MMT Blog
Byrne Tool & Die: A Culture of Change
This moldmaker takes employee training and development to a new level and relies on the latest in lean initiatives to get the job done quickly, earning them the MoldMaking Technology 2009 Leadtime Leader Award: Small Shop.
Read MoreAdapting Scouting Skills to Your Shop
A common factor among all of us in achieving our goals— whether personal or business—is our past associations.
Read MoreAvoid Chasing CNC Variability with CAM
Moldmakers who produce tooling for medical devices and many other high precision molded products have been under increasingly greater pressure to reduce the variability of tooling components manufactured on their CNC equipment. One way they attempt to do this is by carefully adjusting offsets in the CAM program to compensate for variations in their equipment’s volumetric accuracy. Sometimes this works, other times not. Either way, the toolmaker pays a heavy penalty.
Read MoreGreater Accuracy and Productivity Via Surface Finishing and Cleaning
Choosing the optimum type of flexible hone or brush can be highly effective in improving the accuracy of mold assembly or enhancing injection molding productivity.
Read MoreHigh-Speed Machining Simplified
How high-speed machining can be reliably achieved by using the principles applied along with the correct tooling, feeds and speeds.
Read MoreHow Success Happens
All too often lately, I sense a feeling of entitlement in some areas of manufacturing. I know how that sounds—U.S. manufacturers rightly believe that they’ve been bludgeoned over the past 20 years or so by government trade policies, along with a shifting perception in our culture that a career in manufacturing is in some way less-than-noble/lucrative/rewarding. But there are some SMMs that I speak with who say things are hopeless. They tell me that their industry and government have abandoned them, and there’s nothing they can do about it.
Read MoreCost of Ownership: A Lifetime of Molding Savings
“There’s nothing more expensive than a cheap mold,” has been said by many a tooling engineer after a bargain of a mold began bleeding profits.
Read MoreMoldMaking Expo 2009: Get Organized
Surveys conducted by sister publication, Plastics Technology (www.ptonline.com) as well as MapYourShow (www.mapyourshow.com)—developed in 2005 by Gardner Publications, Inc. to provide state-of-the-art trade show mapping and planning solutions.
Read MoreGetting out of Survival Mode
Of course, trying economic times like these call for cutting back in certain areas, but smart shops understand that attending industry-specific events.
Read MoreCommercial Tool & Die: Innovation And Improvement Are Keys to Success
The company’s two mantras—customer service coupled with continuous improvement—have allowed this mold manufacturer to triumph during trying times while landing them the MoldMaking Technology 2009 Leadtime Leader Award: Large Shop for the second year in a row.
Read MorePrehardened Stainless Mold Steel Optimized by Nitrogen Alloying
To prevent the negative effects of microstructural inhomogenities in some tool steel—such as on machinability, polishability, corrosion resistance and mechanical properties—a new alloy has been created with a more homogeneous microstructure.
Read MoreAre You Charging or Recharging?
It goes without saying that shops and plants around the U.S. are facing intense economic and business pressures. For most of us, it was no bed of roses before today’s global credit crisis began last year—we’ve seen the competitive landscape shift dramatically over the past decade. A few weeks ago, I was talking to an old friend and fellow business owner in Ohio. He told me that his company was certainly feeling these pressures and he had to make some tough decisions to reduce costs—among them were reducing prices to maintain business and cash flow, and the hard choice to cut staff.
Read More
