Mold manufacturing urgently needs to break through traditional concepts

CAD/CAE/CAM technology, commonly known as computer-aided manufacturing technology, is a crucial advanced technique in mold production and plays a vital role in modernizing traditional molds with high-tech solutions. In recent years, many domestic plastic mold companies have adopted this technology, significantly reducing the design cycle of molds and enhancing both the quality of mold manufacturing and the capability to produce complex molds. However, despite these advancements, many enterprises still lack awareness of its importance and are hesitant to implement it, which hinders their ability to meet evolving mold requirements and quality standards. Therefore, it is essential to promote and widely apply computer-aided design techniques for plastic molds. One key feature that distinguishes molds from other mechanical products is their high technical content and significant net output value. The rapid growth of the plastics industry has driven China's plastic mold sector to develop faster than the overall mold industry, with an annual growth rate exceeding 15% in recent years. As the demand for plastic products increases, so do the requirements for molds. Traditional mold design methods can no longer keep up with the need for higher-quality and more sophisticated plastic products. Although China’s plastic mold industry has made considerable progress, it still relies heavily on low-cost competition in the global market. High-end plastic molds are largely imported, and there remains a significant gap between China’s mold precision, surface finish, production cycle, and service life compared to advanced foreign standards. Additionally, the proportion of precision processing equipment in mold manufacturing is still relatively low, and the penetration of CAD/CAE/CAM technologies is not widespread. Many advanced mold technologies are not yet commonly used. Most Chinese plastic mold companies still use traditional production methods, where designers rely on experience and intuition to sketch product designs on two-dimensional paper before production. After assembly, extensive testing is required, increasing costs and extending development cycles. This over-reliance on experience makes product quality unstable. The new CAD integration technology covers all stages of mold manufacturing, including design, analysis, CNC machining, polishing, trial molding, and rapid prototyping. It shortens the design and manufacturing cycle, reduces design risks, lowers debugging costs, and ensures the quality of plastic molds. Using CAD technology for plastic mold design allows designers to create 3D models directly on computers, simulate the entire injection molding process, and accurately predict melt flow, pressure distribution, cooling effects, stress, molecular orientation, shrinkage, and warpage. This not only improves design efficiency but also enables dynamic simulation and analysis of the injection process, helping designers identify issues early, make timely adjustments, and eliminate errors before physical molds are produced. This significantly increases the success rate of trial molds, prevents mold scrapping, and ensures product quality while reducing costs. Many standard mold components can be designed using CAD modeling, enabling data sharing and flexible modifications, making mold design and analysis faster, more accurate, and efficient. This represents a major breakthrough in mold design methodology and holds great technical and economic significance. In recent years, to enhance competitiveness, many Chinese mold companies have invested in advanced manufacturing technologies and established modern production centers. However, the adoption of CAD technology remains limited, leading to serious shortages in the production of high-end, precise, and large-scale plastic molds, which are still heavily imported. Meanwhile, the market for mid- and low-end molds with low technical content is oversupplied. Throughout the development of plastic molds in developed countries, CAD/CAE/CAM and other computer-aided design methods have been widely used, enabling precise and fast mold production. CAD technology has greatly boosted productivity. Reforming traditional design concepts, upgrading outdated technologies with advanced CAD/CAE/CAM systems, and improving the level of mold design and manufacturing should be an inevitable trend for Chinese plastic mold companies aiming to transform their product structure and enhance competitiveness.

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