Molding can be a complicated and overwhelming process. Companies often use the amount of molds they run as a badge of honor. Depending on the size of a company, they could have anywhere from a few ten, hundred or thousand molds. How many of molds each company can support is based on the process they have put in place to support the molds.
A company may have any number of molds but on top of that, they also can have a few presses to hundreds of presses. This may sound like just another hypothetical statistic but it ties directly to how many molds a company can run at any given moment. Any moment there is a mold running there then needs to be support for it. This mold is now building up dirt and potential long term wear. Worst case scenario, the mold can even experience unexpected damage.
With more molds that need to be cleaned and maintained on a daily basis, there is now even more demand for support personnel to clean molds. Depending on the mold shop process and the material being ran, timing for when a mold is cleaned to when it is removed from the press can vary drastically. If there is not enough people working to keeps molds clean then lower priority molds could sit dirty for days. This dirt and gassing sitting on a mold surface for multiple days can prove more difficult to remove and sometimes eat away at the mold itself. If a mold is not stainless or plated it is a good idea to get corrosive gas off of the mold relatively soon after the tool is pulled from the press.
Depending on the size of the mold being cleaned the process can also be very different. Mold sizes can range greatly which means the equipment necessary to safely transfer, disassemble and set molds can vary. Larger molds generally take longer to clean. This maintenance time is often driven by the shear size of the mold. Tool tipping machines and plate splitters can be necessary when the mold weight is to heavy for a technician to handle alone.
As shops start to add more molds to their inventory, not only do they need the shelf space for storage and press time to keep up with demand, they will also need the necessary maintenance equipment and personnel. Having robust processes in place to guide a team through the mold maintenance process can change how many molds a company can support.
In order for a company to run at their peak capacity the maintenance process has to be in place. This includes the personnel, equipment, and planning to achieve desired performance.
Interested in learning more about custom maintenance plans? Contact moldDB.