When it comes time to begin your long-term manufacturing program, finding the right injection molding company can be a very long process. With hundreds of manufacturers readily available in the United States and each of them saying they are the right one for you, how does a customer truly find the answer to the question?
Agape Plastics offers the insights that our customers have shared with us over the years in what they did to find the right injection molding company for their long-term manufacturing programs.
Review Technical Capabilities
The strongest starting point during a search for an injection molding company that’s going to lead your long-term manufacturing program is by reviewing their technical capabilities and understanding their capabilities. Assuming a list of injection molding manufacturers within a given mile-radius from your business has been conducted, pouring in time reviewing the list of manufacturers and their capabilities can help trim down the options.
This begins with visiting a selected manufacturer’s website and exploring their injection molding page. Key items to search for can include how their process works and what that entails, if they are a turnkey manufacturing company that can handle all facets of production, and specific infrastructure pieces.
At Agape Plastics, we serve as a turnkey injection molding company by playing a role in every phase of a manufacturing program. Our facility currently contains 46 injection molding machines with a mix of horizontal and vertical machines. We have a wide range of machine capability with molding capabilities in 85TH to 1650TH.
Additionally, Agape Plastics can process nearly any thermoplastic your program needs along with material fillers and additives.
Gauge Engineering and Supportive Operations
While reviewing technical manufacturing capabilities of a given injection molding company is an important part of the search process, that’s only gaining one piece of the puzzle. Acquiring information about a company’s given engineering capabilities and supportive operations such as mold design, part design, transfer tooling, and value-added operations matters just as much.
Tooling Checklist
Tooling and mold building is one of the main pillars of a successful long-term manufacturing program. And the right injection molding company should play a role in the process. Whether it’s design assistance for your mold, conducting a feasibility analysis, or performing routine and preventative maintenance, the mold should be taken care of.
General Engineering Notes
Comprehensive engineering capabilities should be at the forefront of the right injection molding company for a long-term manufacturing program. This can include a multitude of services including: program management, design for manufacturability reviews, part feasibility analysis, and in the event your team is completely switching manufacturing methods, metal-to-plastic conversions.
Value-Added Operations
Many long-term injection molding programs will utilize value-added operations to further enhance the components. It could be assembly operations, decorative operations to visual and mechanically strengthen parts, or placing error-proofing procedures in place.
Ask What Quality Management Looks Like
All the capabilities and supporting operations of the right injection molding company should be backed by robust quality management systems. While seeing QMS certifications such as ISO 14001 or IATF 16949:2016 matter, it’s critical to dig deeper and investigate into how those certifications were earned.
This could include operations like CMM measurement, SPC tracking, color matching, various product and component testing, vision systems during molding, PPAP, and APQP.
End Your Search for an Injection Molding Company to Support Your Long-Term Program and Contact Agape Plastics
Agape Plastics, located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, is the custom injection molding manufacturer that OEMs, Tier 1, and Tier 2 suppliers have relied on since 1973. For more than 50 years, our team of operators, engineers, and executives have worked together to provide the experience and expertise a strong injection molding company should for its customers.
We serve multiple industries across all parts of North America with the injection molded components they and their customers need. Through a mix of strong tooling operations, pre-manufacturing engineering and program management, and robust quality management systems, we’re able to deliver on our sales pitch.
End your search for an injection molding company and contact Agape Plastics today.