Making Single-Cavity Molding Work
Make no mistake, single-cavity molding is not merely a shrunk-down version of multicavity molding. Duclos says the company had to develop its own tooling concepts, machine concepts and materials to make single-cavity molding work in a way that made financial sense, plus kept customers happy.
The customers took some convincing, he said, because – at least on the surface -- it seems apparent that producing in batches versus one-by-one would be less expensive, not to mention faster. But convinced they were. And while Duclos wouldn't divulge any specifics, he says the cycle time for the single-cavity molding process has been reduced compared to multi-cavity molding.
Developing single-cavity molding also required putting together a team with diverse knowledge, he said. In this case, the team included engineering, production and financial personnel. Duclos clearly is pleased with the team's output. Not only has single-cavity molding improved quality, but he says it also has resulted in less complex and more flexible machinery, and shorter product development cycles.
"We have had excellent product launches," he adds.
Duclos says Freudenberg-NOK Sealing Technologies began working on the single-cavity molding process six or seven years ago, a time frame that speaks to the technical and financial challenges that needed to be met. The company then introduced single-cavity molding two or three years ago in pilot projects and has more recently begun phasing it in on a bigger scale.
