Digital manufacturing is finding a new home with mold manufacturers. With customers placing repeat orders that tend to be low volume and take time and resources away from in-production projects, it makes sense for moldmakers to look for fast, efficient alternatives to in-house production of those projects.
In the past, mold shops hesitantly outsourced those projects to competitors because other options were absent. Recently, mold manufacturers are seeing the benefits that low-volume digital manufacturing services can provide as a non-competitive alternative.
REO Plastics, Inc., a Maple Grove, MN-based company, has provided injection molding and manufacturing services for more than 40 years. According to Paul Levenson, tooling engineer at REO Plastics, "Service providers that offer digital manufacturing tend to use state-of-the-art technology and materials. We would have to buy a machine that starts to age. It would be difficult to keep up with the technology and overhead costs associated with purchasing that machine."