One of the most important aspects of any plastic manufacturing operation is tooling. Whether it’s creating a whole new die for a project or transferring your tooling operation from one manufacturer to another, if your tooling operation isn’t 100 percent accurate, that can create a long list of potential problems with your product. 

Those problems are heavily mitigated when creating a partnership with an in-house mold making company. From a more streamlined production process starting at the very beginning to keep costs in check throughout the program’s lifecycle, these partnerships have a mutual benefit for customers and manufacturers a like. 

Port Erie Plastics details the benefits of partnering with an in-house mold making company and why these partnerships matter. 

Central Benefits 

There are certainly more than five benefits of partnering with an in-house mold making company, but these five advantages are perhaps the most foundational and fundamental as they impact every facet of manufacturing, relationship management, quality, and more. 

There is no way of hiding that tooling costs and mold making are the most expensive items in a production process. But when that is handled in-house by the manufacturer who’s contracted to produce your component, there are often measures built to keep costs in check. Molds built in the United States are backed by more stringent quality control measures compared to, while cheaper, lesser molds from an overseas supplier. When quality is increased, it keeps long-term costs in check through reduced downtime, lowered product reject rates, minimal maintenance, and fewer production stops. 

In the same breath about quality, through engineering capabilities and overall better material usage, the in-house team catches any design or manufacturability concerns earlier and more often than not, before the steel is cut.

If your team creates a partnership with an in-house mold making company, you’ll also notice faster turnaround times on the molds. This includes the major stops in the process including design work, tooling, engineering, and quality review. By proxy, there is more streamlined communication and an early dialogue between customers and manufacturers. Both teams can create rooted relationships before any plastic has hit the facility floor and a better, unanimous understanding of what the final result should be. 

Lastly, there is inherently more flexibility in these partnerships. In-house teams can operate on the fly as needed and customers who have changes in design or prototypes, even process adjustments, there is more grace under pressure. 

Why Partnerships with In-House Mold Making Companies Matters 

This is arguably the biggest question for prospective customers such as an OEM of a given industry. For OEMs and other customers, two of the largest weighing factors prior to any contractual manufacturing are cost and risk. Even though multiple manufacturers might make components for an OEM, it’s their name on the product at the end of the day and that carries a large responsibility. 

Partnerships like this matter because the team that’s set to manufacture your products, if they are responsible for the creation of the foundational aspect – the mold – there is a significant chance the mold is less likely to fail because of fewer responsibility and communication gaps. 

Molds can vary widely in design, especially depending upon what type of manufacturing the mold is for. Whether it’s a simple mold with minimal complexity, or a challenging mold that demands the most out of a team, a higher success rate occurs in a program through a partnership like this. 

When These Partnerships Help Most 

There isn’t a scenario where a partnership with an in-house mold making company is not going to be a helpful choice. But when it’s most helpful matters significantly. Teams that rely on these partnerships usually feature multiple revisions during the process that require easy communication. This can also include design for manufacturability support. Secondly, teams that only want to work with one partner for a product program lifecycle will often go this route to keep every aspect of the program in a single manufacturer’s hands.

Contact Port Erie Plastics and Partner with an In-House Mold Making Company Today 

Port Erie Plastics has been operating as a plastics manufacturing company since 1953. Located in Harborcreek, Pennsylvania, our team handles multiple forms of plastic production services like extrusion, structural foam molding, and the one that started it all for us, injection molding. 

Part of our manufacturing capabilities include our in-house mold making along with mold design and transfer tooling operations. Our team can create single and multi-cavity molds, stack molds, and hot runners – all customized to fit your project. Equipped with the latest technology, our engineers can perform mold flow analysis to ensure proper injection pressure, identify potential air traps, and more. 

Whether it’s transferring your existing tooling and developing a brand-new die, Port Erie Plastics is the team for you. Contact us today.