Features to Explore When Hiring a Potential Molder

Have a design of a plastic part or product that you feel is best suited for plastic injection molding? Great! When you’re looking to finally contact a molding manufacturer, you must perform a thorough evaluation for fit. What areas should you focus on when hiring a potential molder? In this blog, we review the features that make a reputable molder stand out from all the rest.

Production Capabilities

If you require a certain amount of volume for your project, you need to know the production capabilities the molding company can handle. Are you interested in a one-time project or do you want high-volume production? Does the molder have the ability to perform your production requirements?

A reputable and successful molder should have a high-end, efficient operation in-house with several machines and skilled operators that can handle a wide variety of jobs within different markets and all kinds of plastic material. Our two blogs, Low and High-Volume Production: Injection Molding and Plastic Injection Molding and the Lean Manufacturing Process, review our production capabilities in detail, which can help you to meet your production requirements.

Expanded Services

What other services should you look for when hiring a potential molder? Outside of core part production as discussed above, does the molder aid in prototype development, metal-to-plastic conversion, mold design and build, mold maintenance, and possible tool relocation? Very few molders have these extra services and capabilities in-house. It’s in your best interest to have all of these additional services within one molding company for a complete and smooth process.

Available Plastics

There are thousands of different thermoplastics to choose from with widely varying properties. Many plastics are designed to be more chemically inert than others, while some plastics are designed to have higher tensile strength. The plastics chosen for your project perform a vital role in the function and performance of your product’s life. Discussing plastic requirements with your future injection molding company is key because you need to see if the company has the knowledge or capability to handle the project.

Here at Midstate, we have strong relationships with many resin suppliers that can recommend the best plastic suited to the application for your project. View our blog Choosing the Best Resin for Your Molded Parts to understand the needs of the plastic part you require.  Looking for eco-friendly alternatives? We are able to use biopolymers instead of traditional thermoplastics.

Quality Standards

When hiring a potential molder, you need to ensure that their QA compliance is up-to-date. We at Midstate are upgraded to the newest ISO 9001:2015 certification. ISO standards are generally reviewed every five years to establish any new modifications to the process of standard development.

Why is this an important feature? For starters, it shows that the company meets universal recognized specifications by upholding your products and services of great quality and reliability. Other benefits? Adopting a new QMS is an improved level of quality for the entire organization, process, and the product for the customers: the company aims to meet more than the customers implied requirements.

Reputation

Not all plastic injection molding companies are created equal. Always ask for recommendations or examples from a prospective company. Look over the company’s portfolio and see if you can contact some of their customers before signing any type of contract. Information and recommendations like this can help you to avoid potential issues down the line.

Customer Service

When working with a company, excellence involves more than the finished product: it’s also defined by quality customer service. Maybe you have a last-minute request, and you need to talk to someone for additional information? Will the company be available to you outside of work hours? Will there be plenty of check-ins and communication where you won’t be left in the dark? Depending on your project, the availability of customer service could be a deal breaker.

After reviewing all the areas to explore when hiring a potential molder, we hope this helped you to narrow down your search. If you’re interested in working with an established and reputable molding manufacturer, make sure to contact our experts At Midstate Mold.