Choosing the right custom injection molding provider is crucial. Whether you need to manufacture a medical device, consumer product, or automotive part, asking the right questions can help ensure you get consistent quality, competitive costs, and an efficient process from start to finish.
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What are the key things to know? This blog post was written to provide helpful insights. Here are the top 10 questions to guide your decision when evaluating a custom plastic injection molding partner.
Experience is key to creating custom-molded parts, regardless of whether they’re small and intricate or large and durable. Look for an injection molding company with expertise in your sector. This means identifying a company that not only has been providing injection molding service for many years but also employs engineering experts with a wealth of knowledge.
A team with years of experience in custom injection molding and familiarity with your industry can better navigate challenges associated with mold design, tooling, and production of high-quality parts that meet your unique needs and exact specifications.
The choice of resin used in plastic injection molds determines the final product’s durability, flexibility, and performance. Ensure your provider works with a wide range of materials such as:
A company that utilizes a variety of plastic materials and has in-depth knowledge of their properties will be able to make suggestions to ensure your custom plastic product has the right properties and can be manufactured as efficiently and affordably as possible.
Efficient injection mold design is crucial for the success of any project. Ask if your provider offers value-added services like computer-aided design (CAD) and prototyping services to test your designs before mass production.
Providers with a CNC machine and 3D printer can quickly create prototypes, helping refine the design for consistent quality during the manufacturing process.
A provider with state-of-the-art equipment, reliable manufacturing processes, and quick cycle times can ensure you’ll meet production deadlines. Discuss their typical lead times and whether they can accommodate your project demands.
Delays in tooling or the plastic injection molding process can impact your entire supply chain.
Not every project demands large-scale production. Whether you need low-cost prototypes or high-volume production, your provider should offer flexible solutions tailored to your requirements.
This is especially important for custom plastic parts with tight tolerances or complex geometries, which may require specialized molds or low-volume production runs for initial testing.
Producing high-quality products requires proven quality assurance (QA). Look for providers that assure quality by following a thorough process with checks and optimizations at every step from start to finish. This process should be carried out by industry experts who can identify and resolve potential issues that machines may miss.
A potential manufacturing partner must be able to meet or exceed industry standards and adhere to specific industry certifications. When vetting a company, ask about their experience with your industry and what they do to ensure your exact specifications are met.
A reliable injection molding supplier should have a portfolio of successful projects or case studies. Ask about industry-specific examples to learn about their expertise in action.
For example, a case study on creating custom plastic parts for the aerospace industry or injection molds for medical devices can showcase their ability to meet stringent requirements to satisfy customer needs.
Understanding the full cost of your injection molding project is essential for budgeting. Costs typically include:
Ask for a transparent quote and discuss any potential hidden fees, such as maintenance costs for injection molds or secondary processes like CNC machining.
Providers with experience across diverse industries are better equipped to handle unique challenges. They will have a variety of experiences from which to draw which can give you confidence they can complete your project efficiently, on budget, and to your exact specifications.
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Injection-molded products can be used in a variety of industries:
Finally, after you ask all the other questions and are satisfied with the answers, you can give the company a chance to tell you what makes them unique and better than their competitors. Is their manufacturing technology more advanced? Do they offer faster lead times? Are their value-added services more diverse and better? Do they provide the best overall value?
Getting an overview of their unique selling propositions (USPs) will help you assess whether they’re the right partner for your next injection molding project.
Finding the right custom injection molding provider starts with asking the right questions. From understanding their expertise in plastic injection molding to ensuring they can meet your part quality and budget requirements, these questions will help you make an informed choice.
Before you can begin to work on any custom plastic injection molding project, you need to find a manufacturing partner you can trust whose capabilities match your needs. Plastic injection molding is not a one-size-fits-all process, and your requirements may vary based on your industry, the design of your products, or your production schedule.
For example, medium- to high-volume projects require a partner that can handle fast production on a large scale. Specialized or custom parts require expertise and ingenuity to make sure that your parts are manufactured properly. All projects require access to the equipment, materials, and expertise necessary to create high-quality parts.
Custom molding is all about communication, and that requires buy-in and commitment from you and your manufacturing partner. Sometimes designs need to be adapted, or production changes occur at the last minute. That means that you have to focus on the people that you’ll be working with (not just the products you’ll be working on) to avoid the delays and headaches that come with a communication breakdown.
Here are five steps to finding a custom plastic injection molding partner that’s right for you.
Your manufacturing partner should provide the expertise you need to carry out your vision for your project. To begin building this relationship, you need a reasonable understanding of the function you want the part to fulfill, the circumstances in which it will have to operate (i.e., high heat, extreme cold, humidity or wet conditions), and an estimate of the number of custom parts you’ll require.
If you need 10,000 units or fewer — to fill a need in a low-volume market such as highly specialized medical equipment, for example, or to begin prototype testing prior to full market production — then you are looking for a low-volume molder. Larger-quantity jobs that require hundreds of thousands of units should be handled by a high-volume molder who is capable of producing many parts quickly and efficiently.
With your vision in mind, your manufacturing partner should provide services that can help you bring it to life. Look for a manufacturer who can begin providing feedback early and whose expertise aligns with your understanding of the function and volume of your project.
The complexity of your project will greatly impact your choice of manufacturing partner. The manufacturer you choose should have experience running the selected material and capabilities to satisfy all requirements. Consider the following when evaluating potential production partners:
Whatever your production needs are, you want to make sure that you find a manufacturer who will create a reliable product for you. Consider finding a manufacturing partner who holds a certification from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Such certifications are both optional and difficult to obtain, so only manufacturers who are truly committed to product quality will hold one. This can be a quick and efficient way to identify a short list of high-quality companies.
An experienced manufacturer can help you anticipate problems and offer solutions in advance. Look for a manufacturer who has experience running and launching programs similar to the one you are trying to launch. Not only will this experience bring expertise to your project, but it also ensures that the manufacturer you choose has the equipment and infrastructure necessary to do the kind of work you’re planning.
Personal experience is important as well, so look for a company with experienced professionals at all levels to make sure that you have access to the quality of work that you need.
Commodity relationships are typically based on the lowest price due to little or no value-added requirements. Commodity relationships typically have reliable forecasts, objectives and quality requirements (and therefore are easily measured), which makes satisfying customer requirements relatively easy.
For projects that are not super simple and straightforward, you want to build a more complex relationship that allows flexibility to adjust to evolving project demands. In short, complex projects require a partnership built on successful, ongoing communication. These partnerships allow you and the manufacturer to work together to adjust the manufacturing process and determine appropriate quality standards for your unique project. When forming a partnership, look for an experienced manufacturer who communicates clearly and frankly, with minimal personnel shifts. Whenever possible, you want your contact person to stay the same throughout your working relationship.
It is important to choose a manufacturing partner who you can work with productively, and who can ensure the delivery of high-quality products. At Thogus, we pride ourselves on building client relationships and offering white glove service that keeps operations running smoothly. Download our free PDF to learn other considerations: