Design teams are always trying to come up with something better—better shapes and designs, better performance, better materials, and most importantly, a better cost. If there's a way to give their product an edge over the competition, the design team will do everything they can to incorporate it into their process and product.  

For OEMs that use metal as their primary material, it’s likely they’re very happy with the parts they’re producing. There are a number of key benefits to using metal components, and if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right?

There is no question that manufacturing complex parts takes injection molding to a much higher level. More knowledge, skill and expertise are required, as well as sophisticated infrastructure, equipment and environmental controls.

The degree of specialization surrounding complex part molding means that not every molder is proficient in or can even offer this service. Here are four key areas to explore to ensure a molder's capabilities align with your injection molding needs.

Always have a Plan B. That’s something we’re taught early-on in life, but the truth is, it’s easy to become complacent and not have a backup plan. For manufacturers, this can be particularly risky since, so often, unanticipated events out of their direct control on the supply side of production can cause turmoil.

Snap-fit designs can be an effective way to replace fasteners/hardware in injection-molded plastic parts or products. For most applications, snap-fit connections are the simplest and most cost-effective way to assemble two parts — making them ideal for high-volume production. The quick and easy connections help reduce the risk of improper assembly, which occurs more frequently in applications that require more components (fasteners) and tools.

May 7-11 found thousands of professionals from across the plastics industry and all of its vertical markets gathered at NPE2018: The Plastics Show (NPE®) — the world’s leading plastics trade show and conference.

Among plastic injection molders, there can often be a tradeoff between their ability to custom manufacture parts on an individual basis and their capability to automate the production process for high-volume cost-efficiency. The reality is that, with the proper injection molding partner, automation and its associated benefits can be within the grasp of companies even if they have smaller production runs. Here are three ways that injection molding automation can help level the playing field among manufacturers:

In Part 1 of our short blog series, we discussed the differences between today’s thermoplastics and liquid silicone rubber (LSR) thermoset resins, as well as their common advantages, disadvantages, and applications. In Part 2, we’ll talk about some of the up-and-coming plastic materials making their way onto the injection molding scene, specifically carbon fiber composites and bioplastics.

The plastics industry has been experiencing rapid growth since 2015. In that time, there have been numerous improvements to the materials, technology, and processes used, benefiting both manufacturers and consumers alike. The development of stronger, more lightweight plastics and thermoplastics has been one of the driving forces of growth, along with the use of recycled plastics and greener processes.