Plastics & Injection Molding Manufacturer Blog

In Part 1 of our discussion of the importance of TQM to the injection molding process, we introduced George Popov, our Quality Supervisor, and provided you with a behind-the-scenes look at what George and the Ferriot Quality Team are doing to implement and improve TQM on a daily basis.

In Part 2, George and I discuss a new technology acquisition, the AICON smartScan Structured Blue Light Scanner, and how it is helping Ferriot meet and exceed quality goals.

Total Quality Management is critical to everything we do for our customers. At the end of the day, the goal is production readiness. Injection molded parts must be optimized for functionality, production consistency and ease of manufacturing. TQM includes everything from start to finish, from mold qualification to production quality. 

A practical way to provide design flexibility - A smart way to reduce cost

Gas assist injection molding (GAIM) is an enhanced injection molding process often applied for complex parts, large parts and parts requiring an attractive, cosmetic finish.  The types of parts benefiting most from this process include:

• large panels
• enclosures
• handles
• doors and bezels
• tube or rod shaped parts
  
  

COVID-19 has drastically changed the way that companies are run – possibly for years to come. Here in Ohio, we’ve all had to change the way that we work and go about our lives.

While stay at home orders are starting to slowly lift, that doesn’t mean a quick jump back to normal. As an essential business, Ferriot has remained open during the quarantine, making critical parts for the medical, industrial and financial services industries. However, it’s how we all protect our workers that’s equally as important to fighting the pandemic. 

Team Ferriot recently enjoyed a visit from students at Akron's NIHF STEM High School. The students toured our 200,000-square-foot office and manufacturing facilities to learn more about the latest manufacturing processes, technologies and varous injection molding career opportunities from engineering design to quality management. The following photo blog provides you with a glimpse at their tour.

Ron Pack, Manufacturing Engineer, provides students with several new technology demonstrations, including collaborative robots (cobots) that assist with repetitive tasks and allow employess to do more complex work.

Here at Ferriot, an increasing number of our clients are expressing growing concerns over the Coronavirus crisis and the impact of this crisis on the global supply chain. The situation remains very volatile, changes daily, and continues to have a global impact.

This affects injection molding because the industry relies heavily on Asia, especially China, to manufacture a significant portion of the tooling.  A large percentage of plastic parts are molded there as well.  The lower labor cost has allowed Asian countries to deliver tooling at a lower cost and provided OEMs with a reasonably safe supply chain.

Truth be told, although Ferriot has been around for close to a century accumulating an unlimited wealth of experience and applied expertise, we've really only been blogging for a short time. However, since 2020 marks the start of a new decade, we felt it was apropos to share our TOP 10 injection molding blog posts. The front-runners are determined by you, our frequent readers, after nearly 20,000 views of dozens of blog articles on a variety of topics. The majority of these articles are a quick read, requiring only a few minutes to consume. No doubt you'll find them quite valuable. You be the judge...  

The year 2019 was a very special one for the Ferriot team, marking our 90th year in business. Wow! Ninety years! As you can imagine, we've enjoyed learning more about the colorful history and numerous accomplishments of Ferriot's early years. Many on our team weren't aware of our early history with Disney or early Star Wars toys.  The year has also been full of reminiscing over family, friends and business associates that have come and gone through the nine years of our existence. It's only fitting to recap some of them by sharing the following 90th anniversary posts from the past year.

Is it just me, or did 2019 fly by? Where did the year go?

Although Team Ferriot has been very busy this past year, we made sure to cover a number of important topics that help our customers and soon-to-be customers achieve successful results in their injection molding projects. We've covered the gamut, from structural foam molding and custom mold design to ultrasonic welding and selecting custom resins.

Below are featured the best blogs of 2019. These are the blogs our visitors, subscribers and customers have read the most in the past year. Enjoy!

When it comes to plastics manufacturing, choosing ultrasonic welding services compared to traditional welding and adhesive methods offers a variety of benefits.

• Traditional methods of welding plastic components require higher temperatures or chemical adhesives.
• Ultrasonic welding takes less time.
• An ultrasonic welding machine doesn’t require as much power and/or fuel.
• Results of ultrasonic welding are more reliable than order methods.

In short, ultrasonic welding is faster, safer, and cheaper than other means of bringing plastic components together.

Read on to learn more about what ultrasonic welding is, how it compares to traditional methods and some considerations you should take before selecting a plastics manufacturer.