Plastic & Metal Product Manufacturing Processes

Plastic & Metal Product Manufacturing Processes

One important aspect that every industrial designer and mechanical engineer should consider is the selection of the right product manufacturing process. For product development, there are many manufacturing processes that engineers can utilize; however, choosing the right one can greatly affect the cost of manufacturing as well as the success of the final product. Here is a brief on some of the most common plastic product manufacturing and metal product manufacturing processes.

Plastic Product Manufacturing Processes

For the sake of this discussion, let us assume that you need to make at least 10,000 parts. For less quantity, rapid prototyping or 3D printing processes are more appropriate and economical.

Here are some plastic manufacturing processes that plastic product manufacturers commonly utilize to mass produce plastic parts and components.

  1. Injection Molding: Plastic injection molding is the most preferred process that produces parts and components with the lowest cost per part. The process is ideal for moderately sized production runs. The production tooling cost is a bit of a concern, especially if you do not have a definitive mold for the plastic part. Nevertheless, you can use aluminum molds until you get the definitive mold design. Once you have the definitive mold design, you can shift to stainless steel molds, which are durable and suitable for a high-volume production.
  2. CNC Machining: Computer numerical control machining or just CNC machining is the process in which computers play a big role in controlling the CNC machines like mills, plasma cutters, drills, etc. CNC machining is an ideal process to employ for small-sized production runs for small parts. The process allows precision and good surface finish too. The drawback of CNC machining is the high costs. Nevertheless, CNC machining offers automation, which eliminates manual labor and errors caused by manual laborers.
  3. Rotational Molding: Rotational molding is an appropriate plastic product manufacturing process to produce soft, rubbery parts. Both simple and complex parts can be produced using rotational molding. It also helps produce several pieces of a single part, which can then be assembled together. This eliminates overall fabrication costs. Rotational molding also eliminates significant wastage of material. The drawback of this process is it does not facilitate precision. And just like plastic injection molding, the production tooling cost is a concern.
  4. Thermoforming: Thermoforming is a suitable process to manufacture large plastic parts. The production tooling cost is lower than other plastic product manufacturing processes. The production time is also lower. The disadvantage of thermoforming is that it does not offer precision. Intricate shapes and good surface finish are also hard to achieve with thermoforming.

Metal Product Manufacturing Processes

Metal product manufacturing is more expensive than plastic product manufacturing because metals are more costly than plastic materials. It is possible to rapid prototype or 3D print some metal parts, but it will prove uneconomical.

Here are some metal manufacturing processes that product manufacturers commonly utilize to mass produce metal parts and components.

  1. CNC Machining: Aside from the plastic parts, with CNC machining, it is possible to produce metal parts. Thanks to computers, playing a role in controlling CNC machines, the process is appropriate for making complex parts. Precision is easy to achieve with CNC machining. The drawback of CNC machining is the high costs, even for producing small parts.
  2. Die Casting: Die casting is a suitable metal product manufacturing process to produce metal parts with high dimensional accuracy and smooth surface finish. The process facilitates rapid production rates. The per part cost is also lower than other metal manufacturing processes. The drawback, however, is the high production tooling cost – perhaps it has the highest tooling cost.
  3. Investment Casting: One of the oldest processes, investment casting is appropriate to manufacture complex parts with a very smooth surface. The process also offers exceptional dimensional accuracy. The drawback, aside from the cost, is the long production-cycle times. For high-volume manufacturing, the process could prove to be expensive and infeasible.
  4. Sand Casting: Sand casting is one of the most popular processes to produce small and complex metal parts. Instead of metal molds, this process utilizes sand molds. This substantially reduces the cost. With sand casting, it is possible to achieve high dimensional accuracy. The process is suitable for low to medium production runs, but for high volumes, it will prove to be infeasible.

Aside from these processes, there are many other plastic product manufacturing processes and metal product manufacturing processes. Choosing the right one will affect the cost of manufacturing and the success of the final product.

Looking for a good plastic product manufacturer in California? Look no further than GID Development Corporation. A product development company, based in California, GID Development Corporation provides exceptional product design, product prototyping, plastic product manufacturing, 3D printing and other services. With their experience and expertise in injection molding, CNC machining and other processes, the professional industrial and mechanical engineers at GID Development Corporation can help you develop exceptional new products.

Have any queries regarding plastic product manufacturing? Just call Jim Grimes at 714-323-1052 between 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM PST, for a FREE 15-minute telephonic conference. He will answer to various questions regarding plastic product manufacturing and rapid prototyping.

Manufacturing a Plastic Product? Follow these Steps to Ensure Success

Custom Plastic Product Manufacturing That Elevates Your Profit

Manufacturing plastic products from scratch can be a tiresome job for a newbie but experienced plastic product manufacturers love doing it. Plastic product manufacturing indeed is a job filled with lots of responsibilities; however, a structured roadmap can offer you a clear path to follow.

In recent times, if you are planning to develop plastic products or parts for your business or customers, then here are some steps to ensure success, and they are as follows:

Idea Generation – It all starts as an idea. Keep your mind wide open, because ideas come from all the directions. Keep watch on existing market trends, as it can help you analyze your company’s position and find a direction that is in line with your business strategy. Some recommended methods to generate a new product idea are:

  1. Undertake market research
  2. Carefully listen to suggestions / feedback / reviews that you receive from your targeted audiences
  3. Get suggestions from your partners and employees
  4. Keep a keen watch on what your competitors are doing; their offerings; how did they succeed and where did they fail

Idea Screening – This step is all about testing the feasibility of your idea. Before you proceed with your idea, it should be tested objectively, ideally by a product design and development experts / professionals. The idea should be tested in terms of ROI, affordability, skills and market potential. In order to avoid product failure after considerable investment down the line, this step should be considered carefully.

Concept Development and Testing – Once your concept has successfully cleared the screening stage, gather a small group of the targeted end-users to brief them about your concept. Your concept should be with in-depth information so that consumers can visualize it. Find the answers to questions such as:

  1. Do they understand your concept?
  2. Are they in need of your product?
  3. What are their expectations?
  4. Does your concept need more modifications?

Business Analysis – Once you have tested the feasibility of your concept with your targeted end users, it’s time to analyze your concept in terms of existing similar products in the market. A complete business analysis covers points such as, whether there is a demand for the product; a full appraisal of the costs; the level of competition; and gateways from where your products can be launched. Prepare a thorough marketing strategy keeping your targeted market and competitors’ product position in the mind.

Product Design – Product design is one of the most crucial steps when developing any new product. At this stage, you put your concept on a piece of paper. Here you design your concept for the next prototyping stage.

Product Prototype Development – As soon as you finalize a product design, it’s time to focus on product prototype development. The latter helps your test your concept both functionally as well as aesthetically. Moreover, it can help you impress your stakeholders and customers, helping you gain real-time feedback and reactions. A product prototype helps you improvise your concept as well as saves you from unnecessary spending of money and efforts.

Product Manufacturing – Once you have a fully functioning product prototype, you can now move on to bulk manufacturing process with it. This is the final stage of plastic product manufacturing. After this stage, your new product is ready for the customers.

Do I need to Contact a Plastic Product Manufacturer?

Plastic product manufacturing is indeed a complex process; therefore, if you are a newbie or don’t have adequate experience or tools, then let the experts handle the manufacturing process. Hiring professional manufacturing services will save you from all the technical as well as non-technical manufacturing miscalculations that are hectic as well as time consuming and expensive.

If you are looking for an American plastic product manufacturer, then feel free to contact the GID Development Corporation at www.GIDCompany.com. Moreover, if you are looking for a free consultation with a manufacturing professional, then call Jim at 714-323-1052.