How to choose a qualified injection molding supplier for the motor industry?

Injection molding is one of the popular manufacturing methods for producing plastic parts throughout the world, enabling the mass production of high quality parts with an accuracy of 0.02mm or less. Choosing the incorrect part not only affects the quality of the final product, but can also lead to its functional failure, increased costs and unsatisfied customers. To ensure consistent quality, manufacturers must consider and control a range of parameters in the injection molding process, such as temperature, mold design and machine efficiency. To ensure the highest quality parts for motor OEMs, an injection molding manufacturer needs to be selected that offers expertise and technology at every stage of the process.

How to choose the right manufacturer

Customers looking for a plastic parts manufacturer should be aware of what is involved in the injection molding process and what level of parts supplier is expected to provide at each stage. Motor OEMs provide advice on application issues and ask manufacturers if they meet the following requirements before ordering parts from them:

Does the injection molding supplier have a good history and background in manufacturing the type of product the customer requires? What are the company's manufacturing capabilities? What manufacturing and quality systems are in place to ensure delivery of quality parts at the correct cost? Have considerations regarding their manufacturing capabilities, tooling, machinery, and process controls been addressed? Is there a comprehensive understanding of the manufacturer's capabilities, quality control measures and employee competencies? What is their quality measurement and on-time delivery performance?

By focusing on the processes and services offered by the manufacturer, you can ensure that the parts you purchase are of high quality, yet produced efficiently.

Precision Tooling

Understanding the expertise provided by the manufacturer at each stage helps to provide a comprehensive understanding of how their parts are injection molded. The key to injection molding is the mold that shapes the part, and mold development requires expertise and experience to ensure that it is accurate enough to avoid defects in the final part, such as burrs, warpage or excessive parting lines. During mold development, a good manufacturer should provide the opportunity to offer trial prototypes, especially when custom parts are made, so that the mold can ensure that it produces consistent, high-quality parts as well as design features.

Selecting the right plastic

The material properties required for the part are critical to the tensile and aesthetic quality of the final product, for example, whether to look for custom colors, textures or qualities (e.g., the need for wash resistance or strong hold). Some of the most common thermoplastics used in injection molding are: ABS, PA, PC, PP, POM. all of these can be heated and used to make parts, but they all have their own properties. For example, ABS is strong and chemically resistant, but is not suitable for outdoor use, making it a popular choice for automotive interiors and computer equipment. Alternatively, PC is heat resistant, transparent and can be used for outdoor components, making it suitable for eyeglasses, greenhouses or test tubes.

If they are compatible with each other, plastics can be mixed to combine different properties into one material, adding different colored resins to the plastic to achieve the desired aesthetic effect. With the advice of an experienced manufacturer, motor finishers and engineers should be able to find a material that combines the desired material and aesthetic qualities.

Efficiency of the injection molding process

The manufacturer injection molding process should be efficient enough to produce a large number of parts quickly with as little waste as possible. Scientific molding is key, providing highly accurate process steps that produce high quality parts with consistently tight tolerances and repeatable dimensions.

Injection molders and injection molding machine manufacturers experienced in the application and use of scientific molding can help customers move away from arbitrary injection molding mold design decisions and toward data-based accuracy. As basic as it sounds, there are many factors that can affect plastic injection mold design, molding processes and release, and engineers trained in scientific molding can easily identify and help prevent potential missteps.