MMT ARTICLE ARCHIVE
Feature Articles
Hot Runner Stack Molds: A Great Cost-Cutting Solution
How to choose the right manifold system for your stack molds.
Always Comes Back to the Mold BuilderHow important is mold maintenance and repair to the mold manufacturer? Very. Because it always comes back to the moldmaker.
How Online Communities Can Help Your BusinessLet’s look at how online communities (OCs) can have a positive impact on—and support—your business’ strategic development and initiatives. The cultural impact of OCs on the future of manufacturing can’t be overemphasized. As young students, engineers and manufacturers enter and move up the ranks of manufacturing companies (including yours) they’ll be bringing with them expectations to communicate in the ways they are most comfortable.
High-Precision Molds Pay Off for P&GProcter & Gamble stresses speed, repeatability and long life to maximize return in commodity production.
Machining MadnessThe industry’s demand for higher quality, faster turnaround times and lower prices in the last decade has resulted in dramatic improvements in high speed machining as well as controls and spindles
Electrically Actuated Valve Gates: An Emerging Hot Runner TechnologyElectrically actuated valve stems promise more control, cleaner actuation, closer pitch spacing, higher quality gates and reduced maintenance.
Mold Market Activity Levels Decline 42.7 Total Mold Business Index for June 2008The total Mold Business Index is a weighted average of the sub-indices for new orders, production, employees, backlog, exports and supplier deliveries.
Automation, Innovation Chart EDM’s CourseAdvances in EDM technology—including increased automation and combining machining processes to get the job done as efficiently as possible—help EDM stay afloat and keep moldmakers successful.
A Workholding Solution for Gun DrillingGun drilling is one area for which moldmakers have been slow to accept permanent electro magnets, which can reduce workholding and toolholding setups by 50 to 70 percent.
Everyone Is WelcomeAccount managing is the fine art of balancing the needs and expectations of your customer with the skills of your company personnel.
Top 10 Technologies on Your Shop’s Wish ListTop 10 Technologies
Determining Maximum Mold Cycle CountsOngoing data collection and visual inspection of tooling and parts is the only method that will allow you to balance maximizing tooling life, production capability and mold reliability.
Build-Ups for Maintenance: Benefit or Band-Aid?When is providing build-ups on tooling appropriate and when is it just a band-aid on a problem that could lead to more extensive repairs later?
Case Study
Moldmaker Uses an In-Depth Analytical Solution-Based Approach To Mold Flow Analysis
MoldFlow consulting firm assists mold shop as it approached a complex molding program for its customer, Cessna Aircraft Company.
Multi-Cavity Mold Issues Solved with Melt Rotation ProcessToolroom supervisor shares his experience with a rheological control solution to some obvious and some not-so-obvious challenges with product and color variations in a multi-cavity mold.
Tip of the Month
The Seven Ds of a Buy-Sell Agreement
My client handed me his 13-year old buy-sell agreement. The business value, specified as a fixed amount, was about 3 percent of the current market value. Any problems here? First, the value is not current and too low. Attempts to enforce the contract would result in litigation. Second, the IRS will not accept the low value for estate tax purposes. Third, since this agreement is not current, the funding for the buyout does not exist. Either the buyer or the company must come up with funding or it’s very likely all or part of the business will have to be sold to a third party.
From The Editor
The Custom Manufacturing Megatrend: A New Industrial Revolution
New methods of manufacturing are bringing about fundamental change in the way products are designed and delivered.
New RP Technology Reduces Costs, LeadtimesA rapid tooling process has been developed using stereolithography (SL) and a nanocomposite resin, which can result in significant savings in both leadtimes and costs.
Profile
Alan Petrucci: An Industry Icon
Not content to rest on his laurels, this moldmaking veteran continues to immerse himself in the business for nearly half a century.
ISSUE
August 2008
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