Micro Mold Celebrates 40-Year Anniversary with Expansion

Micro Mold is a precision moldmaker headquartered in Erie, Pennsylvania. The company announced last month that it has recently expanded its R&D facility as it embarks on its 40th year in business.

Micro Mold was established by Tim Katen and Dave Mead in 1978. The two entrepreneurs invested their personal life savings into the business and officially began Micro Mold in a small, rented garage of 1,160 square feet. Today, the company rests on a 17,500 square-foot facility consisting of 20 full-time employees and has seen multiple expansions over the last four decades.

Tim Katen reflects on the early years by noting that he and Mead worked full-time jobs during the day and worked at Micro Mold at night. Initially, the garage setup did not include heat, so Katen would work while wearing a hat and gloves. He and his wife were expecting their second child at the time, and he is amazed at how quickly the 40 years have passed.

The most recent expansion effort within Micro Mold’s R&D facility included an all-new Arburg 88T molding machine. The molding machine was recently purchased to enhance Micro Mold’s sampling and validation capabilities. In addition, the molding machine was outfitted with eDART process monitoring software. The company anticipates that the new machine will enable more accurate, more efficient transfers of process data during FAT samples, process DOE’s and so on. Micro Mold says that its original equipment manufacturer clients appreciate that the company can conduct multiple samples off-line and leave a press idle overnight when it conducts multi-day validation runs. Micro Mold has budged for additional growth plans within the R&D expansion. Specifically, the company has planned the expansion around having as many as three molding machines available.