{"id":2892,"date":"2020-03-15T14:48:15","date_gmt":"2020-03-15T18:48:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/nx-design\/?p=2892"},"modified":"2026-03-26T04:21:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T08:21:19","slug":"how-mold-makers-can-improve-their-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/designcenter\/how-mold-makers-can-improve-their-business\/","title":{"rendered":"How Mold Makers Can Improve Their Business"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The Business of Mold Making<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Mold making is a challenging business. Not only is the process of injection molding incredibly complex from a technical perspective, but the business pressures are also significant. In a recent <a href=\"https:\/\/tech-clarity.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Tech-Clarity (opens in a new tab)\">Tech-Clarity<\/a> study, we surveyed over 370 mold makers to identify the current challenges facing mold makers today and what it takes to succeed. The respondents included a mix of mold makers that are part of a larger company (42% of respondents) and those that are independent job shops (58% of respondents). The research finds that while there are numerous challenges, there are also opportunities to stand out. Those who have transformed their processes by adopting the technologies of 2020 are finding much success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/03\/Tech-Clarity_Guest_Blog_Toolmakers_2020-02-08.jpg\" alt=\"Mold Making\" class=\"wp-image-2932\" width=\"499\" height=\"440\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/03\/Tech-Clarity_Guest_Blog_Toolmakers_2020-02-08.jpg 709w, https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/03\/Tech-Clarity_Guest_Blog_Toolmakers_2020-02-08-300x264.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 499px) 100vw, 499px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Challenges Facing Mold Makers<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Today\u2019s mold makers face many obstacles. &nbsp;The graph shows the top five challenges that\nmust be addressed to maintain a successful business. The challenges can be\ngrouped into three main categories:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Business trends<\/li><li>Worker knowledge<\/li><li>Technology advancements<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>With strategies in place to successfully address these challenges, mold makers will enjoy a competitive advantage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"926\" height=\"416\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/03\/Tech-Clarity_Guest_Blog_Toolmakers_2020-02-08-1.jpg\" alt=\"Mold Making\" class=\"wp-image-2933\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/03\/Tech-Clarity_Guest_Blog_Toolmakers_2020-02-08-1.jpg 926w, https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/03\/Tech-Clarity_Guest_Blog_Toolmakers_2020-02-08-1-300x135.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/03\/Tech-Clarity_Guest_Blog_Toolmakers_2020-02-08-1-768x345.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 926px) 100vw, 926px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Business Trends<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/03\/Business-World-canstockphoto15964825-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2934\" width=\"157\" height=\"209\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/03\/Business-World-canstockphoto15964825-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/03\/Business-World-canstockphoto15964825-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/03\/Business-World-canstockphoto15964825-1152x1536.jpg 1152w, https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/03\/Business-World-canstockphoto15964825-1110x1480.jpg 1110w, https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/03\/Business-World-canstockphoto15964825.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 157px) 100vw, 157px\" \/><figcaption>\u00a9 Can Stock Photo Inc. \/ iDesign<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Technology, and the internet in particular, has made the world smaller. It has made it easier to identify and reach international partners and suppliers. Consequently, mold makers have seen a rise in global competition. Rather than competing against a few local or domestic toolmakers, now they compete with others around the world. As a result, they need to offer more for their bid to stand out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Further, to be price competitive with lower-cost regions, mold makers may need to lower prices, which cuts into already thinning margins. Unfortunately, this leaves very little cushion for things to go wrong. Challenges around worker knowledge compound this challenge further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Worker Knowledge<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Developing and producing molds requires significant expertise. You need a good understanding of plastics behavior, thermodynamics, machining practices, and more. Consequently, mold makers require highly skilled workers. Further, as injection molding technology has advanced, the requirements for technically skilled workers have only increased. Unfortunately, the number of workers with this skill set is limited, and it takes a long time to develop the expertise. Adding to the challenge, many of the most experienced workers are approaching retirement and with that, their knowledge will be lost to the company. This will create even more demand for the already limited pool of qualified staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Technology Advancements<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>While there is already a huge demand for knowledgeable workers, technology is continuously advancing, moving the bar even further. It is hard to keep up with all the advancements. Developments in materials, including fillers, impact how the plastic will flow into the mold. New cooling techniques such as conformal cooling channels influence the mold design. New manufacturing approaches, such as 3D printing, drive new approaches to production.&nbsp; Therefore, those who can make better decisions to optimize applications for new technology are in the best position to create opportunities and improve their margins, which gives them a competitive edge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What Strategies Should You Focus On?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>So what are the best approaches to address these challenges?\nTo understand this, we identified Top Performing companies. We defined Top\nPerformers as the top 20% of companies who outperform their competitors in\nmetrics that indicate a successful business:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Revenue growth over the last 24 months<\/li><li>Product margin expansion over the previous 24 months<\/li><li>Product cost reduction<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>We then focused on what Top Performers do, especially what they do differently, compared to their peers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"666\" height=\"595\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/03\/Tech-Clarity_Guest_Blog_Toolmakers_2020-02-08-2.jpg\" alt=\"Mold Making\" class=\"wp-image-2935\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/03\/Tech-Clarity_Guest_Blog_Toolmakers_2020-02-08-2.jpg 666w, https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/03\/Tech-Clarity_Guest_Blog_Toolmakers_2020-02-08-2-300x268.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 666px) 100vw, 666px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What Top Performers Do Differently<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The big difference between Top Performers and their peers is\nthat they are more likely to focus on strategies that allow them to streamline work\nby supporting an end-to-end process. This improves efficiency, but also leverages\ntheir collective knowledge throughout the entire process product development\nprocess from the bid, through design, to manufacturing. This helps them save\ntime while reducing the risk of errors, improving quality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Top Performers are 29% more likely to improve hand-offs.\nThis includes improving the hand-off of the bid to engineering as well as from engineering\nto manufacturing. This also improves collaboration and supports an end-to-end digital\nprocess. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/03\/Digital-Thread-Space-Dollarphotoclub_61830859-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2937\" width=\"340\" height=\"255\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/03\/Digital-Thread-Space-Dollarphotoclub_61830859-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/03\/Digital-Thread-Space-Dollarphotoclub_61830859-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/03\/Digital-Thread-Space-Dollarphotoclub_61830859-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/03\/Digital-Thread-Space-Dollarphotoclub_61830859-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/03\/Digital-Thread-Space-Dollarphotoclub_61830859-2048x1536.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/03\/Digital-Thread-Space-Dollarphotoclub_61830859-1110x833.jpg 1110w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 340px) 100vw, 340px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>A way to achieve this is by supporting a digital thread across the entire lifecycle. By capturing everything used to develop the quote in a digital model and then handing that off to engineering, not only do you save engineering time, but you also improve communication between sales and engineering. This ensures that engineering work is based on exactly what was quoted. Then, using engineering models to develop tool paths, all the intelligence engineering embedded into the CAD model can be leveraged. Then, should the customer require a change or manufacturing encounter manufacturability issues that require engineering changes, updates to the engineering model will automatically be reflected in the toolpaths. There is traceability across the entire lifecycle, knowledge is shared across domains, and efforts aren&#8217;t wasted due to working on outdated information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Learn More<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p> To learn more about what Top Performing companies do, you can read the entire research study in Tech-Clarity\u2019s new eBook, <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.plm.automation.siemens.com\/global\/en\/topic\/ebook-breaking-the-mold\/70210\" target=\"_blank\"><em>Breaking the Mold: How Toolmakers Are Transforming Operations to Stay Competitive<\/em>.<\/a> This eBook reveals the rest of the survey results and shares recommendations to help mold makers improve their business. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can also listen to a discussion of the Tech-Clarity survey results as well as learn more about solutions for mold makers by watching this webinar: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.plm.automation.siemens.com\/global\/en\/webinar\/mold-design-tooling-injection\/67702\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.plm.automation.siemens.com\/global\/en\/webinar\/mold-design-tooling-injection\/67702<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Business of Mold Making Mold making is a challenging business. Not only is the process of injection molding incredibly&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52600,"featured_media":2933,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spanish_translation":"","french_translation":"","german_translation":"","italian_translation":"","polish_translation":"","japanese_translation":"","chinese_translation":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[161,1],"tags":[14,3,74,29,4],"industry":[],"product":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-2892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ebook","category-news","tag-3d-product-design","tag-cad","tag-cam","tag-manufacturing","tag-product-design"],"featured_image_url":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/03\/Tech-Clarity_Guest_Blog_Toolmakers_2020-02-08-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/designcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2892","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/designcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/designcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/designcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/52600"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/designcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2892"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/designcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2892\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3149,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/designcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2892\/revisions\/3149"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/designcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/designcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/designcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/designcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2892"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/designcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=2892"},{"taxonomy":"product","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/designcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product?post=2892"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sw.siemens.com\/designcenter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=2892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}