Plastic Molding Technology Inc. of El Paso, Texas, invested about $500,000 for three more all-electric presses, a machining center and a three-dimensional printer.
To meet production quality demands, the custom injection molder began operating the three 55-ton Toshiba EC55SX molding machines in November and discontinued use of eight presses, each in service for more than 15 years.
PMT said cycle dry time is 20 percent faster with each new press.
Now, PMT utilizes 59 injection molding machines including 29 electrics. Clamping force range is 40-390 tons.
PMT acquired a ProtoTRAK SMX model machining center from Southwestern Industries Inc. of Rancho Dominguez, Calif. The center boosts in-house tool room capabilities for repair and engineering changes and can function automatically.
The da Vinci 1.0 fused deposition modeling 3-D printer from XYZprinting Inc. of San Diego facilitates PMT's additive manufacturing of prototype samples.
PMT holds ISO 9001:2008 and ISO/TS 16949:2009 quality certifications and annually molds more than 150 million parts and components including gears, bushings, bobbins, lamp sockets and knobs.
PMT employs 110, occupies 60,000 square feet and projects 2014 sales of about $15 million.
In June, strategy consulting and research firm Frost & Sullivan named PMT as winner of a transformation of manufacturing award for companies with sales of less than $1 billion. In March 2013, Plastics News recognized PMT with a PN Excellence Award for customer relations.
