Generally, the injection molding process has no fixed cost for every application. Custom injection molding cost has a varying value that ranges from thousands to hundreds of thousands. Below are common factors that impact the cost of injection molding.
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1. Molding Tooling Cost
It is expensive to machine the mold and mold base for the products, even though the molding equipment is a one-time investment. Besides, the process used to create the molds determines the cost. The standard techniques used in making molds include CNC machining, electric discharge machining, and 3D printing.
CNC Machining
The CNC machining process is well-suited for making metal molds from aluminum or steel materials. For instance, CNC machines use cutting tools to remove materials from an aluminum block to machine an aluminum mold. Besides, this machining method produces aluminum molds with high accuracy.
EDM (Electrical Discharge Machining)
Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM) is an assisted technique for making molds with complex and precise features. It involves using electrical discharge to melt and form the metal workpiece into the desired size and shape. Although EDM offers excellent accuracy, it is compatible with only metal molds.
3D Printing
3D printing is one of the fastest procedures for making molds for plastic injection molding projects. This method uses a 3D printer and doesn’t necessarily require a skilled operator. Hence, it saves labor and mold costs. However, 3D printed components are often limited in dimensions due to the size of the 3D printer’s build platform. Similarly, printed molds are more likely to experience shrinkage.
2. Equipment Cost
The injection molding process requires unique equipment. However, the machine’s size and level of sophistication determine the cost and range from small to large machine. Therefore, it would help to consider the following injection molding machine types and how they influence injection molding costs.
Electric Injection Molding Machines
Electric molding machines utilize an electro-servo motor to direct the machine during injection molding. They utilize less energy, incur low operating and maintenance costs, and are accurate and easy to use. Nevertheless, their initial investment cost is high and requires routine maintenance.
Hydraulic Injection Molding Machines
These hydraulic injection machines perform injection molding operations with a hydraulic pump. They are usually durable, offer highly consistent ejection and injection, and have economical initial purchase costs. However, they can be imprecise and consume excessive energy.
Hybrid Injection Molding Machines
Hybrid injection molding machines combine the characteristics of electric and hydraulic injection molding machines. It uses a servo motor and hydraulic pump to distribute the oil used in producing hydraulic pressure that creates the component in the machine.
These machines provide high precision, repeatability, and energy efficiency. Furthermore, they have high initial investment costs and require heavy maintenance since they use electric motors and hydraulic pumps.
However, it may be ideal to outsource to injection molding service providers instead of buying a machine to avoid the high cost of an injection molding machine.
3. Plastic Resins and Additives Cost
Plastic injection molding is compatible with an extensive range of plastic resins with varying availability, price, applications, and properties. Typical examples of plastic injection materials include PC, ABS, PU, PP, and PE.
The cost of plastic pellets material used in plastic injection molding technique ranges from 1 dollar per kg to 5 dollars per kg. However, the injected material’s final cost depends on the used amount and the required design.
Molded parts’ variables, such as design, size, and volume of injection molding components, often decide injection mold cost. You can optimize the cost of your project significantly when you understand how these variables impact the project’s plastic injection molding cost.
Part Complexity
To make complex parts, you must create a mold with even complexity using manufacturing methods such as 3D printing, CNC machining, or EDM machining. Besides, you need more material to fill the mold to produce complex parts. Consequently, this increases the injection molding material cost. At the same time, complex parts may require extended production time since they may require additional steps in the production process.
Part Size
Creating large molded parts will require more injection molding material, hiking the costs of injection molded components. Similarly, it would be best to use the proper injection molding machine and manufacture the right mold size when handling large parts.
Undercuts
Generally, the undercut injection molding features complicate and in some instances prevent parts injection. Eliminate them if possible. If you find it hard to get rid of them, try sliding shutoffs, pass-through cores, or change the parting line and draft angles to simplify the mold build.
Finishing and Appearances
Unnecessary features that do not add significant value to your final products will increase plastic injection molding costs. Textured surfaces, for instance, may simply not be needed. This holds true for cosmetic add-ons like bead blasting or high mold polish too. Remember that excess features might also require more mold cavities that further drive costs north.
5. Labor and Other Services
Most procedures associated with injection molding are automated and controlled by software systems. However, typical labor costs involved in injection molding include:
- Setup Costs: There are specific molding machine setup requirements and configurations for each stage in the injection molding process. For instance, you must perform some tooling setup when creating the molds, which takes time due to the required technical expertise and accuracy.
- Repair Costs: Plastic injection molding is a mechanical technique requiring various equipment types. Injection mold components are more likely to break down or wear. Hence, you may incur expenses for repairing and maintaining procedures.
- Operator Costs: Even though injection molding machines are automated, you need an operator to monitor the process. As a result, the operator costs are a crucial factor to consider in labor costs.
Different production volumes are also an essential factor in the cost of injection molding. Moreover, the production volume influences the amount of raw material used in injection molding, required machine sophistication, and injection mold properties such as durability, strength, and other properties. Here are the typical types of production volume injection molding:
Low-Volume Injection Molding Production
Low-volume plastic molding includes any production of parts between a hundred to a couple of thousand. Manufacturers often make the molds in-house and perform the molding themselves without necessarily using sophisticated machines. Hence, manufacturers produce molds of 3D-printed polymer resin or fast rapid tooling since it is affordable and doesn’t require a long production cycle.
The complete production run for low-volume molding usually takes precisely three days to create the finished parts. For instance, let’s assume the following parameters for a 100 – 200 part run:
- Number of parts: 100 – 1,000
- Cost of the mold: $100 – $1,000
- Cost of Raw Material per Part: $0.5
- Total Cost of Materials: $50 – $500
- Labor Cost per Part: $3 – $30
- Total Labor Cost: $300 -$3,000
- Total Cost of Injection Molded Process: $450 – $4,500
- Cost per Part: $4.5
Mid-Volume Injection Molding Production
Mid-volume quantities in injection molding often range between five thousand to tens of thousands of molded parts. This production type requires mold made from pre-hardened steel or aluminum. You can outsource the mold production and molding procedures for this production scale.
However, let’s assume the following injection molding cost calculation for a 5,000 – 10,000 unit volume. These are the same parts made using thermoplastic materials such as polypropylene.
- Number of parts: 5,000 – 10,000
- Cost of the mold: $2,500 – $5,000
- Cost of Raw Material per Part: $0.5
- Total Cost of Materials: $2,500 – $5,000
- Labor Cost per Part: $2
- Total Labor Cost: $10,000 – $20,000
- Total Cost of Injection Molded Process: $15,000 – $ 30,000
- Cost per Part: $3
High-Volume Injection Molding Production
High-volume injection mold production involves a few hundreds of thousands of molded parts. This procedure often requires steel molds due to their long life expectancy. Likewise, large-volume projects require a sophisticated machine, which adds to the injection molding cost. However, high-volume production offers higher cost distribution per part, ensuring lower cost per part.
For instance, let’s assume we are molding 100,000 to 300,000 parts of the same type using ABS.
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- Number of parts: 100,000 – 300,000
- Cost of the mold: $25,000 – $75,000
- Cost of Raw Material per Part: $ 0.5
- Total Cost of Materials: $50, 000 – $150,000
- Labor Cost per Part: $ 1
- Total Labor Cost: $100,000 – $300,000
- Total Cost of Injection Molded Process: $175,000 – $525,000
- Cost per Part: $1.75
However, it is evident that the injection molding price per part reduces considerably for high-volume production. Hence, high-volume projects offer the best cost advantage for injection molding costs.
As we mentioned above, the simplest trick to reduce the price per piece is by increasing the parts quantity since the upfront costs while machining and designing the mold can be used over more parts. In addition to that, you can also try the following several ways to reduce injection molding costs and help you get the best results for your project.
Utilizing DfM Analysis
DFM (Design for Manufacturing) in injection molding involves creating a part within a client’s stipulated budget and fulfilling the intended purpose. Analysts often consider different factors for DfM based on technology, art, and science to determine the most efficient design. Hence, it significantly reduces the costs of injection molding.
Simplifying Design Features
It may be compulsory to use complex molds and additional steps during plastic injection molding due to the complex features of your products. Therefore, removing unnecessary features would be best to lower the injection molding price. At the same time, you can save more money by removing any features that only add cosmetic finishes.
Universal Molds instead of Custom Molds
If you do not require a custom mold, consider using the universal mold. These molds are often less expensive than custom molds and can still produce high-quality parts.
Also, If you need a custom mold, always consider having a CAD model in place prior to commencing the manufacturing process. It will help optimize designs and identify potential problems such as steep draft angles, unnecessary wall thicknesses, complex shapes, etc.
Choose the Right Injection Molding Material
The cost of the preferred material for your parts often influences the overall injection molding cost. Where possible, use lower-cost materials such as ABS or polypropylene. It helps to keep a minimal production cost.
Try Insert Molds
Insert injection molding and overmolding are effective technologies that save costs in the long run. For instance, insert molding prevents the need to make threads on the plastic to fasten it to metal parts, thereby making the process economical.
Minimize the Number of Cavities in Mold
The more cavities there are in a mold, the higher the cost will be. Therefore, it is important to minimize the number of cavities in your mold whenever possible.
One way to reduce the number of cavities is to use a moldflow analysis to optimize the design of your part. Moldflow analysis can help you to identify areas where cavities can be eliminated without compromising the function or aesthetics of the part.
Self-Mating Parts
Making self-mating parts is one of the most reliable ways of saving injection molding costs and simplifying design. These parts are those that attach to themselves when turned 180 degrees. These parts are ideal because you can use a single half mold to make the whole part. It reduces mold cost, and the injection mold size is half.
When it comes to manufacturing, many businesses are looking for any and every way to save money on the parts they’re having manufactured. Only a rookie company or leader would take everything at face value in this industry and expect to be fully optimized.
While it might seem like everything is cut and dried as far as how the manufacturing industry works and how profits are made, there are some tricks of the trade that can be used to achieve significant savings related to your injection molding needs. Let’s take a look at the top six ways you can take action to lower the cost of your injection molding process.
1. Take Part Size Into Consideration
Design lean. You should look to accomplish your goal with as little material as possible. Not only will unnecessarily large parts or features increase material costs, they will drive up cycle time due to more time needed for molding and cooling. Often, less material means more strength when it comes to plastics. Don’t feel the need to increase material usage for structural integrity.
2. Don’t Use Unnecessary Cosmetics and Features
While you shouldn’t skimp on your features and cosmetics by any means, this doesn’t mean you should add every bell and whistle you can think of, either. It’s nice to have a very aesthetically pleasing part, but the extra effort required in the mold you’ll be using can sometimes cut deeply into your profit margin.
For instance, if you want extra features on your part, you may need extra mold work to be done, such as EDM, bead blasting, or high mold polishing to achieve the specific cosmetic appearance you are seeking. This extra work can drastically impact cost-reduction efforts.
At a smaller level, including company logos, textured surfaces, and molded part numbers are all features that, if deemed unnecessary, are penny pinchers that can help when pricing out injection molding costs.
3. Design for Manufacturability Analysis
Whether or not you can identify opportunities for improvement in a DFM analysis, finding an experienced partner or molder who can save you tremendous amounts of time and money in the long run. Identifying problems in the early stages, such as impossible geometries, insufficient draft angles, and moldable features will eliminate financial and cosmetic expenditures along the way. Companies such as New Berlin Plastics provide an expertise and knowledge base essential to helping improve and perfect your injection mold.
4. Intelligent Mold Design
You can save money by partnering with a molder who will intelligently design your molds. How your part is positioned in the mold can have a significant impact on cost. Proper part positioning optimizes how the mold fills and can reduce scrap. You can also design out excess material usage by positioning the part in a way that would remove the need for a sprue and runner. This reduced material usage directly translates to reduced cost. Intelligent mold design also ensures your part won’t be damaged during the ejection process.
5. Modify Your Molds
Instead of having to buy an entirely new mold for every revision you make, a bit of clever planning can help you reuse a mold multiple times. By designing tool inserts, you can mold various versions and features. MUD tooling, another popular modification method, creates a small, 5”x8” mold that is engulfed by the existing base/body. This smaller mold is extremely helpful as it saves costs by requiring less of an investment in the tooling. These methods are much preferred to cutting multiple tools and offer significant savings.
6. Family or Multi-Cavity Mold
Another way to reduce costs related to tooling is designing a family or multi-cavity mold. Depending on part similarity, material selection, and processing requirements, you may be able to include more than one part in your mold. This will increase the cost of the tool but it will be marginal when compared to cutting separate tooling for each part.
Multi-cavity molding lends itself to high production requirements. The more cavities you have in a tool, the more parts you’re able to create each cycle. While this will drive up initial costs related to tooling, it will lead to lower part prices and lower cost overall in the long run.
Injection molding is a very straightforward process that may not seem like it has much room for cost-reduction techniques, but if you ask the pros, they will tell you otherwise.
If you want to maximize your profits in the injection molding process, you should follow the six tips provided in this article. If you can put all – or even some – of these into action, you will be much better off when it comes to cost reduction.
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