Update is in process for mold buyers guide

The plastic industry's guide for buying molds is getting an update after nearly 25 years.

The 21-page document — officially called "Customs and Practices of the Moldmaking Industry" — offers best practices for every facet of procuring a mold, which typically costs $10,000 for prototyping to $500,000 if complex tooling is needed for high cavitation.

First issued in the early 1980s, the guide was prepared by the mold makers division of the Society of the Plastics Industry, now called the Plastics Industry Association, to share "important points" for prospective mold buyers to consider as they go through a process that isn't always straightforward and surely hasn't been commoditized as routine.

Although common practices are followed, mold buyers may specify many unique requirements and preferences. The goal of the guide is to avoid misunderstandings and conflict for both parties involved.

The manual advises those procuring and manufacturing molds about their initial contact, which the guide says should be in person whenever possible, listing specifications on mold data sheets, receiving progress reports, making payments and arranging delivery.

Last updated in 1996, the guide contains some outdated technology, terminology and protocols, according to Glenn Starkey, president of Progressive Components, a Wauconda, Ill.-based company that sells components and monitoring systems for mold making and molding.

Starkey chairs the mold makers division of the plastics association's committee on equipment statistics. He is on the task force revising the guide with Toby Bral of MSI Mold Builders Inc. in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Wally and Camille Sackett of Accede Mold & Tool Co. Inc. in Rochester, N.Y.

"The original content won't be scrapped, as we decided to not start with a clean sheet of paper. People still work off this document," Starkey said. "But we figured it's a good time to take a fresh look at it. The work of the task force will primarily involve mostly heavy editing and updating."

A lot of the information in the guide has become part of the industry vernacular, Starkey said, pointing to the various classifications of molds and their cycle capabilities and price ranges.

The guide tells buyers that Class 101 molds built of quality steel for extremely high production — more than 1 million cycles — will be the most expensive. At the other end, a Class 104 mold is a less expensive, low-production tool typically constructed for aluminum to produce fewer than 100,000 parts.

Then, there are the Class 105 molds for prototypes only — less than 500 cycles — and they are built in the least expensive manner.

The guide defines "common slang" of the toolmaking sector, Starkey said, but some terms aren't relevant today. He doesn't expect mentions of numerical control tape, mylars, hobs and mandrels to make the next edition.

"Somebody in the mold business might get a chuckle remembering that from 30 years ago," Starkey said. "There are also references to forms and how pink carbon copies are filed for internal use. We will update that to an electronic form."

In addition, practices for mold payments, mold qualification and warrantying mold performance have changed. The revised guidelines also will have an updated mold data sheet, which serves as a checklist of the mold buyer's needs and is used for quotations, and a progress report template for providing status during the various mold building stages.

When the task force began meeting in September, the members looked to Europe and Asia for mold buying standards or guides. They expected to come across a dozen or so similar documents to the one put out by the U.S. plastics industry, and they planned to study them for best practices.

"But they just weren't around," Starkey said. "We wondered if others haven't done this over time, does that mean it isn't a good idea. We reflected on that and decided this guide continues to have merit. It has been in use and the industry will benefit from its use in the future."

The group meets every three weeks to review the guide with Jennifer Jones, the director of industry standards for the Washington-based plastics association.

"We're each taking sections depending on our own specialties and revising those sections and bouncing it off each other," Starkey said. "That's the mode we're in at this time."

After the task committee reviews the document's structure and content, it will prepare an initial draft to circulate to a consensus group that will be made of mold buyers and mold makers within the Plastics Industry Association. The committee will also seek input from members of the American Mold Builders Association and the industry at large. Then, further revisions will be integrated into the document, and it will be issued, reviewed and revised periodically.

The guide has been a popular industry resource for decades. Although it is now the so-called "information age," Starkey said there are still chances for miscommunication that need to be addressed.

"It used to be common that the OEM, the molder and mold makers were in the same town or region. Now it might be the OEM is on one side of the country, the mold builder is on the other, and the mold is running outside of the country," Starkey said. "Now more than ever it's important to document the guidelines and practices to clear business-related issues and technical-related issues so there are no misunderstandings."

The task force is also reviewing the mold finish guides to improve communication between mold makers and mold buyers. The group expects to seek industry feedback in 2021 but hasn't set an exact target completion date for its work.

Starkey said: "We're getting the word out now that this has been kicked off, and that the new year will bring the need for input from stakeholders throughout the industry, in order to produce a new standard to assist in the decades ahead."