Can You Prove It?

 

International Mold Corporation (IMC), a Clinton Township, Michigan-based prototype and low-volume production mold builder, has taken over an industrial park with six existing plants—focused on machining, prototyping, tryout, injection molding, blow molding and assembly—and is establishing a new location down south that will mimic its Michigan operational model. The technology and processes I saw during my visit help the shop live up to its motto: If you take care of your customers and give them the best products at an affordable price, you’re going to do well.  We are here to prove it!”

When you hit the floors of the various plants you see quite an assortment of technology, but a few stand out.  One piece of equipment I don’t often see in a mold shop is waterjet technology, yet IMC has a Wardjet waterjet machine for its manifold and ejector plate work. It provides drilling and tapping on one machine. Having this technology in-house has opened up a service business for them. A six-axis Makino machine has been added to Plant 1, which is capable of machining instrument panel and fascia size tooling, and a five-axis gun drill is used for water lines. IMC says “it’s the closest thing to conformal cooling”.

IMC’s big differentiator is laser scanning parts immediately (within an hour) after sampling their molds.  This information is reviewed with their customers and meaningful direction can be given the same day.  Part warpage is reviewed and process changes can be made on the fly.  This is valuable “reverse engineering” information that carries into their production tooling and/or changes to any prototype tool.  

Its newest facility is Plant 7, located in Greer, South Carolina on 10.5 acres. The location was selected to provide local support to its southeastern customers, which makes up half of IMC’s customer base. For example, BMW and Honda. They also have a partnership with Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CUICAR) and retain an office there. The company hopes to break ground in the next month or two and anticipates the facility will open in February or March.

IMC’s 110 full-time employees help build 500 to 600 prototype, low-volume production injection molds, along with prototype and production blow molds. Seventy percent of its customers are in automotive with the rest coming from a variety of other end markets. When it comes to workforce development. They use Expert Tech for training and employees regularly cross train between plants.

You can check them out more here.