Published 3/13/2023

PTXPO 2023 Preview: Mold Builders for Complete Project Assistance

Take a moment to learn more about the mold building exhibitors that will be present in PTXPO’s Moldmaking Pavilion, powered by Amerimold.

PTXPO

MMT Staff

And thank you to our sponsors — Canon Virginia, Hasco, Maguire and Novatec!

Mold Building Services

Get to Know AES Advanced Engineering Solutions Moldes Lda

AES is a Portuguese mold engineering organization with extensive know-how and capabilities in the production and management of tooling projects for high-end products and markets. Visit Booth 1231 to discuss your specific projects with members of the engineering and commercial teams.

Photo Credit: AES

AES was founded in 2001 in Portugal. Today, its operations are spread across three continents. The shop designs and manufactures approximately 100 molds a year for various market segments.

Services include project management, product design and engineering, mold design and engineering, moldmaking, mold qualification, metrology, fixture and gauge development and pre-series production.

Get to Know Cavalier Tool & Manufacturing

Visit Booth 1309 to experience the Cavalier way. This year it’s “Lights! Camera! Action!” as the booth takes attendees behind the scenes of Cavalier Tool & Manufacturing, showcasing the people, process and equipment that make the Cavalier way a showstopper.

Photo Credit: Cavalier Tool & Manufacturing

Come meet some of the Cavalier cast, such as Director (Owner) Brian Bendig, Producer (General Manager) Tim Galbraith, Executive Producer (Sales Manager) Brian Gignac and other principal cast members (account managers, program managers, etc.)

“Moldmaking is what we do!” The shop’s adaptation to technology has given the team more flexibility, efficiency and the speed necessary to get molds to customers quicker.

While at the booth introduce yourself, pick up some swag and get the show on the road to learn how Cavalier Tool & Manufacturing is a tough act to follow!

**Find Cavalier alongside the Moldmaking Pavilion.

Get to Know Coast Systems

In 2019, Coast Systems moved from a basic computerized maintenance management systems (CMMS) company to a company that focuses on the plastics industry and the tooling and molds associated with it. Since then, Coast seeks to educate potential clients on the technology and consulting services that are available to mold shops that may be struggling to manage inventory or are missing out on opportunities to predict the life cycle of their most critical mold assets.

Photo Credit: Coast Systems

Stop by Booth 915 and say hello to Jerry Sherman, president, and Bill Cunha, vice president, and learn how Coast Systems can provide a turnkey solution to keep track of molds at multiple locations, while offering increased visibility, life cycle management, project management, engineering consulting and procurement capabilities.

The company’s IoT-enabled Global Mold Management technology is a complete mold management solution that can be tailored to a company’s specific needs. It features a user-friendly platform that enables its users to stay on top of mold inventory control, condition, value, maintenance, repair and replacement, and warranty expirations to maximize asset life and availability.

**Find Coast in the Injection & Blow Molding Pavilion.

Get to Know Custom Mold & Design

Custom Mold & Design is proud to be an industry leader in designing and building high-precision, fast-cycling molds, emphasizing its experience, technology and talent to produce the highest quality molds and components. This has been achieved through the investment of state-of-the-art equipment and automation as well as recruiting the best personnel.

Visit Booth 1315 and meet with members of Custom Mold’s tooling business development team to learn how they can solve your complex tooling problems and to find people/companies that are looking for high-quality molds that produce high-quality products.

Photo Credit: Custom Mold & Design

Get to Know Decatur Mold

Since its founding in 1966, mold manufacturer Decatur Mold Tool & Engineering has been committed to supporting its employees and customers— the former through providing available jobs within the community, and the latter by delivering at all costs. Today, Decatur continues to keep up, hoping to outrun the ever-changing landscape of inventive technology through its implementation in its daily projects.

One of Decatur’s innovations is state-of-the-art lights-out expansion with 24/7 automation cells to turn around mold deliveries quicker and increase accuracy.

Decatur Mold’s team of technical sales representatives will be on site at Booth 1435 to discuss problems you may need help with, provide company information and educate others on the injection mold manufacturing process. Each representative has a technical, hands-on background in the art of injection mold manufacturing.

Photo Credit: Decatur Mold

Get to Know FET Engineering Inc.

Stop by Booth 1326 to learn more about FET Engineering’s electroform nickel tooling, vacuum forming tooling and trial services. Supplying major automobile manufacturers across North America and supporting the molding for some of the longest-running models, U.S.-based FET is growing and changing to fit the needs of the molding marketplace for shorter cycle times and lower weight parts — this is particularly true for the growing electric vehicle (EV) market. Supply chain pressures have also increased the importance of FET Engineering’s service and repair of tooling.

FET is capable of producing highly intricate textures on a durable mold. All molds are then warrantied for a specific number of shots. FET is a U.S.-based manufacturer with service and repair services to help improve customer uptime.

For more information, FET’s sales and design engineers will be on hand to demonstrate some of the precision textures and shapes the company can achieve, answer questions or discuss your drawings.

Photo Credit: FET Engineering

Get to Know Minco Tool & Mold Inc.

Photo Credit: Minco Tool & Mold

Minco Tool & Mold started building tools in 1954 and All Service Plastic Molding (ASPM) opened in 1981 to support customer tool samples and production requirements. This enabled the Minco Group to develop into a full turnkey operation. Visit Booth 1328 and touch base with project managers to better understand how Minco and ASPM provide the best of both worlds in mold building and production molding.

Minco staffs 50 dedicated employees and ASPM staffs 400. Together, they support customers by staying current with technologies. Minco and ASPM provide industry excellence in automotive lighting, exterior, interior, under the hood, consumer products, appliance, defense, aerospace, machining, tool repair and maintenance, five-axis machining, wire EDM, ram EDM and CNC gundrill.

ASPM is able to support press ranges from 55-1,100 tons. Minco boasts a test site for unigraphics software development to improve surfacing and tool paths. Investments in high-speed and five-axis machining have enabled its team to cut directly from the solid model and reduce fitting and polishing time.

Minco builds molds in the U.S., with global partners for those customers wanting hybrid or global mold building.

Get to Know Prodigy Mold & Tool

Stop by Booth 1430 to meet, network and better understand why customers have trusted Prodigy to manufacture precision, custom-built molds for more than 25 years. Moldmaking is the company’s passion — taking a product from concept, to producing a part is an extremely challenging and complex process, but Prodigy’s team finds the finished product very rewarding.

Embracing change and keeping up with the complexity of the industry — CAD/CAM, the latest machine tools with multi-axis capability, cutting tools, ongoing training and the development of the next generation — has played a role in Prodigy’s ongoing evolution.

The company will also be giving away items to attendees who stop by.

Photo Credit: Prodigy Mold & Tool

Get to Know Simoldes Tools

Simoldes Tools innovates daily — in its processes and shop floor and through R&D projects that aim to develop a leaner, more efficient workspace and method. Specifically, Simoldes’ R&D projects aim to develop new materials and applications in its additive manufacturing department (SLM) and new ways to manufacture molds. Visit Booth 421 to get to know the best integration of additive manufacturing (AM) with traditional moldmaking, the company’s project management team and its global footprint!

Photo Credit: Simoldes

Simoldes Tools says it is the biggest mold manufacturer in Europe, with a presence in 11 countries around the globe, including Germany, South America, the U.S., India and Morocco. Founded in Oliveira de Azemeis in 1959 as a mold manufacturer for the injection of thermoplastics, Simoldes Tools is a 100% privately owned group of companies that employs over 1,000 workers worldwide. It comprises nine plants and five advanced customer services (ACS). The business not only focuses on molds for the injection of thermoplastics for the automotive and the non-automotive sectors but acts as a solution provider that integrates a complete service from part development to after sales.

In its 63 years of working in mold manufacturing, Simoldes is allied to the energy of young blood and investment in innovative processes, enabling it to manufacture a large number of small to big plastic injection molds in a short period of time at a competitive cost. The company’s project management team are the touchpoint between their client’s needs and their internal team, supplying a complete service from part expertise to after sales.

**Find Simoldes in the Injection & Blow Molding Pavilion.

Get to Know Socem ED, S.A.

Visit Booth 1719 to consider Socem ED, S.A. as an important partner for your moldmaking investments. “Global Mold Network Solution” is the company’s theme, reflecting the company’s global presence with facilities in Portugal, Brazil and Mexico and a global network of partners, and thus its ability to support any project locally within the U.S. or abroad. Socem’s Marco and Tiago will be welcoming attendees at the booth and can share any information required to help you with next steps for a successful project.

Photo Credit: Socem

Moldmaking is a core business for Grupo Socem. It enables the company to be present in any industry; they are proud to see the SO name associated with several plastic components.

Socem has been growing its business for the last 25 years. This growth has been a reflection of constant investment in technologies, equipment and people. Socem was at the forefront when additive technologies were entering the industry, providing global solutions integrated with plastics when customers started to look for single points of sale. But the most meaningful innovation that the company has brought to the moldmaking marketplace — and have also received in return — are the people.

Socem looks forward to seeing customers, evaluating new business opportunities and catching up on what’s new.

Get to Know Solution Tools Mold & Die

Solution Tools is dedicated to turning your ideas into great projects! The company helps its partners ensure that their custom part configurations and tooling are dimensionally accurate, competitively priced and delivered just in time.

Photo Credit: Solution Tools Mold & Die

Solution Tools is a company that has more than 30 years of experience in the molding area, bolstered by a young staff to simultaneously offer clients expertise as well as innovative ideas in today’s volatile market. That is why Solution Tools also has high-tech equipment such as EDM sinkers, CNC machining centers, surface grinders, sophisticated welding equipment, injection molding equipment, 3D printers and high-quality control equipment like a Zeiss Metrotom 800 130 kV industrial computed tomography (CT) system.

In Booth 821 attendees can find Solution Tools personnel to answer questions and samples of some of the company’s final products for which Solution Tools has manufactured molds, from simple to complex. Additionally, there will be brochures and souvenirs.

**Find Solution Tools in the Injection & Blow Molding Pavilion.

Get to Know StackTeck Systems

Moldmaking is the core of StackTeck Systems’ business. With over 50 years of experience in technical innovation of mold bases, quick product change and multi-level stack molds, StackTeck differentiates itself by delivering high productivity to the caps, closures, PET preforms, thin wall packaging, technical and medical markets. Many first-of-their-kind innovations are said to have been born within the company in the past 25 years including 4 x 32 stack molds, 2 x 64 unscrewing cap mold, 2 x 32 co-injection stack mold, 2 x 64 flip-top closure mold and five piece collapsing core mold. StackTeck is also said to be the home of the first turnkey IML stack mold systems in North America.

At Booth 932, StackTeck is set to showcase its newest developments and technologies in PET preform molds, full automation systems and other key initiatives. Paul Torbidone, general manager of business development, will be at the booth to talk and answer questions.

Photo Credit: Stackteck Systems

Get to Know Triangle Tool, Division of The Plastek Group

Founded in 1956, Plastek is a world-class injection and injection blow mold manufacturer, with three facilities employing over 125 extensively trained toolmakers, engineers and project managers. Engaging with the latest mold design, manufacturing and management technologies and processes, the group led what are now industry standards — designing and building molds for in-press maintenance, the concept of component interchangeability and management practices such as toolmaking apprenticeships.

This has enabled Plastek to provide high-quality, dependable molds with reliable and short lead times. The group uses a CAD/CAM system that is integrated throughout the part design and mold manufacture process for immediate updates and accurate record keeping of valuable part and engineering files.

Photo Credit: Triange Tool, The Plastek Group

The theme of Booth 1325 is “Moldmaking, Repair and Reverse Engineering.” Plastek will be introducing Pioneer Automation and its Triangle Tool Divisions — Doug Prischak, VP global tooling and engineering and Nick Prischak, general manager of the Pioneer Automation Division — who are partnering for sealing vertical integration. Attendees will also be welcomed by Plastek’s Corporate Design and Engineering Manager Ken Watkins, General Manager of Tooling and Moldmaking James Jergens and VP Tooling Sales John Heinrikson, who have more than 55 years of combined experience in the moldmaking industry.

Get to Know Westminster Tool

“Moldmaking is our industry, our product and the foundation of our identity as a small business.” The complex and niche nature of what goes into mold building is the essential reason the Westminster Tool family business began. The team’s presence at PTXPO symbolizes their commitment to sharing ideas, learning new ideas and helping the industry to evolve.

Photo Credit: Westminster Tool

One of Westminster’s biggest contributions to the moldmaking industry is its research and application of metal additive technology. What has traditionally been seen as an auxiliary tool for moldmakers is now one of the leading ways Westminster are able to actually produce complex tooling for customers. Westminster Tool took a major risk on investing in the technology and has since established itself as one of the leading adopters of production-level printed tooling.

Visit Booth 1414 for Westminster’s latest metal 3D printing applications for injection mold tooling. Utilizing Mantle's metal additive technology, Westminster Tool continues to push the limits on adopting printed tooling for complex part production. Its team of injection molding experts will be ready to share details of latest case studies and customer projects using the printed tooling, as well as details for future use cases.

Get to Know XMD — Expert Mold Designer — Synergetic Eng. & Manufacturing Services

Synergetic Eng. began over 20 years ago as an expert resource for mold design and consultancy services. Over the years it has evolved into a software development company featuring its premier XMD - Expert Mold Designer software, and then into a fully immersed mold manufacturing company.

Since 1988, XMD has been a mold design automation software. XMD is a knowledge-based, intelligently automated mold design solution that creates, manages, understands and even verifies the hundreds of details of a user’s mold design directly out of the box. This robust, automated design package significantly shortens overall mold design times and further increases the efficiency and accuracy of the design and manufacturing process, in addition to enabling users to design more confidently.

XMD’s ease of use means lower training costs and faster turnaround in having new designers producing at their peak. Speed of operation means lower design cost, and more time for the build process. Increased consistency and accuracy eliminates errors, saving money in manufacturing.

Photo Credit: XMD — Expert Mold Designer

Visit Booth 1420 and meet with the president of Synergetic Eng. & XMD to understand how Synergetic Eng. can help moldmakers and mold designers to be faster and more efficient. Expert mold designers and application engineers will be showing live demos of the automation that XMD provides to all designers right out of the box.