The success of the mold manufacturer is due to its ability to deliver high quality products in the shortest possible time and at the lowest possible cost. Here are some best practices for mold design that will help you achieve these goals.

 Thinking process rather than Features

Many times, the company invests in a new technology, but finds that their new “toy” only shifts the production bottleneck from one stage to another. To truly change business outcomes, companies must first establish a streamlined process that covers all deliverables and milestones – from the initial offer to the final product. The inputs and outputs of each step in the process, as well as the quality expectations and the added value of the finished product, need to be clearly identified. Once the entire process has been determined, they can be considered based on the impact of specific techniques and methods on the outcome of the process, rather than on the most recent details.

The design process is 30% to 40% faster than in the past, and even two to three times faster on some molds. The process from design to manufacturing is smoother, shortening our delivery dates, making us more efficient and improving quality. I know this affects our bottom line. We can take on more business because we don’t spend as much time on design.

Everything starts with a quote

The quotation is the lifeline of the company. This is also the first time to process part data in the store. Adding common design criteria and strategies to the quotation process—for example, material shrinkage parameters,
part rotation and tip position, and what standard components will be used—will ensure that the quotation reflects how the design and engineering will do the job.

The person who performs the tooling quotation is a designer with many years of experience. When we receive an RFQ, we evaluate the data and look for anything that could cause tool manufacturing problems or may cause part appearance problems so that we can provide immediate feedback to our customers.

3D design is the mainstream

The use of 3D solid design greatly simplifies standardization and synchronization between design and manufacturing, reduces errors, speeds up delivery, and achieves more reliable results. Working in a 3D solid allows many manufacturing problems to be predetermined, allowing the designer to detect potential collisions, verify correct shrinkage values, and determine if the parting surface is manufacturable. With 3D technology, a complete, detailed, and consistent model is maintained throughout the design and manufacturing process, so changes from design to manufacturing and assembly can be combined quickly and reliably.

No one wants to look at the 2D model again. People in the workshop want to see exactly what they are building, and customers want to see exactly what they are getting. Some of the very large and very complex molds we make today have more than 800 parts and weigh more than 40 tons. We may not even be able to handle these types of work in a 2D environment.

Concurrent engineering

Concurrent engineering can greatly reduce mold design time because multiple design tasks can be performed simultaneously. For example, one designer may work on one side of the cavity while another designer may work on the core side, or one designer may complete the spray when another design header and hot drop, or When the designer finished the waterline, another designer began pulling the electrodes. Manufacturing and assembly work can begin with design details not yet determined, further reducing product delivery time.

Since no conversion is required between design and manufacturing, the changes in the design are automatically updated and the tool path is marked to show any changes. Machine operators can view tool paths and clearly understand the production process, eliminating the need for excessive documentation. In the assembly area, tool manufacturers can access data online, perform preliminary inspections and verify dimensions, saving valuable engineering time.

The importance of standardization

Standardization can go a long way toward improving the quality of work, reducing delivery time and costs. Creating a rich mold library and related components can be easily reused in new tools, which simplifies the design process and leaves less room for errors. Standard components and user-defined templates that can be applied with a single click minimize the time on repetitive tasks, facilitating consistency between different jobs and consistency between designers.

Each mold has some unique features, but if we can standardize or automate 60 or 70%, then we concentrate time on high value for our customers. Milling templates allow us to make small ones while machining new parts. Change, which greatly simplifies the machining process. Now we can make a mold in a day or two.

Motion simulation is important for mold design

Designing moving objects in a static CAD environment is a challenge that mold designers have faced for years. Today, advanced motion simulation technology provides designers with a complete visual representation of mold kinematics and comprehensive collision detection, including automatic identification of mold components such as lifts, sliders and ejector. By building a realistic dynamic tool view in a CAD environment, designers can prevent common mistakes and improve communication with customers.