#COVID-19

MMT Chats: Making the Argument for a Mentoring Program

What employers need to think about as they reopen post-pandemic to improve employee engagement.


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Markforged Report Suggests 3D Printing Enabled Manufacturers to Persevere Through COVID-19

Data shows that manufacturers using 3D printing were able to continue normal operations and innovate, while saving time and money.

Arburg Filter Production Rounds Off Facemask Project

In collaboration with several companies, Arburg applied its injection molding know-how to develop a multifunctional face mask made from LSR and PP in 41 days.

Mold Builder Tools Up to Produce 10,000+ Ear Protectors

Since learning how Westminster Tool was embracing change, leading and communicating during COVID-19 a few months ago, I found out that they tooled up to support their local community with ear protectors too.

Business Strategy

MMT Chats: Quickly Managing Design Changes Amidst COVID-19

MoldMaking Technology’s Christina Fuges chats with Xcentric Mold & Engineering  to learn about the team’s role in a domestic supply chain initiative to meet the demand for personal protective equipment. 

Workforce Development

MMT Chats: New Quick Response Shield Design Was a Labor of Purpose for This Wisconsin Mold Builder

Stellar Mold teamed up with another local Wisconsin company (Spartek Inc.) to be a part of the fight against COVID-19 and both worked to design and manufacture a new quick response face shield.

MMT Chats: Bottle Expertise Gives Way to Test Kit Work

  MoldMaking Technology’s Christina Fuges chats with some of the M.C. Molds team—Vice President of Operations Dave Keesaer, Sales Manager Eric West and General Manager of Manufacturing Joe Palazzolo—about current business levels, employee safety and morale, and recent and upcoming COVID-19 tooling projects that capitalize on the shop’s extrusion blow mold specialty.      

Double Rack System by CUMSA
Business Strategy

Tax Relief to Help Manage the Impact of COVID-19

U.S. Congress and Treasury have provided relief to mold shops since the beginning of the coronavirus via accelerated deductions, new tax credits, guidance around these benefits and extensions on the time to file and pay taxes. 


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Mold Builder Creates Mobile Social Distancing Solution

MoldMaking Technology's 2020 Leadtime Leader Winner Precise Tooling Solutions introduces ViralBarrier—an effective and affordable mobile barrier that prevents transmission of coronavirus.

MMT Chats: Small Diversified Shop Is Part of a One-Million-Part COVID-19 Project

The 10-person team at Trifecta Tool & Engineering in Kettering, Ohio, had all hands on deck to build a mold for face shield headbands in 8 days (typical build would be 4 weeks).

MMT Chats: Being Dynamic Amid Crisis

Westminster Tool in Plainfield, Connecticut, stresses the importance of understanding and embracing change, and leadership and communication during a crisis.

5 Steps Manufacturers Should Take to Optimize Operations in the COVID-19 Era

Here are five steps all manufacturers can take to prepare for operations in the COVID-19 era and beyond.

Additive Manufacturing

Adapting to New Ways of Working During COVID-19

Mold material suppliers are in the fight against COVID-19 just like their mold-building customers, and learning similar lessons too such as the benefits of going paperless and working remotely.

Business Strategy

Tax Reform for Mold Builders: 30 Months After Enactment

A review of the impact the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 has had on mold builders over the past two years.

Workforce Development

How to Learn Mold Design Virtually

Plastics Engineering program instructors share their strategies for successful virtual learning for hands-on injection mold design.


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Automation

Canadian Manufacturing Resiliency Helps Overcome COVID-19 Challenges

Three-quarters of companies have recalled employees or hired new staff in what is considered proof of the resiliency of the manufacturing sector, reports a monthly survey of moldmakers and industrial automation companies from the Canadian Association of Mold Makers and Automate Canada.

MMT Chats: Vials for the Vaccine/Antibody Testing

COVID has made work a little more challenging but it is also teaching teams “to do things a little bit differently” so they can turn jobs around a lot faster. MMT Editorial Director Christina Fuges chatted with one Illinois mold builder and molder who did not take on PPE, but instead, focused on tooling for vials used to collect DNA for vaccine/antibody development.

Harbour Results Announces Results From Second COVID-19 Study

Harbour Results, Inc., (HRI) conducted its second of three studies to better understand how the COVID-19 pandemic is impacting small- to medium-sized manufacturers, both production and tooling.

StackTeck Responds to High-Volume Medical Injection Molding Demands

StackTeck Systems Ltd. has been responding to market demands for high volume injection molds for medical applications.

MMT Chats: Liberty Molds Talks Respirators, Reshoring and Recommendations

MoldMaking Technology's Christina Fuges chats with some of the Liberty Molds team about a Ford Motor Company respirator project in the fight against COVID-19, the Hurco machine delivery that was key, and their take on the virus' impact and reshoring.  

MMT Chat: Safety, Shields and Shuttle Molds

The team from Canon Virginia talks about business during COVID-19, its efforts to help the fight and recent advancements to its Shuttle Mold System.  

Moldmaking Solutions
Workforce Development

MMT Chats: Virtual R&D and Teaching Plastic Injection Mold Design

New Editorial Advisory Board member Davide Masato, an Assistant Professor at the University of Massachusetts Lowell, joined me for a 20-minute video chat about the importance of plastics engineering, and how COVID-19 changed the faculty's approach to teaching mold engineering and plastics research.

Christina Fuges
Editorial Director, MoldMaking Technology

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Haidlmair Produces Additional Molds for Childrens' Masks

After the successful launch of its first version of the mask for adults, European companies Haidlmair and Providee have come together again to produce a children's version of the same mask.

Arburg Manufactures High-Tech Masks

Arburg has launched a face mask project to combat the spread of the coronavirus. 

MMT Chats: COVID-19 Highlights Value of Diversification

I sat down with a trio from Decatur Mold Tool & Engineering in North Vernon, Indiana, for a quick chat about their recent COVID-related project and a couple of lessons the team learned.

Automation

Canadian Manufacturing Ramp Up Accelerating

After Canadian manufacturing began setting its return to work guidelines, ramp up is underway in manufacturing and automation, with health and safety and a mostly closed border being some key issues for manufacturers. 

MGS Leverages Vertical Integration to Quickly Scale Critical Part Production

Offering deep competencies in complex tooling, molding, and equipment solutions, MGS is playing a critical role in supporting significant increases in demand for test kits and ventilators that are essential to reopening the U.S. economy.

Mazak Helps Kentucky Manufacturer Produce Surface Disinfection System

In response to a neighboring company’s request for a collaboration, Mazak Corporation provided some much-needed materials and production capacity for the development of a new UV-C LED surface disinfection system.

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