How to save the cost of injection molding?

An injection molding is easily the most expensive part of the project. Many mould purchasers would ask How to save the cost of injection molding?

First of all, I want to emphasize that reducing unnecessary waste is the key way.

Secondly, what is the purpose of this plastic injection molding? If it is for testing, you can consider to make a prototype and test the structure.

It would be expensive to make a set of injection mold, but the most expensive thing is to repeatedly modify it, and finally reopen the mold if it is broken. This is a taboo.

Many injection molding engineers who graduated from pheasant university or who are not well-educated or perfunctorily like to make a mold first, get a sample, and then modify it countless times which cause inestimable waste.

To avoid this problem, you can check on whether the engineer draws the picture carefully enough. For example even small screws are drawn in, it says the degree of rigor. Then check whether there will be a simulation test. Whether the appearance and the function have been confirmed.  Usually our engineer will make the appearance rendering and details drawings to confirm the appearance (especially for foreign customers as it's not easy to communicate, so you must let them confirm the appearance).

The material can save the cost of injection moldings. This is also related to the selection of your plastic parts. For example, the corrosion-resistant materials such as nylon and glass fiber or PPS must at least use corrosion-resistant steel. While some domestic steels like NAK80 are much cheaper than imported ones. And in fact, it is hardly to identify. At most, it can detect the hardness. Generally, mold factories will replace imported materials with domestic ones, or use cheap steel instead. Foreign customer usually asks for incoming material inspection reports and imported materials to report invoices for simple protection, but it is also easy to fake it. 

In fact, you don't need to worry about this problem. Because most of the suppliers who will open the mold can also produce the plastic parts, so as to reduce a lot of unnecessary communication. When signing the contract, state that the supplier is responsible for the repair and maintenance of the molds, to guarantee that 300,000 pieces are not broken. In this way, if there is a problem with the mold, you don't have to worry. It is the supplier who handles it. 

Generally speaking, when you lower the price, the supplier will choose cheap steel and you can't appraise it. Even if you can, the appraisal fee is very expensive and unnecessary. So don't go for a small factory to lower the price in order to save the cost of mold opening. There are a lot of pits inside!

Foreign customers usually require the supplier to buy from specified steel supplier, and then provide a purchase order. That’s because they just buy molds and then return home for injection. So they are more concerned about the material of the mold.

Finally, according to the accuracy requirements of different products and the expected output to select appropriate mold supplier and steel type, the injection molding cost can be appropriately controlled.

In fact, there are many injection molding suppliers nowadays, which is no longer a high-profit industry. Many customers directly go to foundries to negotiate prices based on product output, instead of buying molds separately and then looking for someone to process them.