MoldMaking Live!

Come experience it at amerimold expo 2013, June 12 - 13 in Rosemont, IL. To put it simply: this year we have a lot of good stuff going on for you to see, hear, experience and enjoy. We are back in the Chicago area and co-locating with a few other industry events.

Our exhibit hall is full of machine tool, cutting tool, material, software, components, repair, finishing and additive technologies, services and expertise specific to your mold building and processing needs. We are bringing back our Networking Party and MMT’s Top 10 Reasons to Be a Moldmaker t-shirts. We are celebrating our annual Leadtime Leader Award winners and we are honoring other industry veterans this year as well. We have developed a technical conference following the magazine’s format with participation from leading mold manufacturers and molders, and new this year we are debuting show floor technology/strategy presentations called Knowledge Centers (a peek at the technology to be on display at the event begins on page 50). A great menu of opportunities!

The technical conference is broken down into three blocks: Engineer, Build, Maintain:

ENGINEER Block Sponsored by Society of Plastics Engineers, Mold Making and Mold Design Division whose goal it is to bring to the forefront the technologies and best practices necessary for the critical decision-making that needs to take place by the mold buyer and mold builder. Topics will include part/mold design, simulation, putting intelligence in the mold, and a look at innovative ways OEMs, molders and moldmakers are working together. Those on the front line of decisions being made between the mold builder and buyer—Mold Shop Senior Management, Mold Procurement Personnel, Mold Designers, Part Design, as well as processing and troubleshooting personnel should attend.

BUILD Block Sponsored by Tooling and Manufacturing Association (TMA) whose goal is to provide examples, analysis and discussion that provokes decision-makers to plan for how their shop and staff will look in the year 2015. We will examine challenges and strategies to further evolve from being a mold shop, to a mold manufacturer. In addition to technology deployment, topics will include employee delegation and accountability and workforce development. Company Owners, Operations/Plant Managers, Shop Foremen and HR Managers should make plans to be there.

MAINTAIN Block Sponsored by ToolingDocs whose goal is to develop awareness and planning for more proactive mold maintenance by molders and their mold builders. Repairs and downtime are costly for molders, jeopardize OEM's program launches, and can be a liability for moldbuilders' customer relations. This session will review some essential processes to mold maintenance/repair—e.g., cleaning, retrofitting and welding—but with an emphasis on the leadership and the resulting organized documentation, methodology, troubleshooting and training necessary for optimum performance of one's fleet of tooling. Toolroom Managers at Molding facilities, Molding Facility Owners and Plant Managers, OEM contacts responsible for tooling productivity and costs, and personnel at mold building companies responsible for repairing and maintaining their customers' tools should check it out.