Total delivered cost (TDC) is the amount of money it takes for a company to manufacture and deliver a product. The definition sounds simple enough, yet all that TDC entails — sourcing raw materials, manufacturing bulk and intermediate products, finished goods packaging, inventory holding, transportation, distribution, and final delivery — reveals its complexity and considerable impact on the bottom line.

The Kaysun Blog is a valuable year-round resource for advice and information about complex injection molding. We have our subscribers to thank for its continued popularity, and look forward to providing you with even more helpful insights throughout 2019.

For now, let’s take a look back at the four most popular blog posts of 2018:

There is little room for error when designing plastic parts for critical-use applications. Anything that could stand in the way of uncompromised performance or end-user safety is unacceptable; there’s too much at risk given the potential for significant issues surrounding recalls, warranty claims, property damage and personal injury. And, no company can afford to lose customer trust.

It can occur in just about any injection-molded part or product — yet the experienced injection molder knows how to eliminate warpage from the production cycle and maintain a steady throughput of high-quality product that meets all customer specifications, including dimensional accuracy and tight tolerances.  

Injection molded parts and components can be cost-effective solutions for projects spanning a breadth of industries, yet project budgets can quickly escalate if design flaws or tooling deficiencies lead to re-work. No OEM can afford the wasted time, money or materials, not to mention the lag in getting products to customers or to market.

For many OEMs, multi-material injection molding is a smart and versatile solution to producing complex components and parts. The ability to incorporate multiple polymers, metals and other non-plastics into the molding process to accommodate threaded holes, inserts, lenses, etc., simplifies assembly and generally enhances end-product performance.

Almost any reasonable design looks good on paper or even as a prototype, but that doesn’t mean it’s a sure thing when it comes to manufacturing it. On the other hand, using Design for Manufacturability (DfM) to improve part design, injection molding processes and material selection ensures a product or component can be manufactured in a streamlined, efficient, validated, and repeatable way — saving time and money.

There is more than one way to produce an effective plastic injection-molded part. The question is: is complex tool design the answer or is it better to utilize machining technologies to complete the task?

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.