It is often thought that mold production requires long lead times and is only suitable for high-volume production. However, this is not necessarily the case, as the development of modern rapid tooling techniques helps designers bring the benefits of rapid tooling to a larger audience, satisfying a greater proportion of customer demands.
In fact, rapid tooling technology today allows lead time to be reduced substantially and also enables a smaller number of parts to be produced for significantly less cost and in a shorter time frame. No longer are customers forced to accept high MOQ orders, allowing SMEs to create new products and trial niche lines without risking large amounts of capital and development time. This does not mean that large production volumes are not catered for and any advances in rapid tooling can be extrapolated throughout any production volume.
It is thought that the expansion in self employed working and the desire for customers to be able to purchase bespoke or small production quantity products will lead to an explosion in the rapid tooling and prototyping market. Items can be produced and tested on a small scale, allowing constant improvement to take place without adding significantly to the cost. Using this production method as well as bespoke CAD software will further enhance the ability of molding engineers to produce exceptional parts at a lower cost.
At NICE Rapid, we are experts in the rapid tooling and prototyping industry. We would love to hear about your next project – get in touch today!