How to effectively control or reduce the development cost of molds in mold development has always been a concern for many mold manufacturers and their customers. Taking the ubiquitous Shenzhen plastic mold factories as an example, the results of quoting different manufacturers for the same product are definitely vastly different, which is shocking. The cost control of molds largely determines the price of molds. On the premise of ensuring quality, being able to minimize the cost of mold development and manufacturing, and being able to make money from molds that others do not make money from, is the biggest competitiveness of all Shenzhen plastic mold factories. To reduce mold costs, it is necessary to consider various factors that can affect mold costs. The factors that affect the cost of molds include: reasonable design of products, design changes of products, completeness of mold design, number of mold trials, procurement of mold materials and standard parts. Some of them are reasonable costs, while others are controllable costs.

The rational design of products is the biggest factor affecting the cost of molds. If the product design is unreasonable, it is a disaster for the mold company. For example, sometimes in order to achieve a reverse button on the product, if there is not good communication between the product engineer and the mold designer, the cost of the mold will increase exponentially. A product designer should learn as much as possible about mold knowledge, so that the designed product is as suitable as possible for the progress of mold engineering, and should not unnecessarily increase the difficulty and cost of mold production. Unreasonable product design will directly increase mold costs.

Plastic mold factories often encounter situations where, in a certain project, the mold has just been designed and the mold frame has just been ordered back, and the customer's change notification comes. If it's a small change that doesn't affect the overall structure of the mold, it doesn't matter. Sometimes the situation is more serious because the shape of the product changes, and the mold needs to add a mechanism, or even reorder the mold frame, which increases the cost significantly. So we need to minimize design changes as much as possible. Nowadays, there are many rapid prototyping methods. Before making the mold, the prototype is made in 3D, and the whole machine is assembled to correct the 3D of the product in a timely manner. Prototype production is more time-consuming and labor-intensive than mold modification, and we should minimize the cost increase caused by product design changes.

The rationality and processability of mold design are also major factors determining the price of molds. In general, mold companies have experienced and experienced designers in their design teams, as well as young engineers who have just graduated from school. We cannot expect young engineers to independently design high-level molds as soon as they come to the enterprise, even experienced mold engineers. If the mold structure is developed behind closed doors, it cannot be perfect, and there will definitely be some details that are not well considered. The most important and effective method is collective review. There are many simulation methods available now, such as mold flow analysis, dynamic analysis of mold structure, 3D comparison analysis between tested and designed products, etc., which can minimize the cost increase caused by unreasonable mold design. In fact, design waste should be avoided as much as possible in mold design. If mold users only need to produce 500 samples for market development, but we design molds with a lifespan of 300000 molds, the cost will be high and it will be considered design waste.

Many mold companies calculate the mold processing fee based on the number of days it takes for the mold to receive an order and leave the factory after the mold is qualified. If the mold cannot be delivered for use after multiple trial molds, in addition to being fined according to the contract, the more days the mold stays in the factory, the higher the processing fee. Of course, the cost of trial molding is also very considerable. So, multiple or uncontrollable trial molding times are a major blind spot in mold cost control, and plastic mold factories should try to avoid repeated and ineffective trial molding of molds. During mold design, sufficient collective review should be conducted to avoid any unreasonable structure of the mold, which may result in multiple improvements after trial molding, leading to mold costs exceeding the budget.

Some plastic mold factories engage in fierce price wars in the early stages of accepting orders, and then cut corners in mold manufacturing in order to extract the expected profits. However, the quality of the molds is inevitably greatly discounted, including the processing methods of the molds and the procurement of steel and spare parts. What's even more tragic is that many mold manufacturers demand the lowest cost to make plastic molds, while also shirking responsibility after mold problems occur. Both product developers and mold manufacturers should have a clear understanding that one price equals one quality. Only by clearly defining quality requirements and ensuring quality, can mold costs be controlled or reduced through reasonable means. Compressing costs is definitely not feasible.