Mold manufacturing urgently needs to break through traditional concepts

CAD/CAE/CAM technology, also known as computer-aided manufacturing technology, is a crucial advanced method 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 and improving both the quality and capability of complex mold manufacturing. However, despite these benefits, many companies still lack awareness or are hesitant to implement such technologies, which hinders their ability to meet rising quality standards and adapt to evolving mold demands. As a result, there's an urgent need to promote and widely apply computer-aided design techniques in the plastic mold industry. Compared to other mechanical products, molds are characterized by high technical content and significant value output. 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 consistently above 15%. As the demand for plastic products increases, so do the requirements for mold performance. Traditional mold design methods can no longer keep up with the improvements in product quality and complexity. Although China’s plastic mold industry has made remarkable progress, it still relies heavily on low-cost strategies to compete globally. High-end molds are largely imported, and there remains a significant gap between China’s mold quality and that of foreign advanced countries in terms of accuracy, surface finish, production cycle, and service life. Additionally, the proportion of precision processing equipment in mold manufacturing is still low, and the penetration of CAD/CAE/CAM technologies is not widespread. Many advanced mold technologies are not yet commonly applied. Most Chinese plastic mold companies still use traditional methods, where designers rely on experience and intuition to sketch two-dimensional drawings before production. After assembly, they often need multiple trial runs, increasing costs and extending development time. This over-reliance on experience makes product quality unstable. New CAD integration technology now allows for the entire process—from plastic molding design, mold design and analysis, CNC machining, polishing, trial molding, and rapid prototyping—to be managed in a digital environment. This reduces the design and manufacturing cycle, lowers the risk of errors, cuts debugging costs, and ensures better mold quality. Using CAD technology, designers can create 3D models directly on computers, simulate the entire injection molding process, and accurately predict melt flow, pressure, cooling, stress distribution, and material orientation. This enables real-time analysis of temperature and pressure changes during injection, helping identify potential issues early and make timely adjustments. By doing so, errors are minimized at the design stage, avoiding costly post-production corrections and improving the success rate of trial molds. Standard mold components designed using CAD can be easily modified and shared, enhancing the speed, accuracy, and efficiency of mold design—marking a major breakthrough in the field. In recent years, many Chinese mold companies have invested in advanced manufacturing technologies and established new production centers to enhance competitiveness. However, the adoption of CAD technology remains limited, leading to a shortage of high-end, precision, and large-scale plastic molds, which are still heavily imported. Meanwhile, the market is oversupplied with lower-tech, low-value molds. In developed countries, the evolution of plastic molds has been closely tied to the use of CAD/CAE/CAM technologies, enabling precise and efficient mold production. These technologies have greatly boosted productivity. Reforming traditional design practices, integrating advanced CAD/CAE/CAM systems, and upgrading mold design and manufacturing capabilities should be an inevitable trend for Chinese plastic mold companies aiming to improve their product structure and global competitiveness.

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