What’s the status of material prices?
It’s true what they say in the news, prices are going up for one reason another, transportation, trucking, ports, chinese economic decisions (they ship to themselves first), Russia and other Geo-political aspects. Shortages of feedstocks and additives, labor shortages, and storms. Our material costs are rising about 10-15% per month. In an attempt to increase throughput, color suppliers are raising their minimum buys to do more with less people. Lead times on colorants have gone from 2-3 weeks up to 9-12 weeks in some cases for custom colors. Material suppliers are pushing for higher volume buys, and some materials that were ordered in 3Q2021 are finally starting to come in.
Does it still make sense to mold in China or other low cost countries?
If your part is small and light, and the volume can be sent by airfrieght, and the part is an assembly with inserts or other features, then yes, it still makes sense to make in china. If the part is bigger than your hand, heavy and dense, or long and thin, and higher volume 5000+ then it makes more sense to make the part in the USA, preferably at IMAP!
Shipping by sea freight from china can now take months and is very costly, not only for the shipment, but all the additional landing costs on the usa side. Thats why we build molds in the USA and run our own parts in the USA!
How long does it take to make a plastic injection mold?
The short answer is, it depends: smaller low volume molds can be 3d printed or machiined out of aluminum in 3-5 weeks. More complex bigger molds are taking 6-8 weeks. Large molds plan on up to 2-3 months.
Can I buy high volume 3d printed parts instead of injection molding?
Yes you can, but you should do a cost calculation, based on the number of parts you need and the cost of the 3d printed parts, vs the cost of the injection mold and the cost of the injection molded parts. We can provide those calculations and offer both services. The ability to change design is a plus, Do not build a mold and then expect to change it multiple times for free. My suggestion is that if you need parts bigger than your hand and more than 600-800 then it makes sense to injection mold them. If you plan on many design iterations 3D printing is the way to go. If you want low cost for thousands of parts bigger than your hand, injection molding is the way to go.