INJECTION MOLD DESIGN & Engineering
At Reliant, we take pride in serving a diverse clientele with our manufacturing and services based on cutting-edge plastic mold technology. Our advanced capabilities and robust lineup of molding machines make us an excellent resource for turning designs into reality. Our true strength, however, lies in our injection mold engineering. We believe that proper engineering is the foundation of every successful project in injection molding, and a mold design that perfectly aligns with your brief is our top priority.
Experience and understanding are integral to transforming an initial idea into a genuine, functional mold capable of high-volume production. Reliant fields a highly knowledgeable team in this area. We put fast and effective injection mold design and engineering within reach. From initial concept to final approval, there are many steps in between — and many complex processes that combine to produce exceptional outcomes. Reliant scales to meet your needs at every level and delivers full-service support at all stages of the process. Kick-start the plastic injection mold design effort for your next project with our help.
Product Development
Quality products originate from good plastic mold design. It is vital to consider critical engineering aspects of the model at this early stage. Elements such as gate locations, wall thicknesses, and part geometry are tough problems to solve, but success here ensures a profitable investment and consistent production outcomes. At Reliant, our team collaborates closely with our clients on sustainable product development, and our engineering staff transforms ideas into initial mold designs using the latest technology. We collaborate to realize your component and create a mold design that supports your manufacturing goals.
This phase includes assessing design possibilities and considering which thermoplastic materials to use. Designing for reliable manufacturability at the beginning helps us ensure that every project results in good parts produced from durable mold designs. And by coordinating closely with your engineers during the initial phase of a project, we get to the finished product quicker and more efficiently.
Our plastic product design and development process centers on helping you achieve cost savings and weight reductions. We design parts using plastic molding technology to replace components made from sheet metal, castings, stampings, and machined materials. Reliant uses the latest versions of SolidWorks and AutoCAD to create highly accurate 3D models and 2D drawings for your project. We then utilize mold flow analysis software to simulate the injection molding process. This step lets us predict manufacturing issues so we may adjust your design for injection molding runs that deliver maximum reliability in the factory.
Concurrent Engineering
Concurrent engineering involves multiple teams working on different project phases simultaneously. Ultimately, combining these efforts leads to faster injection mold engineering and a shorter turnaround time for manufacturing. Our experienced engineering staff is ready to collaborate with your engineers to execute agile projects. Together, we can develop innovative products and concurrently solve issues in the preproduction stage.
Our engineers’ extensive product design and manufacturing expertise will find the best solutions to meet your design criteria. We collaborate with you in the design and prototype stages to provide value-added input and assist in all aspects, from part design to shipping considerations.
An injection molding design engineer from our team can also work with you to redesign or modify existing parts to reduce your production costs. We can make real progress by analyzing material selection, exploring weight reduction strategies, streamlining the production process, and redesigning packaging. Our engineering department has extensive experience designing custom secondary fixtures, from initial CNC to final assembly. We can also support incorporating reverse-engineering parts and products into your designs.
In-House Tool Repair Facility
Our engineering services play a critical role in the early stages of plastic injection molding design. However, we also provide support after the creation of new plastic tooling. Wear and tear are always concerns in plastic injection mold design; even the most well-designed molds can encounter problems in production. But damaged tooling can mean expensive downtime that impacts your project timetables. With our broad capabilities for plastic mold maintenance, we help you avoid such headaches.
Offering complete and full-service plastic mold design, maintenance, and repair, Reliant houses a 5,000-square-foot, temperature-controlled, tool room. If a mold requires attention, our staff is ready within minutes to make the necessary repairs, effectively reducing or eliminating production downtime.
The Reliant tool room is fully equipped with lathes, mills, surface grinders, and all the machinery needed to maintain all types of molds. Our preventive maintenance and repair program keeps the molds in top shape throughout their lives, allowing them to achieve their guaranteed life spans. Most well-maintained molds can reach more than one million cycles.
Find out how our all-service plastic molding and repair capabilities can help your business realize value and reliability.
Rapid Prototyping
Give your project the running start it deserves with rapid plastic prototyping. Reliant can create an accurate plastic model of your part using the latest rapid prototyping technology. See and review results in as few as three to five working days. Use these parts to validate your design and reveal any issues before a production tool is released, saving time and money.
With an expansive network of on-demand prototype manufacturers, Reliant can work with our trusted suppliers to support your rapid prototyping needs via a number of different cutting edge technologies.
Validate designs and kick-start projects with our fast plastic part prototyping.
CAD/CAM/CNC
From CAD plastic prototyping to part production, we use advanced computerized tools to produce superb results for our partners. Our cutting-edge 5-axis CNC equipment can make complicated parts. Using Mastercam, we can evaluate and use CNC for plastic materials to manufacture parts with varying tolerances and degrees of complexity. And our experienced engineers can ensure all manufacturing operations run efficiently and at the best cost, saving you time and money.
Reliant also uses other industry gold standards for plastic mold technology. We rely on Moldflow for in-depth analyses to identify possible issues in production before releasing any injection molding tool design. This allows us to make changes to the design and mold far in advance of tooling release. The advanced plastic injection molding software eliminates the guesswork. We can better assess the feasibility of the part design, including critical issues such as gate location, wall-thickness optimization, and cosmetic concerns like sink marks.
On-site Mold Maintenance and Storage
At Reliant, your investments are safe. We maintain a comprehensive inventory system and track and warehouse your molds from arrival onward. We check and prepare all molds and plastic parts for storage after each production run by experienced mold technicians. Our climate-controlled storage facility helps ensure a long life for your mold and high-quality parts.