Reshoring from overseas
Moving a mould tool back from abroad is a job in itself, which is why we treat it as a service rather than as a favour.
Long lead times, minimum order quantities you cannot use, container costs, a quality system you cannot audit in person and nobody to phone at three in the afternoon. Bringing a tool back to the UK deals with all of those at once.
The lead time and shipping arguments are the obvious ones. The arguments that usually decide it are the minimum order quantity you are forced to take, the quality system you cannot audit in person and how long a problem takes to resolve across eight time zones.
Being able to see your production run, meet the team making your parts and resolve an issue face to face, rather than over email at three in the morning, changes how the relationship works.
Moving from another UK moulder
Not every transfer is from overseas. Sometimes it is a UK moulder that has grown, been sold on or simply stopped giving the attention a job needs. If you are not confident in where a part is made or who is looking after it day to day, that is reason enough to have a conversation.
Send us the tool drawings and the part, and we will tell you honestly whether it is a fit for us and what we would expect it to look like running here.
How a transfer runs
1. Before anything moves
Send the tool drawings, a few last-off parts and your current piece price. We will tell you what we can see from those alone, whether the tool suits our machines and whether there is a saving worth chasing. This costs you nothing and it is where most transfers are decided.
2. Tool inspection on arrival
Condition, steel specification, water circuits, ejection, venting, hot runner and wear on the shut-offs. You get a written report with photographs and a figure for any refurbishment needed. If the tool is worn out, we would rather tell you before you have paid to ship it than afterwards.
3. Moldflow on the existing design
Often the first time anyone has simulated the part. This is where a defect that has been lived with for years turns out to be a gate position, and where the cycle time savings show up.
4. Re-qualification
The process is developed by scientific method and documented, then first-off samples go to you for approval before any production runs. From that point the job runs to a recorded process under ISO 9001, so quality and output stay consistent batch to batch.
What we need from you
- The part drawing and any specification that goes with it
- The tool CAD, or at least the tool drawings
- A few last-off parts, good or bad
- An indication of annual volume and current cost basis, so we can scope the opportunity accurately