Mistakes have always been around: the world is flat and the sun revolves around the earth— to name a few. The world of manufacturing is no different with its own false beliefs. Today we have the mistakes that aluminum tooling is “junk tooling or for prototypes only”. […]
As 2010 comes to a close, Americans are still struggling with a high unemployment rate, low consumer confidence, declining house prices and an uncomfortably high level of uncertainty about the future. However to be fair, the manufacturing sector did improve when compared with last year, […]
According to Steven,president of First-rate mold solution comany ,the following are the most important steps to take when developing and implementing a business continuity plan. But before beginning the planning process, consider identifying a primary “go-to” person to lead the effort, advised by a team of cross-functional managers that represent the business as a whole. [...]
We are all familiar with the phrase “the world is getting smaller.” However, it is not just that the world is getting smaller; practically everything we use is getting smaller. […]
Every mold has a price—the figure quoted to you on the bottom line of the RFO. That price is a “good faith” estimate and includes the hard costs of design time, raw materials, mold components, programming and machining time. […]
Shop design is as subjective a topic as the tools in a craftsman’s box. Past experience and personal preference are the main ingredients to a floor plan that is normally dictated by the space you have been allotted and the machine tools and other equipment you have to include into the layout. […]
The idea of improving mold performance and maintenance efficiency is an easy buy in for anyone in the molding business. Actually doing it is another matter. The distance between rhetoric and practice continues to grow as companies talk incessantly about the need to improve maintenance and mold reliability, and then bicker over the burden of [...]
How many times have you received a 2-D drawing that was created from a 3-D model, only to then spend days recreating it in your CAD or CAM system? To me, all of the back and forth seems a little ridiculous. Engineers are designing parts or assemblies in 3-D CAD and then spending hours creating [...]
Most business leaders in manufacturing will agree that the economic recovery has been in progress for many months. Proposal activity is surging and orders are beginning to roll in again for the strong companies that have survived. […]
Hot runners have long made processing more efficient and cost effective while improving part quality. However, in cleanroom applications, those benefits have been offset by the need to use pneumatic hot runners with slower response times and weaker closing forces. […]