Case Studies

Case Study #1 – New components for a Scanner

Challenge:

A business equipment OEM designed a new device that required a total of 30 new injection molded components ranging in size from 2g to 2 ½ lbs.  EAU for the project was only 2000 units, and tooling cost was a large concern for the OEM. 

To keep tooling costs down, the OEM was considering using an overseas supplier.  This posed numerous problems: 

  1. None of the overseas suppliers that quoted the project were able to commit to the required 14 week start-to-finish timeline for some of the large, highly complex parts;
  2. The suppliers quoting the project had issues with some of the part designs, indicating that the parts couldn’t be tooled as designed;
  3. Production lead times were prohibitive because of the transit time required for overseas shipments, which conflicted with the OEM’s lean philosophy of just-in-time delivery.
  4. The project would require numerous design changes and design meetings, which proved difficult with the overseas suppliers because they were unable to participate in hands-on collaboration sessions.

Solution: 

MET Plastics proposed using a combination of imported and domestic tooling to complete the project.  Smaller components that were subject to fewer engineering changes were tooled with overseas tooling, providing an up-front cost savings.  The larger and more complex parts were tooling domestically with aluminum tooling, providing a cost savings and shorter lead time over steel tooling.  This allowed MET Plastics to meet the OEM’s tight delivery requirements and providing a cost savings over the overseas tooling.

Prior to tool launch, MET Plastics worked closely with the OEM’s engineers to ensure that the parts were moldable as designed.  This included design meetings with the OEM’s engineers, prototype part sample reviews for form-fit-function, and material selection assistance.  As the part design iterations were completed, MET Plastics’ engineers ran Moldflow® predictive modeling software to ensure the parts would fill and quality issues would be minimal.  This resulted in a high initial sampling success rate that was critical in meeting the tight timeline.

Once production started on the project, MET Plastics worked with the OEM to setup a stocking program with kanban pulls and a 24 hour order processing leadtime. 

Result: 

The OEM was able to meet tooling budget requirements and delivery requirements, resulting in a successful product launch, and was able to establish a kanban program to complement their lean operations.

Case Study #2 – Tooling Transfer Project

Challenge: 

An Aerospace OEM was having significant quality issues with a current supplier, and needed to quickly find a supplier that:

  1. Had the capability to handle a large tooling transfer program (20 molds to produce 45 parts) with minimal cost impact.
  2. Was able to address the quality defects that they were experiencing with the current supplier
  3. Was willing to run low volumes on a number of parts (as low as 100 / year).

Solution: 

With in-house toolroom capabilities, MET Plastics was able to handle the tooling transfer with minimal interruptions.

MET Plastics worked closely with the customer to ensure that project transition went as smoothly as possible.  As soon as the molds were received, MET Plastics’ in-house toolroom completed a thorough inspection and mold cleaning.  Any noticeable deficiencies were reported to the customer.  Once approved, immediate action was taken to address the efficiencies.

While sampling the molds, MET Plastics process technicians, engineers, and moldmakers worked closely together to address any quality issues that the customer was having with the previous supplier.  As they were sampling the molds, the process technicians also found ways to reduce the processing costs, resulting in reduced part costs. 

Once the parts were approved, MET Plastics worked with the OEM to develop a stocking program.  This resulted in a significant reduction of raw material inventory for the customer, providing additional cost savings.

Result: 

The majority of the quality issues were eliminated.  Additionally, MET Plastics was able to provide cost savings to the OEM through process improvements and a part stocking program.

Case Study #3 – Injection Molded Manifold

Challenge:

A Food Service Equipment OEM was designing a new product that required a highly complex manifold assembly.  Due to the complexity of the assembly and a fast approaching deadline, the OEM had determined that the main component of the assembly could not be molded, and instead decided to design the part for machining.  However, the machined assembly was too costly for the program, and the OEM had to find a lower cost solution.

Solution:

MET Plastics’ engineers reviewed the part design requirements with the OEM, and came up with a moldable design concept that would satisfy the OEM’s design requirements.  Once the design concept was approved by the OEM, MET Plastics’ engineers collaborated with the OEM’s engineers to finalize the part design.

Result:

MET Plastics was able to help the OEM meet its tight delivery requirements.  Total tooling turnaround time, including samples, was 7 weeks.  The injection molded manifold provided a considerable cost savings to the OEM over the machined versino.

Once the project was underway, MET Plastics was able to provide further cost savings by completing the assembly of the manifold and implementing 100% leak testing inspection, allowing for dock-to-stock receiving.