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COPYRIGHT 2008 Advantage Business Media
Molding is a critical process in the manufacture of medical devices. However, long molding runs are not always the ideal option for the fabrication of components for a device. Short run molding provides numerous advantages to medical device designers that would not he otherwise realized. Combined with up-front engineering, this method can lead to a tremendous success for the product design and manufacturing team.
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What's the difference between molding parts for a week and molding parts for a few hours? There is actually a considerable difference. Further, any designer and manufacturing professional in the growing medical sector will benefit from understanding that difference.
Short run can be defined as any run that, including the set-up and tear-down times, lasts less than 48 hours (this is not defined by number of parts, as cycle time and mold cavitation depends on many factors). It's a niche competency, but in the U.S. medical plastics market--estimated at $5.6 billion and rising--it's an increasing need. The rising demand creates better molding practices and more efficient product design imperatives.
Short Run vs. Long Run
The intricacies and differences between short-run and standard--or long-run--molding are not universally known. However, determining which process will be used is fairly straight forward; it is based on how many parts need to be made. The area where a difference can be made is in understanding the specialty of short-run molding. Once the challenge is better understood, it is easy to see why it pays to find a molding partner who specializes in short run to make low-volume parts, rather than continuing to rely on a standard molder.
Separating short-ran from long-run jobs when outsourcing the molding may...
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