China plastic injection mould maker operates and monitors the mould machine. This includes setting up the machine, running the machine, testing the moulds to make sure they meet specifications, modifying the mould as needed, and inspecting the finished product.
Plastic injection mould makers also use shop equipment and tools to finish moulding polymers, perform maintenance on moulding machines, select materials to use, and schedule work to meet quote times and lead times.
Mould makers often supervise assistants as needed, ensuring work areas are kept clean and free of obstructions and reporting any issues to supervisors. Some companies have China plastic injection mould makers working in shifts, with machines in use day and night.
How to judge whether a China plastic injection mould maker can make good moulds?
Before placing an order, examine how much importance the mould company places on the feasibility analysis of moulding plastic parts :
- Does the company have a spot checklist for 3D modelling of plastic parts?
- How does the company hold a plastic part modelling analysis and evaluation meeting?
- Does the company have mould-Flow analysis or other related simulation software?
You can request confirmation through an online video and its related historical form for the above three points.
Consider the company’s comprehensive strength in injection mould design before placing an order:
- The company’s mould design team conducts on-site video confirmation and investigates the number of engineers and work conditions of the design team.
- Check their mould design evaluation methods for new moulds to see if they are rigorous enough.
- Learn how the company controls the quality of the mould design because once the mould design is wrong, all subsequent work and time will be wasted. Some mistakes, once made, may be irreversible.
Before placing an order, consider the company’s rigour in size control:
- Ask them to provide 2D drawings of mould parts made in the past, and at the same time, check whether the tolerance marks on the part drawings are reasonable, whether the drawings are standardized, whether other relevant parameters such as hardness indicate surface finish, verticality, concentricity, tolerance table, etc.
- How to control mould part size during processing? Is there a self-inspection for each processing operation?
- What measurement method is used for the self-test if there is a self-test?
- Check whether the on-site processing equipment in the workshop is of a good brand and high precision? Risks in dimensional control must exist if the company does not have high-precision tooling equipment on site.
Before placing an order, it is crucial to understand whether the assembly workshop site uses 5S or 6S management, as well as how clean the mould is there. If the workshop site is messy and the moulds are full of oil stains and rust spots, the company cannot cooperate.
The four points mentioned above are the basic points for examining whether China injection mould makers can cooperate.
If the above four points can be performed well, the cooperation between injection mould suppliers will not be too problematic. Other aspects, such as
- The capacity to overcome technical obstacles
- The ability to debug the injection moulding process
- The ability to deal with emergencies, and the company culture, are also considerations for long-term cooperation.
How to customize the plastic injection mould?
Figure 2: How to customize the plastic injection mould?
Custom plastic injection moulds require the following information:
1. Required information
– Number of cavities
– Plastic type
– Selected steel type (or inform the surface requirements of plastic parts and the number of plastic parts to be produced by the mould)
– 2D or 3D drawings of plastic parts (if there are no drawings, you need to provide samples, take clear pictures of the samples in all directions when inquiring, and inform the samples’ length, width and height). If there are 2D drawings, the factory requirements for critical dimensions must be indicated on the drawings.
2. Auxiliary information
– The more detailed the information about the function and purpose of the plastic parts, the better.
– Inform the mould company of your plastic part capacity, injection moulding machine model, and technicians.
– Notify the delivery date of the mould, such as the date of shipment or the date of delivery to a certain place.
– Informs whether the robot takes the plastic part away or is dropped automatically during the production process.
In addition to the above information, a lot of detailed information needs to be provided when the mould order is initiated. Information about inquiries and orders for injection moulds is essential.
How to follow up on your injection mould order?
Things to follow up on after starting an injection mould order:
- The china plastic injection mould maker company is required to provide a detailed mould production schedule.
- Check the T1 time + sample delivery time to see how many days are left until the mould delivery date. In general, at least 30% of the time should be reserved. Otherwise, ask them to reschedule the entire process.
- Pay close attention to whether every activity in the entire plan is listed and whether it is scheduled as a whole because multiple procedures can be completed at the same time.
- The contact person of the mould company needs to update the production schedule once a week. It’s ok if it’s early. In the event of delays, remedial action is required.
- Whether the mould can be delivered on time depends on whether all the work before processing can be completed in time. If a lot of time is wasted at the beginning, the effect will not be evident in the later stage, and this delay will affect the quality of the mould and may even lead to fatal errors.
- During the order follow-up process, it is recommended not to stay in email or other chat tools to communicate. In terms of technical communication, the most effective way is through video conferencing, allowing both parties to make quick decisions and communicate effectively.
- In machine tool processing, the plastic injection mould maker must provide the moulding area size inspection report. Otherwise, some mould companies may not pay attention to size control. Finally, the size problem is found after the mould is installed and debugged, so it may be doubled in the later stage.
- The mould maker is required to simulate normal mass production when trying out the mould. Fast mould opening and closing, fast ejection, fast melt injection, high injection, and medium pressure are necessary. During mould testing, you can use online video inspections.
The China plastic injection mould maker needs to send you a mould test report. After the plastic part comes out, it is necessary to measure the size of the samples with different parameters, and a detailed report of the plastic part test piece is required.
How to effectively reduce plastic injection mould costs?
Figure 3: How to effectively reduce plastic injection mould costs?
Personally, you first need to ask the marketing staff about the expected order volume for the new product. In the development and review stage, if the order does not reach more than 50 million, buying a hard injection mould is not recommended. A soft injection mould is enough, which we call a test injection mould.
Soft moulds are much cheaper, and unnecessary costs will be saved if the market does not respond well. If the product sells well, a hardcopy mould can be reopened anytime.
Figure 4: How to effectively reduce plastic injection mould costs?
There is also a clear advantage: the first set of injection moulds will provide experience for the china plastic injection mould maker. Mould makers can design and produce better profiling moulds. Conversely, if you don’t know the expected order, opening a hard mould will only increase your cost by at least 1/3.
Moreover, during the engineering design stage, the injection mould cost also needs to be considered. Using S136H and NAK80 as the steel core mould into the plastic material and careful selection will increase the cost of the injection mould.
FAQs
1) How much does an injection mould cost in China?
Some buyers buying moulds from China may only be interested in the prices offered by the mould suppliers. But keep in mind it is not wise enough to make any purchasing decisions based on simple prices. The injection mould quotation should include information that affects the price of the injection mould. Make sure you get the following information: mould size, gate method, runner design, cavity steel, cavity quantity, mould accessories brand, cycle time, and guarantee period. You can calculate the cost through this information and see why some companies have lower prices, and others have higher prices.
2) Why are low-cost injection moulds so expensive?
For a company, placing a tooling order without verification of tool shop capabilities, quality standards, financial soundness, and customer historical references risks failure and high long-term production costs. This usually requires an on-site audit by a team of experts with various technical and business positions, and the facility is rated as a qualified tooling supplier to reduce risk.
If a mould is purchased for moulding at a third party, the mould maker must be included in the mould-making process to comply with pressing (and other) required details. Mould makers must run moulds before shipping to verify the injection moulding process and the quality of the moulded parts. All parties should establish a list of “spare parts” that will be packaged with the mould to avoid downtime due to possible part failures in the injection mould.
3) How to make injection mould projects under control in China?
For injection mould importers, control of the mould manufacturing process has always been a headache because the mould factories in China are thousands of miles away from their company’s location. Let’s study it and try to find the best solution.
It is very important to evaluate the design of the Chinese mould supplier, and the optimized design is the beginning of a successful project to identify potential design problems and prevent risks from occurring. Anticipate all issues and resolve them early. A Design for Manufacturing (DFM) report is required during the pre-design phase.
4) How to define the surface finish of injection moulded parts?
Some companies have a hard time defining what their product surface should be or how to describe exactly what they want to the mould supplier. Most of them will only say matt or polished, which is not enough to define the product surface. There are polished or many standards of matte, as well as some unique patterns we call textures.
5) What is the mould quotation and ordering process?
There is no hard and fast procedure for ordering a new injection mould, but make a list of your own procedures for future use.
Tools are not where you save money on projects. It helps some to understand the mould maker and its capabilities. However, you must determine cavitation and pressure requirements starting with target product cost and projected annual production.
From there, you can estimate manufacturing costs and where your company needs to get the profits it needs to support your operations. These are the basics needed to develop the minimum specifications for the required injection mould. Back then, you might be referencing tools based on your specs and citing apples-to-apples references anywhere in the world. Then you have to consider shipping costs, and the time it takes until production starts, as this will significantly impact your project costs.
YuanCheng: China plastic injection mould maker
China injection mould maker YuanCheng is an injection mould manufacturer integrating design, production, and sales. Our main products are injection moulds, die casting moulds and mould design services, injection moulds, injection moulding, and plastic parts.
Professionalism, quality, efficiency, and management are the concepts we pursue. Good credit and quality first is our commitment to all customers; we are your reliable long-term partner.
YuanCheng is a professional manufacturer of plastic injection moulds, die-casting moulds, trim moulds, jigs, component machining, and injection moulded parts. We serve customers in the automotive and household markets in North America, Europe, Australia, and Japan.
YuanCheng Mold is capable of making a variety of moulds, including 2K plastic injection moulds, over moulding, two-colour injection moulds, hot runner moulds, gas-assisted moulds, multi-cavity moulds, insert moulds, unscrewing moulds, MUD rapid prototyping injection moulds, die casting moulds, fixtures, etc., it greatly improves our professionalism in injection mould manufacturing.
Contact us today for plastic injection moulding needs. We’ll be happy to assist you and become your reliable long-term partner.
Why choose YuanCheng: The China plastic injection mould maker?
- We provide the original price to make the cost transparent.
- We focus on providing a one-stop service for SMEs
- Our sales team is very experienced in engineering.
