LONGMONT, COLO. — Colorado Small Parts Inc., a custom injection molder of precision small parts in Longmont, is expanding its capabilities to provide in-house mold making.
President Joel C. Kiester said that being able to build molds in-house will help him provide faster turnaround times on prototype and production tooling.
``Building tooling for very small parts is different than molds for larger parts, so we wanted to bring [the mold making] in,'' he said.
New equipment for the mold shop includes an electric discharge machine, surface grinder and other auxiliary equipment. The company plans to add a computer numerically controlled machining center. The new shop should be ready by the end of the year.
Kiester said the company will also add another 1,200 square feet of space adjacent to the 3,200 square feet it currently occupies, to help accommodate the expansion.
Colorado Small Parts also offers clean room molding in a recently completed, Class 100,000 clean room with a 24-ton Boy injection molding press. The company operates three other Boy machines in its regular production environment.
The company employs six, including Sheri Peterson, a recent graduate from Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., who graduated with a degree in manufacturing engineering technology.
``Ball offers a plastics option and a computer integrated manufacturing option, and I took the plastics option,'' said Peterson. ``It's been a great experience working here.''
Peterson was an intern at the company the summer prior to her graduation.
Colorado Small Parts serves primarily the computer, computer peripheral and medical industries.