Most Popular Cover Stories of 2019

 

 

 

To top off 2019, MoldMaking Technology asked its Editorial Advisory Board members what their top cover story picks are for the year. As MMT works about two months ahead, their choices did not include November or December. Still, they weighed in with the following features.

The number one pick was featured in the January issue: “Training Redefined: A Three-Pronged Approach to Solving the Skilled Labor Shortage”. One EAB member said, “Of course I am always interested in workforce development and training strategies and this feature was very in-depth.” Another EAB member commented that, “It is incredible what they are doing with employees, and I would love to see more shops take this approach.”

Tied for second was “Higher-Level Laser Mold Texturing”, which ran in the February issue and “How to Better Balance Family Molds”, which was the April cover story. EAB members told us that each feature represented a technology they were either not familiar with or that they knew little about. Regarding the latter, one EAB member said, “It might be a possible approach for a two-shot mold that we are looking at making, where the over-molded part is basically four separate parts, similar to this family mold application.”

Finally, a third top pick was our June issue feature about X-Cell Tool and Mold, MMT’s reigning Leadtime Leader Award winner. One EAB member said he enjoys learning about the shop that wins these honors, while another said, “I always read the LLA articles to see what makes the winner tick. It is always interesting and makes me feel happy for them and all the teamwork they put in to win!”

Honorable mentions included “A European View on AM: Rethinking Injection Molds”, which appeared in March, and the September issue’s “Tooling 4.0: Connecting Industry 4.0 Technology to Your Molds and Molding Process”. As expected, our readers are always looking for educational content about technologies that can help them improve their operations, and workforce development is an ongoing challenge for every shop. When you can get a glimpse of another moldmaker’s strategy, it can spark new avenues for development.