Plastic mold company
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IS it still a good option to buy plastics molds from CHINA? In the first part of the series, written by The Aachener Werkzeugbau Akademie the chances of the Chinese market for injection molds will be presented. Toolmaking in China is present in the entire Chinese mainland, with the three coastal provinces of Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and the city of Shanghai covering 80% of Chinese plastic injection mold or tooling production. Efforts are underway in the Guangdong province in particular to further increase the industrial potential in the Pearl River Delta by building two gigantic bridges.Based on a study on tool construction in China conducted by the WBA and the machine tool laboratory WZL of the RWTH Aachen, the focus will be on the market for injection molds. To this end, the study identified over 3000 toolmakers in China, out of which 110 have undergone a detailed benchmarking process. Finally, the top twelve benchmarking companies in China were visited and audited by experts. The main buyer of Chinese injection molds can be found at the Asian and Chinese markets with a 46% share of sales. However, it is observed Sales to Europe (30%) and North America (19%) have increased significantly in recent years and Chinese injection molding is a serious competitor to local suppliers. The automotive industry is the main customer for the majority of tool and die shops with a higher than average technical and organizational structure. In this industry, Chinese injection mold makers generate on average 39% of their sales. It can be seen that filigree shapes, special dimensional and shape tolerance requirements and high-cavity injection molds can only be achieved by a few, selected toolmakers. In comparison to Germany, Chinese injection molds have a good quality in the industry average. This can be seen, for example, in the surface accuracy achieved in the factories: even 36% of the tool shops achieve a surface accuracy of 1μm. In this context, however, it should be added that the product range in many Chinese companies is not very focused and, despite the fact that surface accuracies have been met, only individual mold makers can be attributed core competences in the high-precision area. The expert Hans Griessl, Head of Gerresheimer Technology Competence Center China, says: "In the field of injection molding, Chinese toolmaking is still widely diversified. However, some companies have reached German quality levels in many areas. These companies must be identified and further developed in cooperation, taking into account their own requirements. Only in close coordination can we achieve the best results in China, even with the best in the industry. " At the same time, the price level of Chinese tools in the area of injection mold construction is comparable to comparable quality standard up to 40% lower than in Germany. Despite steadily rising wage levels in conjunction with lower productivity gains - productivity in China is four times lower than sales - it is unlikely that Chinese molds will reach the German price level in the medium term. Accordingly, it will be necessary in the future to identify the above-average successful Chinese toolmakers in order to take advantage of the possible proximity to local production facilities in China and the lower cost price for injection molds. The performance of toolmakers is essentially dependent on the mastery of the processes. Indicators of high process conductivity include throughput time and on-time delivery. Due to the high availability of capacities in design, mechanical manufacturing and sampling, plastic injection molding projects in China can be realized quickly, as resource shortages ( people materials) are rare. For example, up to three people often work on one construction, which means that the throughput times for comparably complex tools in China can be up to 50% lower. The good process capability is also reflected in an on-time delivery of just under 75% comparable to Germany, on schedule or before the agreed date of delivered tools. In the field of know-how-intensive assembly and in try-out, a large number of Chinese toolmakers have room for improvement, but in the meantime companies with a very high level of performance can also be found in these areas. In most cases, companies qualify their employees on their own because of the difficulty in accessing highly qualified employees in the labor market. The turnover rate in China is very high compared to Germany. A Chinese employee works an average of eight years for a company. In Germany, the average is 15 years, so that good knowledge transfer within the company is the key success factor for successful toolmakers in China. In terms of machine manufacturing resources, operations in China are diversified. For example, the core technologies of toolmaking, such as milling, turning, countersinking, wire erosion and grinding, are available in almost all companies. In addition, it should be added that the average age of the machines is very low compared to Germany. This is due to continuous investments as well as efforts of the companies to present a young machine park to the customer. It can be said that Chinese tools are a serious procurement option in the field of injection molding. Many Chinese toolmakers have very good and broad machine equipment and can offer powerful tools at low prices through additional staff deployment. However, it is important identify and develop the capable and reliable toolmakers, as the Chinese procurement market is very in transparent. Only high market intelligence and on-site presence will allow satisfactory tool purchasing in China. about us Since its foundation in 1992, our company has developed extremely dynamically. This is reflected in the current expansion to meanwhile 12,000 m² production and office space as well as the increasing number of our employees, as well as in the constant modernization of the mechanical equipment and the expansion of our wide range of services. Tooling Modern and high-quality technologies provide the necessary process reliability to perform all processes on time, economically and with high quality. We have the following machine park: Makino CNC machine, Mitsubishi EDM and slow-wire cutting machine, the Spanish tapping machines. Coordinate detector, fully automatic CNC vision measuring machine, hardness tester, Sumitomo injection molding machines etc. Many years of experience and high creativity characterize the engineers in our design department. A lot depends on their knowledge and skills, because the quality of the construction is crucial for the quality of the mold. We have set up our own design and quality manual for each customer from different countries. The ultimate goal of our plastic moulds company is customer satisfaction. The best proof of this is the large number of satisfied regular customers in the most important industries worldwide. ( such as BMW) The use of high quality materials, short delivery times and a high level of reliability makes Triple-c a perfect partner for mold and tool making . |
