Plastics & Injection Molding Manufacturer Blog

When reviewing projects with your injection molder, remember to discuss what value-added or secondary services they provide beyond molding your parts. Consider selecting one company that can handle all of your custom injection molding, painting and decorating needs. Using an injection molder with comprehensive services that include painting and decoration capabilities saves time and lowers your cost.

Two-color pad printing machine 

You’ve probably heard that a picture’s worth a thousand words. However, according to George Popov, quality supervisor at Ferriot, a picture’s actually worth a million numbers — at least in the world of custom injection molding part inspection.

The reason for injection molding delays is that resins – the materials that your plastic parts are made from – are in short supply. With lead times for resins increasing and their cost going up, it’s only natural that your injection molded parts will face the same challenges.

When it comes to new technology, what makes it a success? The platform? The interface? The added features? No, in fact, it’s all about the talented people involved with implementation.

The year 2020 has been a tough one, especially for manufacturing. Duelargely to the COVID-19 pandemic, the manufacturing industry saw a decline of nearly 23 percent in 2020. The simultaneous shock and demand from shutdowns, the financial crisis, and increased workplace regulations have created the perfect storm for what’s likely to be the worst hit to manufacturing we’ve seen in decades.

Custom injection molders use ultrasonic welding as a secondary operation when two thermoplastic parts need to be joined together. The bonding of two parts into one may be specified when there is a complex design that is not feasible to mold as one part – so the part design is changed to be manufactured as two or more parts that must be assembled. This is determined early in the Design for Manufacturing phase (DFM) of new product development.

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...  

Injection molding is a tried and true manufacturing method that has experienced small, incremental changes over the years. It used to be, if you had a product or part to be manufactured, your injection molding manufacturer would provide you with a list of polymers to choose from. Your design and engineering team would work together along with the injection molding team to select a resin that would suit your needs. A variety of factors would be considered including durability, cost, flexibility and cosmetics.

Ready for a secret? It still works like that.

With most manufacturers, you are going to need to select the resin for your part from a list of available options. However, modern facilities have moved into a more advanced method of providing an option not previously available on that list—custom engineered resins.

Structural foam molding offers an alternative to traditional injection molding. 

Here at Ferriot, we’ve been proud to be a leader in thermoplastic injection molding since the 1940s. Our clients turn to us for professional assistance with contract manufacturing, custom injection molding, painting and assembly. Structural foam molding is another capability we offer when traditional injection molding may not meet part design requirements.  The structural foam process creates parts with a high strength-to-weight ratio and is often used for large parts and in metal to plastic replacement.

Structural foam molding is an option available to manufacturers who are looking for a way to create stronger, more rigid plastic parts.  It is also a method used to reduce potential part weight for larger parts. Almost any type of resin can be used with this type of injection molding. Structural foam  injection molding uses lower pressure and a foaming agent mixed in with the resin. The foaming agent expands within the resin, leaving a dense outer and inner wall with a foam or honeycomb-like center. This cellular core in the part is what contributes to the decreased part weight.  During the expansion process, internal shrinkage or "sink" is reduced which creates a more uniform and aesthetically pleasing part. This process can also contribute to less internal stress in the part with better stability.