Five ways to cut down on plastic injection molding costs

Posted by steven zheng on June 29th, 2022

Five ways to cut down on plastic injection molding costs

It is necessary for both plastic injection molding manufacturers and business owners to continually look into ways to refine the low volume injection molding process to cut down on unnecessary costs.

It can be extremely hard to cut costs while maintaining the high quality of the product. This is especially the case for complicated parts with intricate design elements and different color requirements. However, it is still possible to optimize a few steps to reduce the overall costs.

Here's a list of few strategies that could help cut down some plastic injection molding costs:

1. Improve efficiency

Multiple simple steps can help you maximize efficiency. Injection molding is a multi-step procedure that includes mold designing, prototyping, injection molding, production, finish, etc.

Implementing the best practices for creating and optimizing the other aspects can help create a cost-effective project. Furthermore, using China injection molding suppliers will reduce the overall lead time and cuts on costs like shipping.

Optimizing each step within the process cycle in isolation is a sure way to save money.

2. Design Modifications

Different design changes could be considered to reduce the cost of the product being manufactured. Meet with your plastic injection designer to discuss the design options. Simple solutions like using a hollow part instead of a rigid component (where it is not necessary in terms of use) could help lower the overall cost.

The lesser the amount of material that is used less material is used, the lower is the overall cost of the produced plastic component. However, design modifications should always be carried out without damaging the structural integrity of the product.

3. Material selection

A significant portion of plastic injection molding costs is taken up by the type of plastic resin and the material utilized. Each resin comes with its own cost associated with it.

Before deciding on a particular plastic resin for your product, take into consideration the purpose of the plastic part. Evaluate the necessary features that are required in the component in order to achieve the best functionality. Check if you could achieve that with lower-end plastic resin. Sometimes, lower-end resins with certain fillers and additives can be used as a more expensive material.

Weigh your options carefully. Take into consideration the costs of resins used in conjunction with the additives required. It is crucial to know that certain additives could add to the expense of your piece. Look for the most viable solution that will ensure the quality of the product and is still the most economical solution.

4. Limit personalizations

Many products can be customized to meet different/ decoration needs like the texture of the surface, color dyes, stamping, use of lasers, and other aesthetic requirements.

Of course, the lesser the number of adjustments required in the molded component, the more you save on costs. It is crucial to carefully consider the requirement of each finish prior to its implementation in the construction. Making these areas less important is a simple way to reduce the overall project cost.

5. Use Family Molds

One of the most efficient ways to lower your plastic injection molding costs per part will be increasing the quantity of the parts produced. Creating an family mold that fits in multiple parts in one go saves both time and effort and, consequently, is very cost-effective.

However, using molds that are a family mold can only happen for parts that are relatively identical in dimensions. Additionally, for parts which are complex in structure, it's best to choose single molds rather than family molds to maintain the quality of the product.

The higher the parts being manufactured in one mold, the faster is the rate of production. This also means that the mold will require less cycles, which aids in maximizing effectiveness.

Final Thoughts:

It's crucial to know that the plastic manufacturer financial costs associated with various aspects of injection molding (designing the tooling prototyping finish, and production) is an investment you're making. Although this investment will make up the majority of your total project budget, it's one of the most crucial aspects of the success of your project.

Walking the thin line between cost optimization and quality requires care. Make sure that your cost-cutting methods do not impact the overall quality of the final product.