Rapid Injection Molding Can be Slow if You Don’t Pick the Right Supplier

Rapid injection molding is only ‘rapid’ if it is done right the first time. If you don’t qualify your rapid injection molding partner properly you will likely end up with a Frankenstein mold that may be longer to fix than it did to create.

Ideally, you want a vendor that can assist you in creating high quality prototypes as well as creating the actual injection mold tool for you. This will show you that they have experience in tight deadlines. The big benefits surrounding rapid injection molding is dramatically reduced mold costs and mold fabrication time, as well as the ability to produce and deliver parts that are identical to high volume production parts. Your choice of a rapid prototyping supplier can make or break production and your ability to truly be rapid, to deliver your design to the market or testing phase as desired in a quick timeframe.  

Look for a rapid injection molding partner that offers transparency when it comes to material selection. This way, you can make sure that the final product you will receive meets the needs of your application. Check to make sure that they only get resin from verified sources and not secondary black market sources.

Finding the right rapid injection molding partner is also crucial because when you miss your deadline the entire exercise of a rapid injection mold can be for nothing and you may have compromised your ability to make needed changes. Yes, rapid tools are cheaper. Yes, rapid tools are faster. But only if they are done right the first time. You cannot swing and miss with rapid tooling.

Injection Mold Maker: Learn How to Qualify a Good Partner

It is not difficult to find an injection mold maker—the challenge for most manufacturers is finding the right provider to partner with—one that can meet their production requirements, budget restrictions, and timelines. Populating your list of potential service providers is easy enough—narrowing it down to the perfect supplier is often what slows down the selection process. Here are some things that you should keep in mind while trying to qualify a good injection mold maker and partner:

1.    Look for a manufacturer that has experience in producing parts with quality control tolerances that also match your parts needs. Not all injection mold makers can hit the tolerances you desire. Reviewing past projects of theirs will help you qualify the tightness of their work.

2.    Choose a manufacturer that receives high praise from their clients. Look at their ratings and reviews to see what other clients are saying about certain manufacturers and to know what you can expect out of them once you sign your contract.

3.    Make sure that the manufacturer you choose follows international quality standards but also quiz them to make sure they understand product safety, packaging and labeling regulations.

4.    Look for a reputable company that maintains transparency throughout all your transactions. Reputable companies will not hesitate to provide you all the documentations you need to prove their service quality and the legitimacy of their business.

5.    Choose a company with reasonable MOQ (Minimum Order Quantity) so you don’t have to be forced to buy more units of a particular part than you actually need. What options for production runs do they have? Are they willing to store product for you? How quickly can they turn around a production run if you get a quick order?

There are many other factors that should come into play when choosing the right manufacturer for your production needs. Ask about their manufacturing capabilities and delivery speed and be clear about payment terms before making a final choice.

China Tariffs, Injection Molding and How to Save

Trade wars are not fun for customers or suppliers. During high China tariffs times each company will take a hard look at their needs to try to determine if they should move forward with projects that are affected by new higher tariffs (usually temporary). There are several factors to consider, such as: Do they want to disrupt existing offshore supplier relationships? Can they find alternative domestic suppliers to deliver on the project if they don’t have existing relationships? But like many things in business it comes down to price. Do the new higher China tariffs adversely affect the the project budget so much so that there is no longer any financial benefit to doing business in China. This is of course the point of a punitive tariff, to discourage offshore work and encourage domestic spending.

Because price is such an important factor let’s take a look at the math and a case study. An apples to apples project comparison quote to help tell the full story of how a normal 3.1% tariff that is now 28.1% tariff affects the bottom line price of an injection mold that is made in China and imported into the USA.

China Supplier with 28.1% Tariff & DDP Shipping            USA Supplier with 0% Tariff

8 Cavity Mold – $75,750 Base Quote                 8 Cavity Mold - $150,640 Base Quote

Delivered with Duty Paid - $88,592 Final Price          Delivered - $151,320 Final Price

Even with the current high 28.1% tariff on China injection molds that is still a $62,000 savings when you find a supplier who can offer you a legal DDP shipping option. Using the same numbers and a supplier who cannot offer DDP shipping you will still save roughly $50,000. NOTE: the vast majority of China injection mold makers cannot offer you a DDP shipping option but some can.

So, what are the takeaways?

1. After China tariffs have been paid, if saving between $50,000 - $62,000 is not enough for you to continue working with a China injection mold maker then working with a USA based injection mold maker and their higher price is the option you are left with.

2. If saving between $50,000 - $62,000 is a plus to you then you will likely stay the course and adjust your existing budgets up a bit to compensate for the new China tariffs…because you are still receiving substantial savings even with the higher tariffs.

It is also important to note that many China suppliers will say anything to win your business and will suggest some crazy things to you that are illegal and will land YOU, not them, in big trouble with customs in the USA.

One quick example, a supplier may tell you to create two separate PO’s, one for engineering and one for the mold as a way to save on tariffs. This is bad advice and an illegal maneuver. Carefully vet the “solution” that your China supplier offers when it comes to tariffs because most of it is nonsense that comes with heavy repercussions on the back end for you. At the end of the day you will save time and money if you direct your efforts into finding suppliers who can offer you legal solutions to reducing tariff burdens.