MoldMaking Technology

SEP 2017

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Global Competition 26 MoldMaking Technology —— SEPTEMBER 2017 By Rosemary Coates Exit Planning for Reshoring I had a sad meeting recently with the CEO and CFO of an industrial products company. I had to tell them there was very little chance they would ever get their molds back from their Chinese contract manufacturer. The company wanted to reestablish manufacturing in the United States. It had already selected a U.S. site, but needed help in reestablishing its supply base and shutting down its contract manufacturer's production line in China. The CEO and CFO came to the Reshoring Institute for assistance with extracting their operations from China and reestablishing operations in the U.S. They were anxious to get their molds and tools home to use on the new U.S. production line. They had paid for the creation and development of new injection molds in Shenzhen and believed they owned them. They had also shipped some U.S.-made molds to China, believing that Developing a strategy for leaving a foreign location is a crucial part of reshoring that involves re-engineering processes, automating production and understanding all associated costs. Images courtesy of the Reshoring Institute. Molds, tools and dies on a Chinese production line belong to that manufacturer in China. This means that a company attempting to reshore its production will likely leave behind its molds, tools and equipment. they retained ownership of those, too. After a review of their Chinese manufacturing contract, I could see clearly that they would never get their molds and equipment back. State of Chinese Moldmaking Moldmaking in China is a fact of manufacturing life. Moldmakers know that having a mold made in China can be as much as 50 to 60 percent cheaper than having one made in the United States. In addition, Chinese original equipment manufacturers and contract manufacturers are likely to have engineers on staff and CAD/CAM software available to design and develop their own molds. Chinese engineers have become proficient at the technical side of mold development. For these reasons, many companies have paid to make molds successfully in China. We used to be frustrated by low-quality molds, tools and dies from Asia that were often jury-rigged with primitive approach- es. Molds like this resulted in finished products of poor quality, production interruptions and endless rework. We have always known that the art and skill in moldmaking was a sophisticated process for the most experienced professionals. In the past, manufacturers often had to produce molds and tools in the U.S. and ship them to production sites in China to assure quality. But over time, the Chinese got much better at these skills and started producing molds and tools on par with global standards. Today, China graduates many thousands more engineers each year than the U.S. Most of these engineers go to work in the enormous Chinese manufacturing sector. Over the past 25 years, Chinese design and manufacturing engineering has become quite sophisticated, using the latest software, tools and production techniques. U.S. companies sourcing and manufac- turing in China now expect high-quality products at low cost, which presents a dilemma for companies trying to reshore.

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