A long-term customer of Plastic-IT Ltd that provides solutions to the Anatomical Pathology market requested our project consultancy services. The client needed us to provide assistance with the product and tooling development, manufacturing sourcing and process development for overseas production of their new products. As part of this 2-year programme, we were asked to drive the design qualification for tooling, product design, tooling concepts, Moldflow analysis, mould trial support and process optimisation/documentation.
Sourcing and manufacturing overseas can always present a challenge. There are many differences in culture, engineering standards and ethics, however, Plastic-IT Ltd has experienced and participated in many projects in the Far East in recent years. This particular project was a multi-million-pound investment for the client which was to yield in excess of 100M components per annum.
One of the product lines was a new concept and included a number of unique features which required prototyping and validation testing prior to approval. Our focus was directed towards designing and manufacturing single cavity tooling of each variant to be used for design, tooling and process verification. When all testing was successfully completed, the production tools were manufactured as an exact copy of the single cavity tooling concept (with multiple impressions) to ensure that all verification studies were replicated and relevant.
Working with overseas suppliers for these projects required regular communication and onsite visits, particularly in the development stages. Plastic-IT Ltd undertook multiple overseas trips to ensure that the tooling and injection moulding facilities delivered to the specifications requested.