Accede Mold & Tool Co. Inc. of Rochester, N.Y., is expanding its pre-production capability to mold miniature parts and plans to establish a facility in Spartanburg, S.C., by year's end. The mold builder will purchase a 30-ton press for micromolding but has not chosen the maker, President Al Fox said by telephone Jan. 4.
"Some parts are too small for the barrel capacity we have in our 80-ton" machine, a Van Dorn rotary two-shot press acquired in mid-1998, Fox said.
Three other Van Dorns have clamping forces of 120, 230 and 400 tons. All four existing units have gas-assist capability.
Recently, Accede received several major, multiyear turnkey programs involving tooling, debugging and two-shot molding, mostly on customer-owned presses in Accede's test and research lab.
A Tier 1 automotive supplier has placed a 300-ton vertical press at Accede. The job includes applying polymers to a metal terminal and overmolding with a thermoplastic elastomer. The customer will use the molds on five other presses elsewhere.
A medical-industry supplier will cycle eight horizontal presses through Accede by the end of May. Accede will ship each 250-ton, two-shot press and its mold set to the customer after four to six weeks of development work.
Accede intends to establish a South Carolina site with some of the firm's services such as sales, sampling, inspection, debugging and fast prototypes. About 70 percent of Accede's customers are outside the state of New York.
Fox aims for an initial structure of 10,000-12,000 square feet on acreage suitable for expansion. The firm currently has a sales office in Greenville, S.C.
Accede may set up a similar satellite operation in Tucson, Ariz., in two or three years, said Fox, who founded the business in 1981. He would like a site in Missouri within five years.
Accede employs about 100, including mold makers and 20 designers. The firm occupies 40,000 square feet.