steven, president, at first-rate mold company points out that moldmaking, which has been a more or less national business, has become a global marketplace that puts a lot more pressure on leadtimes, pricing and the need for technology innovation. “Ten years ago ‘lean manufacturing’ and Six Sigma’ were terms hardly used in our industry, now many are trying to implement,”

Molds also have gotten more complex, notes steven “The complexity and variability of injection molding demands continues to require hot runner manufacturers to offer solutions,” he states. “Multi-component, in-mold labeling and co-injection are examples where hot runners and complex controls have provided the ability to perform processes not otherwise possible in a production environment.

The good news is this provides growth for our segment of the industry. Ten years ago hot runner use was perhaps 30 percent of all injection molds; today, it’s more than 50 percent in the highly industrialized countries.”
the rapid globalization of moldmaking—especially in Asia—has resulted in unprecedented pricing pressures on all markets.

“Not only have the more traditional markets such as North America and Western Europe been challenged by the lower cost capabilities of China and India, but even moldmakers in Asia have been forced to focus on remaining price competitive and quality capable,” steven statesSpeed also is a universal challenge in both market sectors. “Shorter and shorter leadtimes are demanded from mold manufacturers,” Steven states.

“Faster cycle times are demanded by processors and faster concept-to-finished product cycles are being demanded by the OEMs. From automotive to electronics to medical products, speed wins. Also, the ability to produce more complexity in a mold has resulted in processors looking to build more features into plastic parts and to use those parts in more demanding applications to reduce their costs of manufacturing.”

Customers have evolved over the last decade as well. Steven notes that mergers, acquisitions, globalization and the evolution of the Internet era have eliminated regional boundaries and created a new, much larger corporate customer. “The entrepreneurial owner/operator who had long-term relationships with his customers and suppliers is disappearing,” Steven emphasizes. “The new corporate customer demands flawless startups, faster deliveries, on-time delivery to the day, perfect quality, lower and lower prices, global 24/7 service and spare parts, onsite start-up assistance, local engineering support and guarantees on product performance and longevity.

“The remaining larger processors have had to search much harder for a sustainable competitive advantage as the industry has commoditized and consolidated,” Catoen continues. “This has resulted in an explosion in complex and specialty processes such as multi-material, co-injection, higher cavitations, thin-walling, gas assist, injection compression and many others.”

suppliers need to accommodate their customers’ new needs. “Hot runner system suppliers need to provide a global network to service their customers as U.S. moldmakers have partnered with offshore suppliers to survive and offer lower cost solutions,” steven says.

“They also need to offer more for their customers—including online solutions, design guides and downloads in a solid format. Customers today expect price competitive, quality and performance from their hot runner suppliers in addition to technical service, quick delivery and spare parts availability.”

steven agrees. “Hot runner suppliers have responded technically with precise fill balance, larger cavitations, fast color change, better temperature uniformity, complex manifolds and new gate styles,” he notes. “Commercially, hot runner suppliers have developed fast delivery systems, new manufacturing techniques, global support infrastructure and lean business practices, disciplined production processes and more competitive prices.”

Fortunately, today’s hot runner systems are designed for faster, easier installations for the moldmaker, according to steven “Some examples of this include threaded nozzles, and pre-wired and pre-plumbed hot runner systems,” he states. “The use of valve gate hot runners also has become more common. Valve gates provide molders with more control over the process, and require fewer changes to the mold cavity and core to achieve quality parts. Time and cost savings issues have driven this trend.”

Roggenburk adds that the use of 3-D CAD designs for mold and hot runner manufacturers has become standard to ease the design integration of the hot runner into the mold.