Fast-growing MTD Micro Molding is investing about $250,000 for the basic construction of a 1,200-square-foot, Class 8 clean room with capacity for eight molding cells.
The project in Charlton, Mass., uses internal space that previously held some of MTD's older tooling equipment. A server-based material-handling system will verify every incoming item via barcode scan or photo comparison, and a grinding room will control graphite dispersal.
“We are the general contractor and use local vendors,” said Dennis Tully, owner and president. “We have learned who is good with what and put them together.”
The current plan calls for completion in January, but “we could finish in November,” he noted. MTD is working on a delivery schedule for new Sodick presses.
On a 4-acre footprint, the facility occupies 16,000 square feet, but Tully expects expansion in a few years.
“In establishing our last clean room, we anticipated three to five years [to capacity], but it was full in six months,” he said.
Currently, MTD runs nine 20-ton Sodick presses in three Class 8 clean rooms.
In its research and development area, MTD is doing tests with its first 20-ton Sodick liquid-silicone-rubber injection molding machine, with plans to use it in a lights-out operation.
“We are learning what we can do with it,” Tully said.
MTD, founded in 1972 as Miniature Tool & Die, also has an older, 7-ton Nissei that it intends to sell.
MTD employs 22 — “we just added another” — including 10 mold makers and specialists in computer numerically controlled production of tools, mostly for internal use.
Tully would not disclose MTD sales but said they have grown, on average, 40 percent a year since July 2007.