I am journeyman moldmaker in the Grand Rapids, Mi area. I am currentley attending college part time to earn my engineering degree. I have to write a 7000 word paper on something related to plastics. I am hoping someone could help me with some information,keywords or web links where I can research whats instore in the years to come as far as new technology as it relates to how we build molds, I want to know what people are trying to develop,ideas that are out there, or anything else just something other than the same old stuff my profs have been reading for the past who knows how many years. Thank you in advance for any help.

RJG, Inc. is a solutions company for the injection molding industry. We provide process & production systems, cavity pressure technology and processing training. Lately we have begun to target mold builders and tryout shops to try to get them more in tune with their customers needs, (the molders). We feel mold builders will benefit by knowing what the end user expects from a mold. The best solution for all is a ready to go mold. One that can directly into production and will produce a good part on the first shot. We offer a certification program to moldmakers and designers that will show them how to build and test a mold before it ships to the customer. We emphasize doing your homework up front and getting the custtomer more involved in the design process. There is more information on our web site www.rjginc.com or contact our training department at training@rjginc.com. We also have a series of articles on this subject that is starting in the February issue of Moldmaking Technology Magazine. Hope this helps

Forecast; Year 2025
All plastic products are being mass produced using a simalar process to stereolithography. Molds are no longer needed, they'er to slow. FYI steel products are also being produced the same way.

Yeah, right.

Can you say.....get a clue!

I have seen a many 64 cavity molds run at 7-9 seconds. I will admit there is a good place for STL or fused deposition, but not to replace injection molding. What about Protomold? They have been know to build and run a mold 4 hours from the PO.

Tom R.

Tom R.

I have been in the tooling/plastic industry since 1972 and seen a lot of new developments. NC, CNC, SLA, and so on. If some one in the 70's would have told us that we would be making prototype parts using a laser we would have told them to get a clue as well.

It is all economy factor that determine the future has nothing to do with any special skills!