.
Can You Achieve Tight Tolerances?
When you have already conceptualized your mold, you&#;ll likely have an idea of the dimensions of each part and component. As much as possible, when you have your idea actualized into a plastic injection-molded product, you want the final outcome to be as close to the prototype, or the concept, as possible.
To make sure that you buy a mold that has all of these standards, ask your molding company if they can achieve tight tolerances in their manufacturing processes. Typical injection molding companies usually set a threshold of Computer Numerical Control (CNC) tolerance of +/&#; 0.005 inches. Likewise, they should also be able to accommodate tighter tolerances, as specified by your molding requirements.
How Many Machines Do You Have?
The quality and type of equipment that your chosen mold manufacturer has, are just as important as their experience in the industry. As such, you have to choose a company that uses different types of equipment at varying capacities.
One of the factors affecting the size of injection molded parts is the platen size. Ask if your company&#;s machines can support different mold thicknesses, fast injection molding rate, resin variety, and heavy plastic weight.
To know the best machines available for your mold needs, choose a company that houses multiple units of equipment. For example, they may have a single unit for their -TON equipment, but for smaller molds, their facility may also house 8 units of a 150-TON machine, 6 units of a 90-TON machine, and the like.
Are You Working With An Experienced And Professional Team?
Years of experience and professionalism are two other things to look for in your mold supplier. As much as possible, you&#;ll want to choose a company that has more than a decade of experience behind them. They should have adequate knowledge not just when it comes to injection molding, but also in prototyping and manufacturing of different products. Every tool and equipment used in their production processes should be constantly maintained, updated for new developments, and quality-assured to come up with high-grade injection mold products.
Do You Provide Prototyping Services?
If you&#;re conceptualizing the next big plastic product in the market, you want to make sure that it functions according to your intentions. This is why many mold-making companies also invest in rapid prototyping, wherein the customer will get a concrete mold of the product, make refinements or modify it to correct any defects.
Ask if your mold manufacturer also conducts rapid prototyping for their injection mold processes. Prototyping is a low-cost and practical alternative compared to tool-making because the materials are relatively available. You can also request your manufacturer to have a similar end-product reverse-engineered to see what you can learn from your competitors in improving your mold design.
Do You Have High-Cavitation Molds?
Although injection molding is a simple process, the lead time may vary on the type of mold. If your business values efficiency, especially in the production of multiple molds in a single-shot, then you need to ask your mold maker if their machines have support for high-cavitation molds.
High-cavitation molds are ideal if you belong to healthcare, biopharmaceutical, food & beverage, or any industry that relies on high-precision production of multiple molds all at once. Ensure that your mold maker can guarantee quality even in single-shot moldings.
Key Takeaway
In this guide, we&#;ve outlined six questions to ask before buying a mold in China. You have to find out if your mold manufacturer can supply you with high-quality molds at a short turnaround time.
More than just that, they should be implementing all the latest equipment and technology to achieve high-precision products, no matter for low-cavity or high-cavity molds. Finally, with an available prototyping service, your molding company in China can guarantee that the product you&#;ll end up with is suitable to be distributed to the wider market and end-users.
Looking for a high-quality mold maker in China? Richfields Plastic has answers to all of your questions. Click here to view a list of their products and services. You may also contact them to request a quote or to find more information about mold making.
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