Cooking Up a Successful Transfer of 100+ Molds
In 2001, Port Erie was awarded a program of more than 100 existing lid molds used on related brands of houseware products. We managed the transition of the molds from another molder over the course of three months and had all lids qualified and into production in a timely manner. Since then, we have built many new molds and expanded the program to include almost 150 molds. Port Erie has become integrally involved in new product development for this customer and has internally built many molds for new products. |
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Just What the Doc Ordered for this Medical Equipment Maker
In November 2003, Port Erie spent a busy weekend bringing on a medical equipment manufacturer as a customer. The company was – justifiably -- concerned about the financial viability of their existing molder. We showed up at the door of that molder at 4:30 p.m. on Friday afternoon to pick up their eight molds and some secondary equipment. By 4:30 p.m. that Saturday we had all eight of their tools through our tool room and set in molding machines. A PEP engineer oversaw each mold start up and before that Saturday was over we had part approval from the customer on all tools. We started shipping to supply their assembly line that Tuesday. |
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A Starring Role Molding DVD Cases
In 2004, we hit some incredible production numbers running DVD cases for one customer. Through much of the year, we had 20 machines running high speed molds, many of which were four-cavity stack molds. We could produce 750,000 DVD cases a day. We ran all the cases through a secondary operation to seal a plastic film onto them to hold movie art work. This massive volume of work resulted because our customer earlier had closed an entire production plant and transferred all the work to Port Erie. Port Erie consistently produced higher yields than our customer’s plants. |
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Investing in Structural Foam Molding
In 2005, Port Erie added structural foam molding to support the needs of an existing customer. This $2 million capital investment opened new doors for us and broadened our knowledge and capabilities for serving our customers’ large-part molding needs. |
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Sole Source Deal Results in 40+ Mold Summer Start-up
In the summer of 2006, we managed a massive project for two high-end TV models. Port Erie was named sole source for small and medium parts (up to 1500 ton jobs) for these high-end TVs assembled in Pittsburgh. That also meant supplying plants in Barcelona, Korea and Japan. The 46 molds came in two waves, the first in May and then the second in July. We outsourced some parts to be painted and we pad printed several other parts as well, including some in Japanese. We were named supplier of the year by this customer. |
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Extrusion Comes On Line
In 2007 we tackled another new process – extrusion -- to satisfy a customer’s needs. This major investment and expansion demonstrates that Port Erie always is ready, willing and able to rise to a customer’s needs. The extrusion lines are sold out as part of a multi-year contract. But our knowledge base on plastics processing continues to expand. |
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