Ratio Analysis: Injection Molding

According to Bob Beard, P.E., president of Robert A. Beard & Associates Inc,. and a Honored Fellow of SPE, this ratio analysis published by SPI can be used to show the estimated effect of 20, 30 and 40 percent cycle reduction for just one mold, one press, or a whole plant. Just change the Sales dollars at the bottom of the table to change the profit dollars.

To simplify the analysis, consider one mold in the press 100 percent of the time: 6,000
hours/year at $60/press hour. This would generate $600,000/year in Sales. A conventional
mold would generate a profit of $18,600. A conformal mold would generate:

20% cycle reduction = $41,628.57 - a 224% increase

30% cycle reduction = $69,262.86 - a 372% increase

40% cycle reduction = $78,474.29 - a 422% increase

Conformal cooling will decrease rejects (such as warping) because of the mold's uniform cooling; thereore, any reject reduction will fall directly into profits (for example, a 5-percent reject reduction would add an additional 5 percent to profits).

Keep in mind that increases for the cost of the engineering analyses and the incremental cost to manufacture a conformal mold over a conventional mold must be subtracted from the profit.