There are some amazing devices, gadgets, and trinkets over which consumers drool and skip Thanksgiving dinner to set up camp in the parking lot of the nearest department or electronics store. Every year, the designs are sleeker and more advanced than the revolutionary incarnation that came out the year before.
Whether your vice is smartphones or fancy cars, someone had to design it. Have you ever looked at a design so intricate that you wondered how they did it? Every industry relies on manufacturing to some degree, so continue reading to learn what industries depend most on custom molding.
Electronics Industry
Because of technology, there are many things we enjoy as essentials that our ancestors would have considered outright witchcraft. Could you imagine a commoner from the era of the Salem Witch Trials having their first encounter with Alexa? The poor Amazon Echo would’ve been burnt at the stake! If you were to even tell someone from that era about the technological advancements of today, they would think you have dementia or some other debilitating ailment of the mind.
There are so many competitive electronics brands, and the electronics industry is arguably the one that relies the heaviest on custom plastic injection mouldings. Electronics makers need to have a unique product design to differentiate themselves from the competition. Custom molding allows them to turn functional electronics and appliances, from smartphones to washers and dryers, into works of art.
Health Care Industry
As you can imagine, the health care industry is one of the most dependent on custom molds to produce the equipment and tools they use for their craft. Custom molds provide unique shapes from strict specifications to make plastic parts for devices like MRI machines that give doctors greater insight into their patients’ bodies.
With MRI machines, neurologists can pinpoint specific types of dementia to give the proper dementia diagnosis. If not for injection molds, even basic medical equipment like IVs and heart monitors would be different, let alone MRI machines. Indeed, much of the progress that’s been made in health care is due to custom plastic injection molds and advancements in the manufacturing process.
Neurologists also rely on a custom plastic injection mold to produce plastic brain models for demonstrations. When they want to show a patient the 4 steps to take after you’re diagnosed with dementia, they might use a plastic model of the brain to illustrate changes in the neuro system to the patient. Cardiologists also use plastic heart models to explain heart disease to patients. As you can see, custom plastic molding looms large in the health care industry.
Auto Industry
If you’re an auto lover, you should also be a lover of plastic molds. All carmakers, even luxury brands, use plastic parts in their manufacturing process. Most interior door handles, steering wheels, gas pedals, and batteries are all made from plastic or have plastic parts.
The effect of custom injection molds on the auto industry is most prevalent in the elaborate dashboards and displays in the interiors of most new-model automobiles. Plastic custom molds are also used to make parts for ATVs like 3 wheelers and 4 wheelers.
Toy and Tot Industry
It should come as no surprise that toy makers rely heavily on custom plastic injection molds. After all, around 90% of childrens’ toys are made out of plastic. The use of custom plastic injection molds to make toys allows toy makers to offer a competitive price for their inventions. Also, almost everything made for babies that’s not designed to eat or wear is made out of plastic. Making toys and trinkets for babies out of plastic ensures that the products are safe and durable.
If you were unsure of custom molding’s place in the manufacturing process, now you know that it’s intricate to multiple manufacturing industries. Custom molds allow makers in the auto, health care, toy, and electronics industries to continue to push the envelopes of design, durability, and functionality.
Cover photo credit: Vlad Tchompalov / Unsplash
