Adrian and Paul break down why molding costs “balloon” (over-tight tolerances and cosmetic overkill) and then walk through three practical levers to cut costs safely: smarter tooling design & DFM (wall thickness, draft, gates, material choice), good tooling decisions (steel grades like P20 vs H13, cavity count, hot vs cold runners), and production/process tweaks (machine tonnage matching, sensible regrind use, SPC/sensors, in-tool de-gating). They finish with some tooling-costs myth-busting (cheap tools, mirror finishes, family molds).

Episode Sections:

• 00:00 Intro & today’s topic

• 01:58 Why costs balloon: tolerances & cosmetics

• 06:52 Lever #1 — Design & DFM (wall thicknesses, material choice)

• 14:40 Lever #2 — Tooling decisions (steel grades, cavities)

• 22:44 Lever #3 — Processing & production setup

• 27:35 Myth-busting: cheap tools, mirror finishes, family molds

• 31:23 Recap & where the biggest savings really are

Related content...

• Product Tooling: Possible To Avoid Paying for it in Full?
• Common Design For Manufacture Improvements On Plastic Injection Molded Parts
• When To Sign Off On Injection Mold Tooling? Inside the Journey from DFM to T0→T2 [Podcast]
• Plastic Playbook: Choosing The Right Polymer [Podcast]
• Mold Tooling Ownership: The term Chinese suppliers push for will shock you!
• The Conundrum of Investing in Tooling Before a Final Prototype

• • Connect with us on LinkedIn
  • Contact us via Sofeast's contact page
  • Subscribe to our YouTube channel
  • Prefer Facebook? Check us out on FB