Wadal Plastics Inc., a custom injection molder with plants in Medford, Wis., and El Paso, Texas, adopted technology from Beaumont Technologies Inc. of Erie, Pa., and Moldflow Corp. of Wayland, Mass.
Wadal made the investment to mold a two-part electrical switching box for a major appliance product line. The company has been molding 400,000 of more parts a year for the major customer.
Because of the nature of the complicated molding operation, there was not much room to reduce costs. The existing program involved molding two individual parts—a snap-together top and bottom switching box—in two four-cavity molds on Milacron injection presses. The complex shapes are molded from a 33 percent glass-fiber filled polypropylene.
The engineers' solution was to combine the existing A&B side inserts from both four-cavity molds into a single, eight-cavity mold to make both parts at the same time. That would reach the cost target, but Wadal faced the inherent quality risks of using a family mold.
Beaumont Technologies provided a combination of products and services, including computer aided engineering mold filling analysis service, the MeltFlipper melt rotation technology and a software program called the 5-Step Process for debugging and commissioning molds. The result was balanced mold filling and higher mold efficiencies, allowing Wadal to reduce the part price.
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