It's a 3D World

By Roman Suski, PDI Sales Engineer

There was a time when all part and mold designs were done with a pencil. The part concept was given to a design engineer, who developed several design proposals from the sketch. Once the final design concept was approved, it was used to draw the mold design. This was a tedious and time consuming process. Every feature of the part had to be manually converted into the steel that would form it. Some of the more complicated designs would take many weeks. Since all dimensions had to be manually converted for the effects of material shrink there was always a potential for errors.

In the past years the design process has moved to 3D modeling. This makes it much easier to go from part to mold design and then to manufacturing. The 3D model can be easily converted into a shrink model for the tool build. The converted model is used to create the mold design. The designed mold components can then be imported into a CAM system for machining of the mold. Many of these systems are integrated for easy data transfer.

You must make sure that your model is correct because any mistakes may end up in the final part. A 2D part drawing will need to be created for inspection purposes and to list requirements which are not covered by the 3D model. Please make sure to dimension all areas which are important to the function of the part. Include all critical features and areas which mate with other parts. Make sure the part does not have dimensions which are not important to the function of the part. The geometry exists in the 3D model and it is not required to provide these additional dimensions. It only adds cost to the design and inspection process. It also increases the timeline of the project.

Please provide a 3D model when you submit an RFQ. This will help to get you a faster and more accurate price for your project.

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Plastic Design International was started in 1977 in the short-run prototype R&D business. PDI is now one of the most effective Plastic Injection Molding production companies on the East Coast and an expert Mold Making manufacturer. Please contact us with any questions at 860-632-2001.

System Update

by Dom Albano, PDI's Controller

Every morning, it was the same thing, employees would start complaining... 'My computer is too slow; it takes 10 minutes to boot up once I log in'. So in the fall of 2010, PDI started replacing its computers to the latest technology.

All of the office computers were replaced with new Dells and Acer LCD Monitors with built in speakers. The new computers were much faster and with the 20" flat screens and no speakers on the desk, it gave everyone more room on their desks. The complaints have stopped.

With our current Manufacturing Software, which we upgraded last spring when we added a new server, we are able to enter orders and follow the order through to conclusion.

Thechange of the computers was a smooth transition, the only challenge we had was the new Dells came with the Windows 7 Pro 64 Bit, and we were using XP.

Many of our additional software packages had to be upgraded because the old versions would not work with the 64 bit Windows 7. An example, one of those Software Packages is ACT, so when we upgraded we were now using a version that was on the market for only a few weeks.

We had purchased 2 new all-in-one printers, scanners & copiers; we were told that they would work with Windows 7 64 Bit, but they would not scan multiple pages at one time, so we had to spend time looking for software to do the job.

The new systems are now working well, the complainng has stopped and we are able to serve the customer better.

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Plastic Design International was started in 1977 in the short-run prototype R&D business. PDI is now one of the most effective Plastic Injection Molding production companies on the East Coast and an expert Mold Making manufacturer. Please contact us with any questions at 860-632-2001.

Tools for Planning

by Kathi McMaster, Planner/Scheduler

From initial quote thru product shipment, DTR is the tool that Plastic Design uses to manage our customers' requirements. DTR is an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) software package custom designed for the plastic processing industry. Since the software's inception at PDI in 1994, we have relied on DTR for job costing, sales, inventory control and manufacturing as well as customer relationship management, finance and business analytics. It is designed to manage single and multi-cavity molds, family molds and is invaluable for inter-level and inter-branch scheduling changes.

DTR has many elements which play a role in scheduling and material planning. An accurate bill of manufacture, which includes all materials, part weights and cycle time; sales order and purchase order entry; timely shift reporting and shipping transactions; and up to date inventory levels of finished goods and raw materials.

In DTR's forecasting module, forecasts can be created on any item code including a new item with no sales orders. Sales history can be scanned in to automate the task of collecting large amounts of data quickly to provide statistical information and indicate sales trends. Based on history, a statistical forecast can be created to smooth the highs and lows. Forecasts can also be manually entered. The forecasts are used in addition to or in lieu of sales release dates to create a schedule using min/max and reorder levels.

Our customers' order methods vary, some place orders with firm delivery dates but many place blanket PO's and rely on PDI to carry stock and release quantities as needed. Using DTR scheduling utilities, different scenarios can be addressed on a per customer or per item code basis to efficiently determine production needs. In the case of multi-level jobs such as assemblies using many components, jobs can be consolidated to maximize machine utilization and reduce setup; while assigned lead times or wait states (ensuring the completion of previous steps) help to insure a smooth flow in the process.

The Material Requirements Planning (MRP) utility allows us to project the requirements and suggest purchase reorder for all materials based on scheduled production, vendor lead times and inventory levels. MRP helps us to reduce the cost of on-hand inventory while ensuring critical materials are in stock to meet production schedules. It also allows us to see "the big picture" so we can plan purchases more wisely; consolidating deliveries in order to achieve the best price breaks, which, in turn help reduce the final cost to the customer. ----------------------------------------------

Plastic Design International was started in 1977 in the short-run prototype R&D business. PDI is now one of the most effective Plastic Injection Molding production companies on the East Coast and an expert Mold Making manufacturer. Please contact us with any questions at 860-632-2001.

New At PDI

PDI is proud to announce the addition of two new Niigata all-electric molding presses. the purchase included a 110 ton press, MD 110-X and a 200 ton press, MD200-W. PDi is commited to investing in the latest technologies to remain a globally competitive molder here in the USA.

To support these new presses, additional residual equipment was also needed. We have added three portable drying units, two sprue pickers, mold heaters and a parts conveyor. In 2010, PDI also invested in other aspects of our business. We've added a "3 axis" CNC machine for our tool room, as well as two new bench top "3 axis" CNC machines for secondary operations. Investments such as these help us to continue to reduce labor costs and increase the level of quality in our end products.

PDI's main office and manufacturing facility is located at 111 Industrial Park Road in Middletown, CT. Several years ago we purchased an additional 25,000 square foot building next door at 87 Industrial Park Road. This purchase has afforded PDI many new opportunities. We continue to fine tune our "lights out" operations which has been our main focus for that facility. To take advantage of unused space in that building, we recently began work on a new combination training center and conference room.

If it has been a while since you have visited PDI (or if you never have), please contact us for a tour. We are proud to show off how much PDI has changed and grown over the past year.

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Plastic Design International was started in 1977 in the short-run prototype R&D business. PDI is now one of the most effective Plastic Injection Molding production companies on the East Coast and an expert Mold Making manufacturer. Please contact us with any questions at 860-632-2001.