Amerimold: Learning and Laughs

After two days of connecting buyers and sellers of products and services for designing, building, injecting and maintaining molds, Amerimold 2016 comes to a close on a very positive note. Not only did the event have a record-number of exhibitors, the quality level of attendee was also up.

Attendees came to learn about everything from CAD/CAM to mold finishing, horizontal machining centers to 3D printers, cutting tools to mold materials, automation to processing techniques, and everything in between, while exhibitors across the floor showcased it all for them.

The learning didn't stop on the show floor, the annual technical conference rooms were also buzzing with networking and sharing case studies and best practices for both mold buyers and mold builders to make critical decisions when it comes to making that quoted cycle time and developing strategic plans for how their shops and staff will look in the year 2017 and beyond.

Topics included part/mold design and simulation, additive manufacturing, five-axis machining, reducing mold repair costs, integrating the mold, machine and automation, innovative tool design and molding process combinations and employing systematic molding for collaborative manufacturing.

To top it all off, the talk throughout the event was that business was booming for mold & die, and projected to continue that way for the remainder of the year.

I can't end this brief review without a little taste of this industry's humor, which is showcased every year at Amerimold with our infamous Top 10 Reasons to Be a Moldmaker t-shirt. Here is our 2016 list, submitted by YOU our readers!

10 IF AT FIRST YOU DON’T SUCCEED, YOU’RE NOT A MOLDMAKER.

Gabe Meldrum, International Mold Corp

9 OUR DNA—FROM BLOOD—IS IN EVERY TOOL.

Keith Bates, IPCC

8 SHUT-OFFS, STACKS AND SEAL-OFFS AREN'T JUST FOR PLUMBERS.

Ralph Neufarth, iMFLUX (P&G)

7 GOOD FORM IS JUST PART OF THE JOB!

Sam Sarakinis, Inoac Interior Systems

6 HEAVY METAL IS NOT JUST FOR ROCK STARS.

Mark Borlik, Aucilla

5 TOLERANCE COMES NATURALLY TO A MOLDMAKER.

Annette Langhammer, Dynaplas

4 WHAT ELSE ARE YOU GOING TO DO BETWEEN HUNTING SEASONS?

Ken Stringfield, Danaher

3 CLOSE OUTS AND CLEARANCES AREN'T JUST FOR DEPARTMENT STORES.

Ralph Neufarth, iMFLUX (P&G)

2 WE MAY BE STRESSED, BUT OUR MOLD BLOCKS AREN'T.

Gabe Meldrum, International Mold Corp

#1 OUR RUNNERS WON'T FLASH YOU AT THE GATE.

Denny Scher, ICOMold

Keep checking back with us here on our daily blog as well as on Twitter (@MMT_ChristinaF) and Facebook for post-show reports.

Finally, a big thank you to all of you who participated in this year's Amerimold--sponsors, exhibitors, speakers and attendees! We hope to see you and more in 2017!