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Global Competition 38 MoldMaking Technology January 2015 When there is not time for multiple revision cycles with the offshore tooling vendor, again, it is helpful to have an onshore team of tooling experts. Although it's definitely preferable to have parts delivered to print before a mold is accepted, a U.S.- based team can assess whether any changes are needed and how easily it could make those adjustments. If the team deter- mines it can do the final grooming fairly quickly to get the mold to specification, this opens up more options for meeting quality and time-to-market requirements. 5. Bring the mold home. More and more, U.S. buyers are sourcing tooling from overseas and running the parts in the U.S. Bringing the mold home keeps it secure and helps protect intellectual property. It also makes the mold easy to access for quick production—same-day, if necessary. Whether the mold is made in the U.S. or overseas, how- ever, if the parts themselves are to be molded in the U.S., there are additional reasons to work directly with the tooling design team at the plastics molding facility. First, molds wear out over time, and certain material resins have inherent wear properties. If the plastics molder has skilled moldmakers and a well-equipped tool shop, maintenance or repairs can be completed on-site with minimal disruption to production schedules. Second, if the customer makes a design change to the part several years down the road, the on-site tool shop should be able to easily make the changes because it is famil- iar with the mold design, the part design intent and the capa- bilities of the production equipment. Having a U.S.-based tooling expert manage the process is key to achieving these benefits and avoiding the pitfalls of offshore moldmaking. CONTRIBUTOR Andy Molodetz is president and John Cavagnaro is engineering manager at CY Plastics. FOR MORE INFORMATION: CY Plastics / 585-229-2555 info@cyplastics.com / cyplastics.com LEARN MORE Visit our Business Strategies Zone for more information about global initiatives/strategies, banking and fnance, workforce development and new business opportunities. Go to moldmakingtechnology.com/zones for a complete list. Bringing overseas-sourced molds to the U.S. for part production helps protect intellectual property and provides easy access for quick part production.