Summer 2012

Aluminum Mold Technology

• Mold Demand Outpacing Supply
• Improving Mold Life
• Protect with Terms & Conditions

The Official Publication of the American Mold Builders Association

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 Speak Out
The American Mold Builder
Published by the
By now, the AMBA members that participated in the
first ever Benchmarking Survey have received their
personalized results. The AMBA Board of Directors and
American Mold Builders Association
management team are very excited about the opportunity
3601 Algonquin Rd., Suite 304
to finally set a standard for our industry. Quite frankly,
Rolling Meadows, IL 60008
the mold manufacturing business is very different from
p 847.222.9402 • f 847.222.9437
most high-volume manufacturers. We are typically
info@amba.org • www.amba.org
custom, build-to-order shops that rely on a very short
backlog of orders and the uncertainty of living from
job to job. We also take great pride in our individuality Todd Finley Officers and Board of Directors
and ability to solve unique customer issues with great AMBA President
creativity and skill. President
Todd Finley, Commercial Tool & Die
Up until now, there has never been the data available for a mold manufacturer Vice President and Treasurer
to compare its business-to-businesses with similar dynamics. Every time Michael Bohning, Creative Blow Mold Tooling
I have looked at financial data of high-volume manufacturers, there have
always been excuses such as “those businesses are much different than Secretary & Legal Counsel
we are” and “how can you possibly compare their situations with ours?” Alan Rothenbuecher, Ice Miller LLP
Steve LeFever and Business Resource Services have taken the data from 46 Board of Directors
participating companies, quantified and standardized the data and put out a
Mike Armbrust, Mako Mold Corp.
report that is individualized for each company. Finally, we have the ability
Andy Baker, Byrne Tool & Die
to see how we measure up!
Robert Earnhardt, Superior Tooling
Dan Glass, Strohwig Industries
As of this writing, our management team at Commercial Tool & Die (CTD)
is looking forward to receiving our report in the coming weeks with great Roger Klouda, M.S.I. Mold Builders
anticipation. We know that we have strengths and weaknesses like every Shawn McGrew, Prodigy Mold & Tool
company has, and we can’t wait to see if this data will confirm our suspicions Justin McPhee, Mold Craft
or tell us something very different. This will be an opportunity to see how Tim Peterson, Industrial Molds Group
we measure up with the best-in-class companies in our industry. The data Scott Phipps, United Tool & Mold
will help us identify our weaknesses and point us to where we should focus Steve Rotman, Ameritech Die & Mold
our improvement initiatives. This also will give us some much needed data Mike Walter, MET Plastics
to assist us in making goals, identifying metrics and measuring our progress. Wendy Wloszek, Industrial Mold & Machine
AMBA Team
Some of the data I am very interested in this report is the ‘Employee Troy Nix, Executive Director
Productivity’ section. One of the remarks that Steve LeFever made in his Kym Conis, Managing Director
presentation during the AMBA 2012 Convention was that the high-profit Sue Daniels, Web/EMarketing/Member Services
companies were spending more on wages and benefits per employee than Shannon Merrill, Business/Advertising Coordinator
the average or typical company. I am interested in this dynamic and how
CTD measures up because we have made a conscious effort to automate
some of our manufacturing in the last several years. The equipment we have
invested in is capable of running unattended for long periods of time and the
employees needed to plan, program and utilize this type of equipment have Managing Editor: Kym Conis
a higher skill level and may be more expensive. I’m hoping the data will tell Assistant Editor: Sue Daniels
us if the investment has been worth the added cost. Art Director: Cara Pederson
Advertising/Sales: Shannon Merrill
This type of benchmarking was the first AMBA initiative to bring valuable Circulation: Shannon Merrill
data of this nature to AMBA members. If you missed out on participating Opinions expressed in this publication may or may
this time around, don’t worry. More opportunities lie ahead! not reflect the views of the Association, and do not
necessarily represent official positions or policies of
the Association or its members.
Todd Finley, Commercial Tool & Die

www.amba.org 3
 Summer 2012

Contents
12 24

29

Features
6 Market Trends
• Summer Business Forcast - Mold Building Industry
Continues to Stabilize
• When Mold Demand Outpaces Supply Departments
12 Technology
• Why Plastic Flows Better in Aluminum Injection Molds 3 Speak Out
• Use of Surface Layer on Pre-Hardened Tool Steel 20 Product
24 Focus 28 Association
• AMBA Scholarship Awards Contribute to ‘Cinderella Story’ 32 Industry

26 Inside Track 42 Calendar
• Equipment Breakdown Coverage - an Accident Waiting to Happen 42 Ad Index

36 Strategies
• Terms and Conditions: Contracting for Economic Uncertainty
• Midsized Manufacturers are Major Benefactors of the R&D
Tax Credit Visit our website:
www.amba.org

4 the american Mold Builder Summer 2012

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 Market Trends
Summer Business Forecast -
Mold Building Industry Continues to Stabilize
Over the course of many years, the American Mold
Builders Association (AMBA) has routinely examined
the trends of the mold building industry by utilizing the
final results of its quarterly economic surveys. Although
many micro trends can be identified by comparing the
current state of business operations to those of three
months prior, readers of AMBA’s magazine will now
be treated to a macro trends analysis of the state-of-the-
industry to better understand what is truly happening in
the areas of employment, demand measured by median
weekly employee work hours and operational benchmarks
including, but not limited to, quoting trends, shipping and
backlog status and overall profitability.
AMBA’s Summer 2012 Business Forecast Survey was
conducted via an online format for a period of two weeks.
Executives from 90 mold building companies, representing
nearly 3,000 shop floor and design employees, participated
in the survey process. Viewing the reported data from a
6 the american Mold Builder Summer 2012
short-term basis, business conditions for the majority of
moldmakers across the United States remain very stable
as 83 percent with participants indicating conditions
as excellent or good. More importantly, however, is the
stability of business conditions in the moldmaking industry
that is represented in the trend line over the last seven
quarters. As can be seen in Figure 1 below, on average,
nearly 85 percent of survey respondents have reported
either excellent or good business conditions over the last
twenty one months.
While predicting the future always remains a daunt-
ing task, combining data derived from “current business
conditions” along with what leaders are forecasting for the
next quarter, reveals a continuation of solid business con-
ditions throughout the remainder of 2012. Since the fourth
quarter of 2011, company executives consistently have
reported positive forecasts for the upcoming three-month
“bullish” about the future with 89 percent of survey
participants indicating an increase or stable future over the
next three months.
There is some irony to the next three-month business
forecasts when examining the macro trend lines for the
last eighteen months. Although business forecasts remain
strong, operations indicators divulge a slight momentum
change. Most revealing are the overall trend lines with
“backlog” and “shipments.” Viewing data provided in
AMBA’s economic surveys over the last nine months
on backlog status and applying linear regression to data
collected since the fourth quarter of 2011, “backlog”
appears to be decreasing slightly and shipment volume
appears to be following the same trend line.
In addition to the data revealing a slight momentum change
from previous quarters, the median and average trends in
the number of hours comprising the shop employee work
week have slightly decreased from those reported over the
last four quarterly surveys. The employee work week for
design and engineering professionals mirror this same trend.
Use of simulation software
One unique question that was asked in this summer’s
economic survey related to the use of mold/material
process simulation software prior to finalizing the mold/
part design either in-house or with a service bureau. Quite
interestingly, 33 percent of the survey respondents reported
“never using simulation-based software in their finalization
process.” 15 percent reported always using mold/material
process simulation software, and over half engaging in the
technology if required by the customer. Reported was that
slightly over one out of five survey respondents internally
possess at least one set of mold/process simulation software
while over 42 percent use outside service bureaus or other
outside resources. 
www.amba.org 7
 Market Trends
When Mold Demand Outpaces Supply
It’s been quite some time since the mold building industry
has seen a title like “When Demand Outpaces Supply.”
But it is finally here and the industry has not seen this
kind of demand for many years. As Harbour Results tours
and assesses mold building operations, we have found
today’s mold builders to be operating well over capacity,
outsourcing to their partners, quoting like never before and
struggling to keep up with the demand and deadlines from
customers. In most cases, the profitability, balance sheets
and cash flow of these companies also has improved.
In the last 18 months, the Harbour team has had the
opportunity to visit over 100 tool shops throughout the
US, Canada, China, Korea and Europe, including Eastern
Europe. This is a privilege that we don’t take lightly
because it has been an incredible learning experience. In
every plant we have been in, even those that did not rate
well, our team learned new ideas, processes and tools to
create best-in-class in toolmakers.
When we started this journey, we had some initial
perceptions about the tooling making business:
• Tooling is a traditional industry that has not progressed
• Toolmakers are artists vs. scientists
• Tool suppliers run their operations like a job shop and not
a manufacturing process
• Very little implementation of lean manfaturing exists with
.tool suppliers
• Tool suppliers lack flexibility
8 the american Mold Builder Summer 2012
By Laurie Harbour, President, Harbour Results, Inc.
• The tooling industry has been hit harder than most indus-
tries due to the economy
But what we knew for sure was that we would see some of
the best tool shops in the world right here in our own back
yard – the United States of America.
What we found was that there are a handful of companies
whose businesses are really excelling and pulling away
from the rest of the pack. They are innovative, creative,
profitable and constantly challenging the business to be
better. On the other hand, there is a group of suppliers that
is well below average in overall performance, struggling
to make money, meet deadlines and overall customer
expectations. The largest group of shops is right in the
middle. These suppliers are mediocre yet have a strong
enough brand and enough new business to stay in the
game. However, this group is not doing anything creative
to improve their business to be best-in-class. These
suppliers will have to make some decisions in the coming
year on what they need to do in order to move up the scale
to best-in-class status, or watch their companies fall back
further in the pack. One thing is for certain, in the current
business environment, companies that are not growing are
not sustainable.
Our assessment of these tool suppliers has allowed us to put
together some benchmarking data to see where company
performance compares to others and some ideas for how
the best-in-class are achieving their results. One of the key
metrics we look to is sales value per employee. This metric
looks at total revenue less any outsourced revenue and
is divided by the full-time equivalent employees, which
includes overtime. Companies that operate over $161,000
are above average and doing very well.
What’s interesting is the wide range that exists among
companies. Some are as low as $48,000 per employee and
others as high as $220,000. This data shows consistent
variation but as companies get larger, the average tends to
be higher due to the economies of scale. Those companies
that are under $10M are making the least amount of money
per employee on average, just under $100,000. This
reveals a huge opportunity for companies to improve their
performance and profitability at this level.
We also look at sales per designer because design and
engineering tend to be a major bottleneck as today’s
companies are squeezed in capacity. Again, the data
reveals that companies under $10M perform the lowest at
approximately $650,000 per employee while the best are
companies over $50M with $1.5M per employee. Some
companies are as high as $2.5M while the lowest are
around $100,000.
The most interesting piece of data is average EBIT
(Earnings Before Interest and Tax) across the companies.
The best performers are the $10 -20M category, averaging
a 10-percent return with some in this group above 20
percent. For companies under $10M, the performance is not
bad, averaging 6 percent but ranging well over 10 percent.
More importantly, what the data really shows are ‘stair
steps of growth’. What this implies is that companies begin
to make good money and get traction around $10M and
then it gets better as they grow towards $20M. However,
this threshold is the most difficult to break through.
A company that is over $20M has a lot of investment
to support the larger entity. It requires more systems,
processes, equipment, people, etc. As a result, companies
that are $20 – 30M see a reduction in EBIT performance
with the average only at 4 percent and the high only at 7.5
percent. As they grow to $30 – 40M, it improves slightly
to 6 percent with a high of 11.5 percent. However, a much
greater swing exists with several companies scoring a
negative performance. Over $50M companies average the
same, around 6 percent with less variance in the high and
low performance but none more than 10 percent.
This data proves that there is a sweet spot of just under
$20M where companies can make very good money, but
if they have great sales teams and want to charge past that
they need to develop the infrastructure to get there and that
costs money. Once that is done, a company almost has to
go to $50M in order to see the economies of scale in terms
of EBIT in the future.
The data also reveals average SG&A (Sales, General &
Administration Expense) costs, which as one might expect
also align with the size of a company. The companies under
$10M have the highest percentage cost at 21 percent but
as you look at larger companies, the percentages decline
and companies over $50M average 7.5 percent SG&A.
All mold builders need salary staff to support the business
whether small or large and the larger the company the
more flexibility can be gained at this level.
One other interesting metric is average revenue per square
foot. Although by itself not a critical metric, the data shows
that since 2007, the average has gone up 75 percent from
$160 to almost $300 per square foot. Companies are showing
ability to grow within their current footprint and during
this period of high demand, companies should continue to
leverage this through new and more efficient layouts.
Moving forward
This data is just a snapshot of the overall information that
has been obtained to help companies understand where
their performance stacks up to the competition. However,
going forward, there are many pressures on the tooling
industry that companies still have to face. Currently, the
climate looks good and many have already forgotten about
the recession of 2008 – 2010, but more rough times are
ahead. Tooling is a brutal market and there are several
things that companies have to consider moving forward.
page 10 u
www.amba.org 9
 Market Trends
t page 9
Capacity constraints – many mold builders have leverage
today and are even turning away work because they are
too full. This is a position that companies have not been
in for a long time. That said, companies have to be wise
about this capacity and plan for the future when customers
level out their product cadence and new programs get back
to a normal release schedule. Companies need to develop
the ability to sell value versus capacity and know how to
maintain that in 2015 and beyond when the market shifts
again. This return from the recession is not a 10-year wave;
it is only a 2 to 3 year wave.
Quoting factories – many companies today have become
quoting factories and as a result, a great deal of transactional
waste has been added to the up front process internally. Much
manpower and substantial time is spent in this area today
and in many cases, on quotes that will never materialize
into anything except for price testing. Companies should be
careful to manage cost in this area.
Increased volumes – today, the majority of mold builders
is very busy and is, in fact, being challenged by these
increased volumes. Many companies were not prepared
for these volume increases and they are struggling to meet
timing due to a lack of resources and systems to support
the growth. Companies are throwing waste at the process
and this could lead to negative returns in the near future
and loss of a competitive edge as market conditions swing
back to realistic levels.
Skilled labor – probably the largest problem for all
toolmakers today is the lack of skilled labor and people
to fill the many new jobs in companies. This is an area
where toolmakers need to put their money on the table
and work with local high schools and colleges to find the
right motivated people and then put them in an extensive
apprenticeship program. Schools won’t train these
people; tool shops will have to make the commitment and
investment to find and train the future generation.
Pricing – this is an area that will always be under heavy
scrutiny and it will only continue to get tighter as
companies release new programs with lower budgets but
more complexity of product. This complexity will drive
more discrete tools and added cost, which will force
pricing down for each separate tool.
Payment terms – this is an area that is particularly difficult
in the automotive industry. It appears that other industries
have dealt with this issue in a more productive fashion
but automotive is still struggling with terms that provide
payment when the tool is shipped or at PPAP (Production
10 the american Mold Builder Summer 2012
Part Approval Process). Having leverage today, companies
need to utilize this to sell their value to companies that
are willing to provide appropriate payment terms. It might
mean a loss of a customer or two but this foundation will
be critical for survival in future years.
Lastly, global pressure continues to be an issue. The threat
of China and other low cost countries will not go away and
will only continue to grow in the future. Some companies
have chosen to use this to their advantage and set up the
appropriate partnerships to leverage once their capacity is
full in the US. Others have said no to this thought. Going
forward, it’s a global economy and there will have to be
some recognition by all companies but these strategies will
be critical depending on the future size of their company.
The data reveals many opportunities for mold builders
to improve their business and move themselves out of
mediocre performance and into the leader class. The
best companies are reviewing the entire value stream
and focusing their efforts on operational improvement
in terms of throughput and elimination of waste. A focus
on engineering has yielded many companies more time
for design and better processes. But the companies that
consistently rank the highest in Harbour’s assessment
and have the best performance data are in that position
because they have a strong leader and leadership team.
These leaders challenge everything and apply system-level
leadership throughout the organization. This is the secret
ingredient for any company. 
Combining operational and financial advisory expertise
with industry analysis and thought leadership, Harbour
Results delivers results that impact the bottom line.
The company specializes in manufacturing, production
operations and asset-intensive industries, as well as a
number of manufacturing processes including stamping,
tooling, precision machining and plastics. To learn more,
visit www.harbourresults.com.
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www.amba.org 11
 Technology
Why Plastic Flows Better in
Aluminum Injection Molds
The following article is an investigative study directly
comparing melt flow characteristics of general purpose
resins in QC-10 aluminum molds and P20 steel molds.
There have been numerous articles published regarding
the cycle time advantage aluminum molds have over steel
when configured with the same gate, part geometry and
cooling channels, but there is little specific information
available to demonstrate why this happens and how it
improves the injection mold process. Alcoa Forged and
Cast Products (Newburgh Heights, OH) teamed up with
Aluminum Injection Mold Co. (Rochester, NY) and
sponsored a case study to uncover the differences known
to exist when molding thermoplastics in aluminum versus
steel molds.
The key objectives were to quantify the differences by
comparing how thermoplastics react in an aluminum mold
versus a steel one, measure those differences, and share
the results of the experiment. The results should help
moldmakers and molders better understand the potential
savings and improvements for molding plastic components
in aluminum tools, specifically addressing the following:
1) How plastic material flows longer distances with less
injection pressure, when compared to steel
2) How molds fill faster and more efficiently
3) How parts have minimal warp and better dimensional
stability
Aluminum’s thermal conductivity is nearly five times
greater than that of steel (Table 1). In an article published
in Moldmaking Technology magazine¹, Douglas Bryce
discusses an IBM tooling study comparing identical
aluminum and steel molds producing the same plastic
components over a five-year period. The article suggested
that the aluminum molds cost up to 50 percent less to build
and can be delivered in one-half the time. It went on to say
these tools produced higher quality products having cycle
times that were 25 to 40 percent less than the steel molds.
12 the american Mold Builder Summer 2012
By David Bank, Aluminum Injection Mold Co.,
Dave Klafhen, Advent Tool,
Ron Smierciak, Alcoa Forged and Cast Products
Measurement QC-10 P20
In 2005, an article written in the publication Flowfront²
looked at computer simulation of cycle time and cooling
versus actual molding. After carrying out simulations on
12 parts, which had very different characteristics in terms
of shape, size and plastic materials, it was concluded that
significant savings in total cycle time could be realized by
using aluminum instead of steel molds. Cycle time savings
of 10-20 percent were seen in cases where there were no
critical tolerances linked to the deformation of the part
due to the effect of the heat. However, savings of 60-200
percent were seen in cases where heat deformation affected
critical design tolerance levels.
Studies like these are relevant to the industry and this
case study looks at the basis of why plastic flows better
in aluminum.
Tooling
Spiral test molds, built in accordance to ASTM D3123-
98 were selected for the tool design. This shape would
standardize the channel length, size of overall mold,
cooling and gate location. In addition, each mold was
fitted with a series of four thermocouples to monitor and
document, in real time, what the metal does when injected
with molten plastic. All the thermocouples were connected
to a data logger and computer for data collection. For the
aluminum molds, a QC-10 mold plate was used and for the
steel molds, a P20. Six molds of identical geometry were
built - three in QC-10 and three in P20. The spiral mold
shape was sized at 6mm wide and channel depths of 1mm,
2mm and 3mm, respectively. The sizes of the tools were a
standard 7x8” master unit die and all the mold plates were
the same thicknesses.

The sprue diameter was identically sized for each of
the six unit molds. Identical water lines were drilled to
complete the cooling circuits. Four of the six molds,
the 1mm and 2mm molds in both materials, were fitted
with thermocouples that came in from the back and were
approximately 0.5mm from the cavity surface. On the
3mm spiral unit molds, a fifth thermocouple was placed
into secondary vent area to monitor the vent temperature
during molding. All six molds were laser engraved on the
“A” side in inch increments from 1” to 67”. The surfaces
were finished with a 600 grit stone. The test was set up in
a 55 ton Toyo injection mold machine.
Seven unfilled, general purpose thermoplastic resins
were selected for this trial: polyethylene, polypropylene,
polystyrene, ABS, PC/ABS, nylon, and polycarbonate.
Molding trials
Trial One: Same melt temperature, same mold tempera-
ture per manufacturer’s recommended parameters;
seven resins, six tools
This trial fixed a predefined orifice, a predefined
temperature and a predefined injection pressure (< 1000
psi). A 25-piece sample was run for each mold group.
The hypothesis suggests that the flow lengths would be
dramatically different between the QC-10 and the P20
molds because of aluminum’s higher thermal conductivity.
The material was dried for the prerequisite period of time
and prepped for molding. The melt temperatures were
set to the resin manufacturer’s recommended settings
and the molds were brought up to the manufacturer’s
recommended temperature as well. The P20 molds were
run first in all the materials. The data found the average
spiral flow length to be 10” to 15”, consistent with the
manufacturer’s specifications. The QC-10 molds were run
in all the materials as well, expecting to produce a dramatic
difference in flow length. It did not.
The flow length results were in the same range of the
P20 molds. The findings were puzzling. In the end, all
the materials yielded basically the same results in all the
molds used which was not the expected outcome.
With over 25 years experience in processing aluminum
tools, it was sure that this trial would demonstrate what
is known to be true. The group had to stop and rethink
the situation. It was searching for something it knew was
there, but did not know how to quantify it, yet. After much
discussion, it was decided that the group needed to run the
same materials in a trial that included pack and hold.
Trial Two: Seven resins; six molds with monitored
temperatures, pack and hold
The second trial was initiated, again recording temperatures.
The injection mold pressure remained at the baseline of the
material used from trial one. This time the experiment was
to process each unit mold as if molding a run of parts in
production. Each mold trial began as a short shot (shorter
length spiral, in this case) and proceeded to pack out the part
to get the best achievable result. Cycle was established when
the sucker pin pulled the sprue clean and the part was cool
enough to eject. Cycle time and mold temperatures were
documented for each tool running at least 25 parts at cycle.
In the QC-10 molds, the temperature graph during this
process showed a near vertical increase in temperature from
mold set point of about 10 to 12 degrees to an immediate
drop back to set point before the mold opened. For a point
of reference, the mold cycle for polystyrene was 12.2
seconds as the QC-10 group of molds was finished. All
three thicknesses, although yielding shorter flow lengths
going from 3mm thick to 1mm thick, were in the same
12.0 to 12.5 second range for total shot-to-shot cycle.
page 14 u
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 Technology
t page 13
The P20 steel molds were run at the same temperatures
as QC-10. The first observation was the change in how
the mold temperatures reacted as the molten plastic was
injected. The temperature did not spike up and down with
the same intensity as it did in the QC-10 molds. In addition,
the cool down time was much more gradual. Also, P20
typically overran the mold temperature set point by an
average of about 20 degrees. The increase in the mold
temperature due to the injection melt was an additional
15-20 degrees. With all this excess temperature, i.e., mold
overshooting and temperature increases with very slow
recovery, a difference of 20+ second cycle shot-to-shot
in P20 versus the QC-10 cycle of about 12 seconds was
noted. At this point, we believed we had finally found the
reason that plastic molds better in QC-10, and decided to
continue another trial to verify our findings.
Trial Three: Two materials, 1 amorphous and 1 semi crystal-
line, 3mm unit molds of QC-10-and P20, pack and hold
It was decided to use only polystyrene (amorphous) and
nylon (semi-crystalline) with the 3mm unit molds in
QC-10 and P20 in this verification trial because virtually
no difference in flow length between any particular mold
family and between any materials in the previous trials
were found. It was important to look at melt temperature
versus flow length versus cycle time. The trial began with
temperatures on the low side of the resin manufacturer’s
recommended barrel temperature for the resin being used.
Mold temperatures were set to the lowest recommended
set temperature. The P20 mold ran in both materials and
cycle times, mold temperatures and injection pressure
was noted. Then the QC-10 mold ran in both materials,
again noting cycle times, mold temperatures and injection
pressures. After compiling data, all temperatures were
moved to the highest barrel temperature and each mold
was run with both materials, again collecting same data.
In both temperature tests in trial three for polystyrene,
QC-10 cycle time stayed consistent with findings of trial
14 the american Mold Builder Summer 2012
two, 12-13 seconds. In the lowest temperature test, P20’s
cycle time was in the 20- to 21-second range, similar to
trial two’s findings, but in the higher temperature test, it
jumped nearly 25 percent.
Findings
The QC-10 molds heated five times faster than the P20
molds, when set up to run each trial. Across all the trials,
the QC-10 mold temperature stayed consistently within
1-3 degrees of the mold temperature set point. During the
inject phase, a temperature spike of 10-20 degrees with an
abrupt return to set point was observed.
The P20 mold temperature stayed consistently 10-25
degrees above mold temperature set point. During the
inject phase, additional increases of 15-30 degrees were
observed before slowly trending downward. When using
the QC-10 molds, an appreciable change was not seen in
cycle time, part to part, even when the materials were run
at the high end of the manufacturer’s recommended melt/
mold temperatures. However, the P20 molds continued to
get hotter and the cycle time became even longer.
In view of these findings, it is not surprising that there
are some plastic consultants extolling the virtues of
running plastic resin as much as 100 degrees below the
manufacturer’s recommended settings when using P20 or
other steel injection molds, even though doing so could
void the manufacturer’s guarantees.
Conclusion
The results of this experiment were both a surprise and not
a surprise.
It was not a surprise to prove what the group set out to prove,
but the road that led it there was an unexpected one. It was
pleasing to show that plastic parts molded in aluminum
would minimize warp and enhance dimensional stability,
allow molds to fill faster and more efficiently and allow
plastic material to flow greater distances with less injection
pressure when compared to steel. It was demonstrated that
using aluminum gives the benefit of making molds less
expensive to produce, shortening mold delivery time,
producing higher quality molded plastic parts and enabling
the realization of producing more plastic parts per day.

The surprise in the experiment was that the expected

results were achieved in a different, unexpected way. It
was surmised that the desired results would be achieved
because aluminum molds would take on heat from the
hot melt during the injection phase, enabling the plastic
to fill the mold cavity more quickly with less pressure
and less density change. Conversely, it was thought that
the steel molds would take on less heat, thereby creating
more “skinning”, and restricting the flow front resulting in
the need for higher injection pressure and causing density
changes from the gate to the longest flow length.

What we actually found was that the QC-10 did not take
on or hold as much heat as was previously thought, thus
allowing the molten plastic to move in quickly and quench info@wi-engraving.com
quickly, therefore there was not a density change due to
excess injection pressure. It was discovered that the steel
actually took on and held much more heat. During the
inject phase, plastic filled the cavity and stayed molten
much longer allowing for additional inject pressure which M & M Tooling Inc.
caused density changes before solidification. Wisc_Engraving.indd 1
CNC Machining Specialist Your Source!10/23/08 1:33:02 P
Specializing in Mold Shop Overflow Work
Custom Mold Bases
With a personal touch
Hopefully the information provided in this article adds to M&M Tooling Inc., is a complete Custom
the knowledge base used to consider aluminum as a viable Mold Base manufacturing facility with
capacity up to 35” x 80”. We employ top
choice for the production of injection molds.  journeymen mold-makers, utilizing Mazak
CNC machining centers maintaining tight
tolerances, to achieve high quality results.

References: M&M Tooling Inc’s mission is and always

will be, to provide follow-through on commit-
1. Douglas Bryce, Moldmaking Technology, “Why Offer ments to our customers, with personal
attention that exceeds expectations.
Aluminum Molds for Production”, April 2002
2. Claudia Zironi, Flowfront Magazine, “Competitive
“Where Your Success is Our Business”

Advantages of Aluminum Molds for Injection Molding 395 E. Potter St.

Wood Dale, Illinois 60191
Applications: Process Simulation Used to Evaluate Cycle Phone: 630-595-8834
Times”, April 2005 Fax: 630-595-6806
Web: www.MMTOOLING.com
3. American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), Email: MMTOOLING@aol.com

West Conshohocken, PA. Is a nationally recognized

independent test agency. The ASTM test number D3123-
98 describes a spiral flow mold for use with thermosetting
molding compound, and also states there appears to be no
universal standard for thermoplastics.

For further information, contact Aluminum Injection

Mold Co., at tbergman@aluminuminjectionmold.com,
Dave Klafhen, Advent Tool, at dklafehn@adventtool.com
and Ron Smierciak, Alcoa Forged and Cast Products, at
Ron.Smierciak@alcoa.com. Member

www.amba.org 15
 Technology
Improve Mold Life on
Pre-Hardened Tool Steel
The last decades have seen rapid development in hard-
machining, enabling faster tool-manufacturing when using
pre-hardened tool steels. Such steels are usually delivered
in hardness up to approx. 40 HRC. However, pre-hardened
tool steel having 45HRC is today available on the market.
Such hardness is suitable in many molding applications,
but when molding reinforced plastics, such as glass-
fiber reinforced ones, higher mold surface hardness is
required to achieve desired mold life length. Application of
surface engineering (Nitriding, PVD-coating etc.) on pre-
hardened tool steel enables the tool designer/tool maker to
tailor-make the desired mold surface properties.
Molds having cavity surface hardness above approx. 380
HBW/40 HRC are commonly manufactured using tool
steel delivered in soft-annealed condition. Depending
on which plastic to mold, such molds are generally heat
treated having cavity surface hardness of 45-55 HRC.
As is well known, the heat treatment is not only time
consuming but also generates distortions due to the phase
transformations which take place during the thermal cycle.
Furthermore, there also is a risk for cracking of the mold
during quenching.
Modern pre-hardened tool steel of today, Toolox 33 (300
HBW) and Toolox 44 (450 HBW, approx. 45 HRC), offer
two major advantages:
• Shorter time possible from mold ordering to delivery
• Known mechanical properties of the mold
Steel properties
Steel shops equipped with effective secondary metallurgy
facilities can produce super-clean liquid steel, with regard
to very low levels of tramp elements as well as extremely
low inclusion level. The critical question is how to transfer
this super-clean liquid steel into solid state without ruining
its properties. Use of a continuous caster equipped with
soft-reduction zones, CSR (CSR = Continuous Soft
Reduction), enable full control of steel solidification and
the continuous casting common center line segregation can
be eliminated in the CSR-caster [1]. Figure 1 shows results
from trials where slabs of high-sulfur steel have been casted
with/without CSR to vary the sulfur segregation level in
16 the american Mold Builder Summer 2012
By Per Hansson, SSAB, Oxelösund Sweden
the slab center line. As is clearly shown, full control of
a strongly segregating element like sulfur is possible to
achieve in such a caster.
Figure 1. Sulfur segregation in slab center line
Use of fully protected casting, i.e., ceramic tubes in the
tapping sequence from ladle into tundish and from tundish
into mold guarantee that the inclusion content can be kept
extremely low when solidifying, see Figure 2.
Figure 2. Steel inclusion contents, plate center position
0.1
0.09 Duplex
0.08
Areafraction (%)
Sulfides
0.07
0.06 Oxides
0.05
0.04
0.03
0.02
0.01
0
When the steel manufacturer has effective steel heat
treatment he also can choose leaner chemical compositions
when designing pre-hardened tool steel. Modern pre-
hardened steel chemical compositions differ substantially
when compared with traditional tool steels of equal hardness.
In this comparison, have the maximum permitted sulfur and
phosphorus contents for Superior H13 been chosen? This
grade is normally delivered as ESR-re-melted, i.e., it has
micro-segregation and cleanliness comparable with CSR-
casted steel. (See Table 1.)
The extremely high steel cleanliness of the described pre- Table 2. Constants in Taylor’s equation evaluated
hardened tool steels (Toolox 33 and Toolox 44) enables for the actual test setup.
these to be polished to very high demands, where A2 gloss Grade N C
is possible to achieve. W.Nr 1.2312 (P20+S) 0.16 476
Toolox 33 0.21 669
Toolox 44 0.18 379
Machining properties

Table 1. Typical chemical compositions,

all elements are shown in weight-%.
Calculations of maximum possible cutting speed at 10, 30
and 45 minutes cutting edge life length, using the wear
criterion given above, are shown in Table 3.
QC-10 P20 QC-10 P20
Polystyrene
Melt − F 465 465 430 430 Table 3. Calculated maximum cutting speeds.
Mold − F 100 100 100 100 Grade V10 min V30 min V45 min
Cycle − sec. 12.3 21.8 12.0 17.5 (m/min) (m/min) (m/min)
Flow Length 34” 34” 27” 27.5” W.Nr 1.2312 329 276 258
(P20+S)
Nylon Toolox 33 412 327 301
Melt − F 555 555 510 555 Toolox 44 246 205 191
Mold − F 150 150 150 150
Cycle − sec. 21.0 24.0 20.3 22.0
Flow Lengh 52” 53” 39” 39.5” As is shown in Table 3, hard machining in a pre-hardened
45 HRC grade requires a reduction in cutting speed of
approx. 35 percent when compared with milling in P20+S.

Osbelt and Enzelsberger [3] have carried out a study

Pre-hardened tool steels must have good machining
properties and excellent dimensional stability to ease
mold manufacturing. Designing a steel to show very high
dimensional stability enables the moldmaker to exclude
stress relieving in the manufacturing process, thereby
further reducing total mold manufacturing time. The
machining properties are partly governed by the carbide
contents/distribution in the steel matrix. Chandrasekaran
et. al. [2] have studied the relationship between different
pertaining to reduced manufacturing time for a mold
producing spectacle frames. By choosing Toolox 44
instead of W.Nr 1.2344/H13 (Q&T to 45 HRC), they
showed that mold manufacturing time can be reduced by
114 hrs, approximately three weeks, when choosing the
pre-hardened tool steel (see figure 3).
Figure 3. Mold manufacturing time [3].
400
Design/manufacturing time (hrs)

carbide amounts in steel matrix and machineability using 350

flat milling in Toolox 33, Toolox 44 and in the European 300
grade W.Nr. 1.2312 (P20+S). 250
200
An evaluation of the constants in Taylor’s equation
150
(VTn=C) was made when using the following test setup:
• Cutting head, Sandvik Coromill 200 Ø 80mm 100
• Insert, Sandvik GC 1025 50
• Feed = 0.15mm/tooth 0
• ap = 2mm W.Nr 1.2344 / H13 Toolox 44
• Cutting width = 60mm

The cutting edge was defined to be worn out at flank wear,

vb, of 0.3mm. The constants in Taylor’s equation are given
in Table 2.
page 18 u
www.amba.org 17
 Technology
t page 17
Cost comparison [4] has been carried out, see Table 4,
when manufacturing two identical components, see Figure
4, in Toolox 33 and W.Nr. 1.2312 (P20+S) respectively.
Figure 4. Component made for cost comparison.
The actual test shows a reduction in required machining
time with 1:15:35, i.e., 16 percent, when using the pre-
hardened tool steel. On top on that, lead time reduction also
occurs because there is no need for added heat treatment!

Mold service life length

In molds for plastic, molding is abrasive and wears
the dominant mechanism, except mechanical damage.
The abrasive wear increases drastically when molding-
reinforced components, such as glass-fiber-reinforced
ones. SSAB has developed a wear model [6] pertaining to
describe differences in relative life lengths in components
having different surface hardness when subject to abrasive
wear. In this model, two main wear regimes can be
distinguished: an aggressive and a soft one. The relative
hardness, see Equation 1, is used to determine which
Table 4. Cost comparison. regime prevails.
W.Nr. 1.2312 Toolox 33
Steel cost 719 € 726 €
HVrel = HVabrasive medium/HVmold surface
Milling/drilling 4960 € 3930 €
Stress relieving 191 € - (1) The transition between the wear regimes takes place
Grinding 260 € 70 € when HVrel equals 1.6, schematically shown in Figure 5.
Total cost 6130 € 4726 € This means that to obtain longer mold service life the mild
abrasive mode shall dominate. Furthermore, the actual
wear system also determines the width of the transition
zone. Attention must be paid to the slope of the relative
Substantial cost reduction was achieved, 1404 €, thanks to wear curve in the transition zone to ensure a safety margin
faster milling, excellent dimensional stability, no need for when determining the necessary surface hardness in a
stress relieving and machining in only one (1) set-up. given wear system.
When choosing a modern pre-hardened tool steel, the
Figure 5. Schematic description of relative wear life.
manufacturer had three days in lead time for the stress
relieve operation of W.Nr. 1.2312. On top of that, it also
had to add time for re-mounting the component in the CNC
after this step.

Another comparison, carried out by the Hoffmann Group

[5], shows actual time required in each machining step
Relative service life

when milling a given cavity in H11 and Toolox 44 resp.,

see Table 5. The H11 component was heat treated at 45
HRC in the manufacturing cycle, requiring three days Severe abrasive wear Mild abrasive wear

lead time in this case.

Table 5. Time required in each machining step.

H11 Toolox 44
Roughing 00:53:38 1:21:40
Pre-finishing 1:43:37 -------------- Relative hardness
Finishing 5:14:02 5:14:02
(HVrel = HVabrasive medium/HVmold surface)
Total 7:51:17 6:35:42

18 the american Mold Builder Summer 2012

The necessary mold surface hardness when molding a glass-
fiber reinforced nylon component has been determined
using this model. The glass-fiber, 1200 HV, will govern the
actual wear system. A traditional tool steel, W.Nr. 1.2358,
heat treated to 55 HRC was the earlier choice but too short
and un-predictable mold life length was achieved. P20
having hardness of 300 HBW was chosen as the reference
point in this evaluation and given a relative life length of
1. The calculated relative service lives of different mold
surface hardness are given in Figure 6 and in Table 6.
Figure 6. Relative mold life lengths.
Ni olo
Relative service life
x)
(6
58
23
)
1)
(4x
.
0(
r.1
44
P2
.N
W
lox
o
To
As is demonstrated in Figure 6, mold surface hardness of
approximately minimum 60 HRC is required to ensure the
mild abrasive wear mode to prevail. As safety margin has
to be added the actual mold surface hardness was chosen
to 65 HRC. Changing from the 55 HRC mold to a mold
having 65 HRC surface hardness will then increase mold
service life by approx. 6 times.
Table 6. Comparison of relative mold service life.
Mold
surface
hardness
(HV)
P20
Toolox 44
W.Nr 1.2358 (55 HRC)
Toolox 44, nitrided
When manufacturing the new mold it was decided to use
Toolox 44 and to nitride its surface to ensure the proper
wear mode in running component production. Directly
after manufacturing of the new mold, i.e., before nitriding,
were a couple of test shots (~50-100) run to check the final
product dimensions. The mold was thereafter nitride and
the serial production started. In this case, was the mold
used both as a try-out-tool (before nitriding) as well as
a serial production mold (when nitrided)? Thereby were
costs and lead times drastically reduced due to the
fact that manufacturing of separate try-out-mold and
production molds were eliminated?
Discussion
Nowadays, pre-hardened tool steel having hardness
of 45 HRC easily can be machined thanks to the rapid
development in hard machining. This opens new possibilities
to reduce mold manufacturing time in transport to/from heat
treatment. Also, heat treatment is no longer needed during
)
5x
de 44
(3
mold manufacturing, providing substantial savings in mold
tri x
d
cost and manufacturing lead time. 
To
References
1. A. Lagerstedt. H. Fredriksson, Stränggjutning av
verktygsstål. ISBN KTH/MG-UND-02/01-SE, TRITA-
MG 2002:01. In Swedish.
2. H. Chandrasekaran, R. M’Saoubi, O. Karlsson, U.
Persson, Milling of pre-hardened mold steels – role of mi-
crostructure on machineability and tool wear. Proceedings
of 7th International Tooling Conference, Politecnico di
Torino, pp 623-630.
3. G. Osbelt, E. Enzelsberger, Vom digitalen Desig-
nentwurf zur modularen Spritzgussform. Quo Vadis
Tools&Manufacture Gmbh. In German.
4. Hasco Hasenclever Gmbh, Private communication.
5. Hoffmann Group, Private communication.
6. WearCalc, SSAB
Per Hansson is product manager for the Toolox®,
engineering and tool steel grades, and Armox® , protection
steel, in the plate manufacturing program at SSAB. His
qualifications include a M.Sc. in metallurgical engineering
Relative as well as a Ph.D. in welding engineering from the KTH,
mold Royal Institute of Technology, in Stockholm Sweden. He
service life has worked for SSAB since 1988 in key positions for the
development of abrasion resistant steels, protection,
340 1 engineering and tool steel technological advances. One of
480 4 Per Hansson’s main areas of expertise is in the physical
660 6 metallurgy of steel, especially mechanical properties
820 35 related to steel microstructure, alloying systems and the
influences from the different steps within the manufacturing
process chain. For more information, visit www.ssab.com.
www.amba.org 19
 Product
ELEC2RODES™ – Bonded Savings
for EDM Electrodes
9.pdf 10/6/09 3:02:05 PM
Ohio Carbon Blank, Willoughby, OH, introduces the
ELEC2RODE™ (patent pending) a new bonded graphite
product designed to reduce graphite electrode costs for
EDM users of medium- or high-density graphite materi-
als (POCO EDM3 or equivalents). The technology mini-
mizes material use, eliminates milling of blanks for work
holding and can reduce overall graphite costs dramatically.
Ohio Carbon Blank bonds a less costly grade of graph-
ite used for the electrode holding area (the “backer”) with
a higher density material which contacts the work piece
(the “electrode”) during the EDM process. The result-
ing ELEC2RODE™ allows not only economical mate-
rial combinations, but also eliminates the need to mill the
electrode in house before use. ELEC2RODES™ can be
used with existing graphite holders or with the company’s
new economical line of graphite holding products. The
ELEC2RODE™ product is offered exclusively via its
user-friendly GRAPHIMATOR® software. Simply key
in the electrode and backer sizes, electrode material and
quantity for immediate pricing. Also be sure to visit Ohio
Carbon Blank in booth #E-5148 at this year’s IMTS. For
more information, visit www.ohiocarbonblank.com.
D300 5-Axis Vertical Machining
Center from Makino
Makino, Mason, OH,
announces the D300
5-axis vertical ma-
chining center as the
newest entry into
the 5-axis aerospace
machining arena.
Similar to the D500,
this 5-axis machin-
ing center is de-
signed specifically
for small, complex,
3-D contouring of
high-quality part production as typically seen in aerospace
machining, medical manufacturing, high-end job shop and
die/mold applications. The D300 worktable offers a work
area diameter of 300mm, accommodating workpiece sizes
up to 450mm by 270mm and 120kg. The machine provides
X-, Y- and Z-axis travels of 300mm, 500mm and 350mm,
respectively, at feed rates of up to 60,000mm per minute.
Rotary table axes offer rotational motion of 240 degrees
(± 120 degrees) on the A-axis and a full 360-degree (con-
tinuous rotation) on the C-axis. The machine comes stan-
dard equipped with a 15,000-rpm HSK-A63 spindle with
120Nm (42Nm continuous) of torque for flexible, high-
speed machining of various workpiece materials includ-
ing steel, aluminum and titanium. Optional spindle con-
figurations include a 20,000-rpm HSK-A63 spindle and
30,000-rpm HSK-F63 spindle. Makino uses direct-drive
motor technology in the D300’s C-axis rotary table and
A-axis trunnion for outstanding positioning accuracy and
repeatability. The ultra-high-torque direct-drive motors

20 the american Mold Builder Summer 2012

also provide superior acceleration and rotary speed char- aluminum manifolds similar to the original Smartflow one-
acteristics that can reduce cycle times of complex 5-axis piece design. The manifolds are divided internally and an-
simultaneous machining applications by up to 60 percent. odized with one red end and one blue end to denote supply
For more information, visit www.makino.com. and return in a single manifold. Delta-Q is a low-cost pre-
cision flow regulator module that can be used in conjunc-
DME Adds Two New Smartflow® tion with other Smartflow components such as threaded end
Cooling Products caps, flow meters, temperature and pressure gauges, Dr.
Eddy® flow me-
DME Molding ters/turbulent
Supplies, Madison flow indicators,
Heights, MI, the Tracer® electron-
maintenance, re- ic flow meters
pair and operations and cooling water
products division manifolds. The
of DME Company, Delta-Q regula-
has expanded its tor allows full
comprehensive line adjustability of
of MRO products to include two new Smartflow® cooling prod- flow volume from unrestricted to complete shutoff, and the
ucts: Duoflow™ Manifolds and Delta-Q™ Flow Regulators. modular design allows users to customize models to meet
The new Smartflow offerings reinforce DME’s commit- scientific cooling requirements for each application. For
ment to providing the industry’s broadest product range more information, visit www.dme.net/moldingsupplies.
and best value. Smartflow Duoflow Manifolds are extruded

page 22 u

Moldflow Analysis Experts!

“Get it Right the 1st Time!”

When you need a solution 630.761.9898

www.caeservices.com

www.amba.org 21
 Product
t page 21

Magnos Radial Pole Magnets

Depending on the individual application, three different
For exact machining styles of standard radial pole magnets are offered. For
of thin-walled rings on grinding operations, an AlNiCo single magnet system with
rotary tables, cylindri- automatic demagnetization is available. For turning opera-
cal grinding machines tions, an AlNiCo double magnet system with high holding
and lathes, SCHUNK, forces is offered. The third style is for demanding volume
Morrisville, NC, now machining during rough turning, an extra strong AlNiCo
offers a vast program of neodymium magnet system. For more information, visit
standardized magnetic www.schunk.com.
chucks with radial pole
pitch. MAGNOS radial OKK VB53 Design Feature Satisfies
pole plates work with electrically activated permanent High-End Mold Applications
magnets and are proven for hard and finish turning, as well
as grinding and rough turning. The workpiece can be ma- OKK USA Corporation, Glendale Heights, IL, announces
chined from three sides without a changeover and since the VB53 design feature to satisfy high-end mold applica-
the magnetic field is active up to the outer fringe areas, tion challenges. The design feature helps achieve superior
extremely large workpieces now can be clamped securely surface finish and precision, combined with high-speed
and deformation-free. Due to the two-dimensional acting operation and excellent operator accessibility. The VB53
holding force, vibrations are greatly reduced during ma- is standard with 20000RPM spindle with big plus double
chining. This prevents the cutting edges of the tools from contact, X-axis travel of 41.34”, Y-axis travel of 20.87”
damage and improves the surface quality of the workpiece. and Z-axis travel of 20.08”. The VB53’s superior surface

Harroun.com

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Cutters

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Holder

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• Full-line of insertable carbide ball and flat bottom end mills ranging • Cutters for Aluminum and Non-ferrous type materials ranging from
from .375”-10mm to 2.00”-50mm 12mm threaded type to 5.00”-125mm face mill.
• Button cutters, threaded type, ranging from 20mm diameter to • Morse taper extensions, MT2, MT3, MT4, MT5. Cat 40/50 holders.
42mm diameter radius R3.5 to R10. • All new line of HSK balanced tooling for your shrink fit needs.
• Button cutter, shell mill type, range from 2.00”- 50mm to 6.00”- • Harroun’s tooling! The most consistent and cost effective on the
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22 the american Mold Builder Summer 2012

finishing capability, fewer vibration stripes and less quad- The enclosure is designed with removable side doors for
rant projections distinguishes itself from the competition accessibility through full saddle travel to accommodate
through a number of technological innovations. OKK’s long parts. VM3224 is equipped standard with Milltronics
Fine Pitch ball screw reduces the maximum rapid speed, 8200 CNC Control, linear roller ways, dual arm 24-pocket
but increases the overall precision of the entire system along tool changer, 6-spigot flood coolant, 180 gal coolant capac-
with a rigid machine base. Additionally, the VB53 employs ity and chip auger. Coolant and chip control are enhanced
an external, isolated oil cooler, which removes a common by enclosure design featuring a single, integrated au-
source of vibration from the machine, resulting in superior ger. It comes factory-ready for 1000psi through spindle
die quality. Visit www.okkcorp.com for more information. coolant and fourth axis interface. Machining accuracy is
increased with 38mm ball screws that are stretched and
Linear Way Vertical Machining anchored with triplex bearings on each end. This allows
Center the axis to run faster and smoother while minimizing
thermal expansion. Cutting performance and material
The VM3224 joins removal are enhanced by the casting designed to opti-
Milltronics’ (Waconia, mize rigidity and by the standard 18/12 HP BIG Plus®
MN) newest line-up in-line belted 10,000 rpm spindle. Milltronics will be
of linear way verti- at IMTS 2012 at Booth S-8329. For more information,
cal machining centers. visit www.milltronics.net. 
With its 38 x 24” table,
the VM3224 has trav-
els of 32 x 24 x 26”.

www.amba.org 23
 Focus
AMBA Scholarship Awar ds
Contr ibute to ‘Cinder ella Story’
The American Mold Builders Association (AMBA)
recently awarded scholarship funds to students of AMBA
members nationwide. The Annual Scholarship Program
continues to demonstrate AMBA’s commitment to
the industry, education and offering valuable member
benefits. In 2011, the AMBA Annual Scholarship Program
underwent some critical changes in application criteria
in order to better channel funds back into the industry
to support those going into moldmaking or a related
trade. This year’s awards not only continued in this new
direction but contributed to one special ‘Cinderella Story’
of particular note.
2012 AMBA Scholarship Recipient Barbara Flemming of
Metro Mold & Design, Rogers, MN, returned to college to
earn her Associate’s Degree in Management Accounting.
Making the decision to go back to school and hold down
a full-time job while maintaining family commitments is
no small feat. “When I committed to returning to college
for my degree, I set two goals,” said Flemming. “The first
was to study hard and get everything I can from every
class. The second was to keep the financial impact as low
as possible. I am happy to say I succeeded at both.”
Barbara Flemming, an accountant at Metro Mold
& Design, is presented with an AMBA scholarship
by Tony Nuss, COO and supervisor.
24 the american Mold Builder Summer 2012
Larry Hauck (left), general manager, presents the
AMBA scholarship award to Aleksandra Avrutina,
whose father, Gennadiy Avrutin (right), is an EDM
machine operator at P M Mold Company.
Sharing her ‘Cinderella Story’ with the AMBA
Scholarship Committee, she recounted that the AMBA’s
$1000 scholarship award was matched by the Minnesota
School of Business, thereby doubling the award. “My
pumpkin turned into a $2,000 chariot at the last minute,”
said Flemming.
On a final note, she was awarded Highest Honors on
graduation night and looks forward to using her degree
to further develop her career at Metro Mold in project
management. “Over the course of my college career, I
took advantage of perfect attendance rewards, testing out
of classes, selling books back and the AMBA scholarship
award to accumulate a pretty big cost savings. The total
savings ended up being over $8,000,” said Flemming! “I
thank the AMBA very much for the generous award that
greatly contributed to that.”
Each year the national office of the AMBA awards
scholarships to the employees or dependants of employees
of AMBA member companies. The Annual Scholarship
Program is designed to help facilitate education in
moldmaking in the US. This scholarship’s priority is to
assist students who desire to pursue a career in mold
design, CAD/CAM programming for machine tools,
machine tool skills or moldmaking, plastics industry
manufacturing (including plastics engineering, plastic
part design or plastics processing technician) and other
areas of continued training/education. To date, the

Beverly Schmidt, an accountant at Franchino
Mold, is presented with a scholarship award by
Bob Franchino, the company president. Beverly
is accepting the award on behalf of her daughter
Rachel.
NO STRINGS ATTACHED.
AMBA’s Annual Scholarship Program has awarded over
$225,000 since its inception in 1991.
The AMBA wishes to congratulate the following 2012
AMBA Scholarship Recipients and wishes them the best
in their endeavors:
Rachel M. Schmitt, Lansing Community College,
daughter of Beverly Schmitt, Accountant at Franchino
Mold & Engineering
Aleksandra Avrutina, Milwaukee Institute of Art and
Design, daughter of Gennadiy Avrutina, EDM Machine
Operator at PM Mold Company
Kaylee Wieringa, Ferris State University, daughter of
John Wieringa, Moldmaker at Die-Tech and Engineering
Barbara Flemming, Minnesota School of Business – Elk
River, Accountant at Metro Mold & Design
Jacob A. Sorenson, Muskegon Commuity College,
Welder at Viking Tool and Engineering 
The specialty steel industry is not as big as some
may think. In reality, buyers only have 2 choices
when it comes to specialty steel suppliers in
North America.
One supplier is posing as three separate compa-
nies, but operates as a joined enterprise. And the
other is a bit more nimble.
Ellwood Specialty Steel is the number-one choice
for fast service and faster delivery, on the day
promised or earlier. Whether you need a quote or
have a question, ESS stands ready to meet and
exceed expectations, every time.
For more information on how to avoid the 3-headed
enterprise or to get a fair and independent quote,
please visit http://nostrings.elwd.com
Ellwood Specialty Steel - Ready and Reliable.
United States Canada
Ellwood Specialty Steel Ellwood Specialty Metals
800-932-2188 877-978-2772
esssales@elwd.com esmsales@elwd.com T O O L S T E E L P R O D U C T S
USA★
MADE IN THE
www.amba.org 25
 Inside Track
Equipment Breakdown Coverage
- an Accident Waiting to Happen
I have been insuring mold builders for over 30 years and
in looking back over that period, it’s surprising to see that
the most common type of loss to those shops is not what
you might think....it’s not fire, explosion or tornados; it’s
equipment and machinery breakdown!
Let’s define a few items so that you have a better
understanding of how Equipment Breakdown coverage
can help your business.
What is an equipment breakdown incident or loss?
The common insurance policy for Equipment Breakdown
Coverage defines it as
• A failure of pressure or vacuum equipment
CRY-2883 Prelim1-1.fh11 1/15/07 3:33 PM Page 1
C M Y CM
Composite
26 the american Mold Builder Summer 2012
By Rick Miller, Acrisure
• Mechanical failure including rupture or bursting by
centrifugal force
• Electrical failure including arching that causes direct
physical loss or damage to your “covered equipment”
What is “covered equipment”?
• Equipment designed and built to operate under internal
pressure or vacuum
• Communication equipment and computer equipment
• Fiber optic cable
• Any other electrical or mechanical equipment that is used
in the generation, transmission or utilization of energy
Equipment Breakdown Coverage is intended to cover
MY CY CMY K
those sudden and accidental physical breakdowns to your
equipment but you also must be aware of what it will
not cover. Here are the normal exclusions found in many
policies:
• Leakage at any valve, fitting, shaft seal, gland packing,
joint or connection
• Malfunction including but not limited to adjustment,
alignment, calibration, cleaning or modification
• The function of any safety or protective device
• Defects, erasures, errors, limitations or viruses in any
computer equipment, data, media and/or programs
• Depletion, deterioration, rust, corrosion, erosion, settling
and wear and tear
The following is just a short list of claim examples that
have occurred in mold building shops that we have seen
over the years:
1) Operator error on a CNC vertical mill ($18,500)
2) Power board malfunction in a CNC EDM ($37,000)
3) Probe explosion due to high RPMs in a CNC mill ($38,000)
4) Spindle damage to a 5-axis CNC mill ($52,000)
5) Air conditioning compressor failure ($64,000)
6) Counterweight malfunction and damage to a large
horizontal boring mill ($600,000)
In many of these loss examples, “business interruption”
occurred. This could be in the form of extra expenses to
have your people work overtime or having the work done
by another shop. Business interruption also can include
the loss of future work due to not having a key piece of
equipment available while it is being repaired.
Here are some recommended steps in the reporting of an
Equipment Breakdown loss:
1) Timely reporting. Do it immediately, even if you are
not sure if it is a covered loss. Notify the insurance
company and your agent.
2) Immediately start repairs.
3) Take pictures of the damaged machine and damaged
parts. Retain the damaged parts so that the adjuster can
examine them.
4) Document the following:
• Timeframes and activities leading up to the machine
going down
• Keep records on all hours spent to repair the damage
and/or to move the work from the damaged machine
to an alternate one.
• Keep track of any overtime necessary to meet deadlines
that the damaged machine has caused for the shop
• Document all outsourcing of the work to other
companies
5) Designate a key person in the shop to handle all aspects
of the claim and answer the claims adjuster’s questions.
6) Before a loss occurs, try to develop a contingency plan
for the shop. It may take a considerable amount of time
to obtain repair parts for foreign-built machines.
Equipment Breakdown Coverage is an important part to
insuring your business properly. The average cost to have
this important coverage on your Commercial Policy is
approximately 30 to 60 cents/$1,000 of value. If you had
a $1,000,000 building and contents of $3,000,000, the
coverage would cost you approximately $1,200 to $2,400,
depending on where your facility is located, the type of
equipment you have and your insurance carrier. 
Acrisure is the AMBA-endorsed commercial insurance
program providing competitive insurance tailored
to the mold building industry. For more details, visit
www.acrisure.com/programs/amba/ or email Rick Miller
at rmiller@thecampbellgrp.com.

Corroplast FM is the new stainless steel mold base material available

exclusively from SCHMOLZ+BICKENBACH. The team of metallurgical engineers
from Deutsche Edelstahlwerke GmbH specifically developed this grade for the
plastics tooling industry.
Corroplast FM offers the benefits of an improved microstructure, superior
machinability and excellent corrosion resistance compared to other free
machining stainless grades.
Corroplast FM is ideally suited for mold bases, manifold plates, hot halves
and other plastics tooling associated with processing corrosive resins
(PVC) or used in corrosive manufacturing environments.
For more information about Corroplast FM, please visit our
website or contact us at (800) 323-1233 ext. 2295.

USA www.schmolz-bickenbach.us (800) 323-1233 — Canada www.schmolz-bickenbach.ca (800) 268-4977

www.amba.org 27
 Association
AMBA Night at the Ballpark in
Conjunction with IMTS 2012
Coming to Chicago for IMTS? Join your fellow group. Tickets are $95 per person, (includes game ticket
moldmakers at AMBA’s Night at the Ballpark. At and unlimited food and drink from 5:30-7:30 pm).
7:10 p.m. on Thursday Sept. 13, the Chicago White Sox
will play will play the Detroit Tigers at the US Cellular Round-trip bus transportation will be provided to and from
Field. Join us for networking and taking in a game. The McCormick Place to US Cellular Field. Call 847.222.9402
Warning Track Patio has been reserved for the AMBA or email sdaniels@amba.org to reserve tickets.

Thank you to the Night at the Ballpark Sponsors:

New Webinars from AMBA

Protect Your Molds during Shipment and Delivery
Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2012, Noon - 12:45 p.m. CT
Presenters: Rick Miller and Jay Fagan, Acrisure
Cost: AMBA members - Free and Non-members - $50
Join this 45-minute presentation (free to members) to learn
what you should know about protecting your molds when
you place them in the custody of a Common Carrier. There
are many factors to consider and many opportunities for
things to go wrong while a mold is being transported to a
customer site, so learn what you need to do to protect the
mold shipment while it’s in transit from your site to the
delivery location. Find out who carries the liability for any
damage or loss that occurs to the mold during transport,
and how to best prevent and handle these situations. In
addition, this webinar will cover the following important
shipping terms and forms with which you should be
familiar:
• Released Bill of Lading / Uniform Straight Bill of Lading
• Motor Carrier’s (unfiled) Tariffs
• Carmack Amendment and its impact on Interstate
Shipping Laws
• EXW (Ex Works) International Trade Terms for
overseas shipments
The webinar will discuss a broad range of issues encountered
by mold builders when shipping molds, and also will include
a review of International Terms and Conditions as they
apply to the shipment of new equipment from overseas sites.
Social Networking Brings New Challenges
for Employers
Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2012, Noon - 1 p.m. CT
Presenter: Paul Bittner, Ice Miller, LLP
Cost: AMBA members - $25 and Non-members - $50
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn ...studies report that social
networking dominates our time spent online. Join this
webinar to hear about the latest trends and best practices
for employers regarding social networking, monitoring
and electronic use policies. In addition, learn about
what to do when employees are using social networking
sites in a way that impacts their employer’s business.
This 60-minute webinar will highlight some of the new
issues raised with the boom of social media.
Paul Bittner of Ice Miller, LLP will discuss the following:
• Social networking effects on business
• The National Labor Relations Board requirements
• Electronic use policies
• Social media when making hiring decisions
• Privacy rights
• How does your company compare?
• What employers can do
Register online at www.amba.org/Webinar_Registration.php.

28 the american Mold Builder Summer 2012

 P R O D U C T I O N A R T BEFORE APPROVING, PLEASE CHECK CAREFULLY! Although every effort has been made to produce the finest possible artwo
Content may be subject to © Copyright BANG! creative communications a division of DOC creative inc. www.creativitygoesb

2012 MMT Leadtime Leader Award

Winners Announced
Two long-time AMBA member companies were selected
as this year’s winners of the 10th Annual MoldMaking
Hot Runner
Technology (MMT) magazine Leadtime Leader Awards.
This year’s winner is Industrial Molds Group, Rockford,
Systems…
IL, and the 2012 honorable mention winner is M & M Tool Automotive
and Mold, Green Bay, WI. These awards—presented by
MMT and Progressive Components—honor outstanding Expertise
moldmakers who best demonstrate overall innovation,
efficiency, quality and commitment. For more information,
visit MMT at www.moldmakingtechnology.com. I Customized Performance
SoftGate® Valve Pin
AMBA Plant Tour Workshop –
Velocity Control
Industrial Molds Group
Productivity through Teamwork - One US Mold- I Unitized, Leak-Proof Reliability
maker’s Strategy to Competing in the Global I Multi Zone Dual Heater
Marketplace
Reliability
Sept. 13, 2012 • 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Over 25 Gating Options
On Sept. 13, Industrial Molds Group, Rockford, IL,
I Exclusive Opti-Flo®
breaks the mold when it comes to the way it manages its
moldmaking business! With nearly 45 years in the business Manifold Technology with

of making high-quality injection molds, the associates from Beaumont

at Industrial Molds Group have learned a very valuable

lesson: building the highest quality molds in a world
manufacturing economy isn’t just about having experienced
engineering and modern manufacturing capabilities. More
importantly, it’s about achieving excellence at every step
of the project process. At Industrial Molds, the “process of
manufacturing a mold” doesn’t hinge on one or two key
people. Instead, it literally involves the entire company on
each project and utilizes the Team Approach to set itself
apart from other US-based mold builders.

Integrating a team-based approach as soon as a quotation

is received ensures that input from all facets of the
organization is gathered in order to maximize design
optimization. It also ensures end customers that their
molds will run efficiently in the production process. Once
out of the design phase, concurrent manufacturing ensures
delivery dates are met with nearly 60-80 percent of each INCOE® Hot Runners Systems
project funneling through automation cells. For more Automotive design engineers are tasked with setting new trends in quality
information or to register, visit www.amba.org. and part finish everyday. For molders, INCOE® systems have the right
combination of support, reliability, and processing advantages required
to drive your business forward. That’s INCOE® Hot Runner Performance.
Special Thanks to the Tour Workshop Sponsors: North America | Europe | Asia | South America

INCOE® Corporation
1740 East Maple Road
Troy, Michigan 48083 USA
T: +1 (248) 616-0220
F: +1 (248) 616-0225
E: info@incoe.com
www.incoe.com

page 30 u
www.amba.org 29
 t page 29
Welcome New Members and Partners
Members
Rexam Mold Manufacturing, Buffalo Grove, IL
Len Graham, Business Unit Leader
847.325.3043 • www.rexam.com
Rexam Mold is a global mold manufacturer supplying
the needs of medical, consumer packaging and closure
markets. Rexam provides full support from product design
assistance to mold qualifications.
A & C Mold Co. Inc., St. Charles, IL
Andrew Mendala, CEO/President
630.587.0177 • www.acmold.com
With a customer base spanning different industries,
A & C Mold has been able to rise to meet various customers
challenges and create a mold to fit customer needs. Whether
a simple injection mold or a series of complex pieces, AC
Mold has the tools and the knowledge to complete any
project in both the rubber and plastics industries.
In undercut moldIng,
WE’VE got you coVErED
From every angle.
Visit DME.net/undercuts for undercut solution videos, specs and more.
30 the american Mold Builder Summer 2012
Partners
TST Tooling Software Technology LLC, Clarkston, MI
Jim Kesteloot, President
248.922.9293 • www.tst-software.com
North American provider of Visi software offering con-
sulting, training (onsite/offsite) classes, TST custom appli-
cations, die design and help desk support. TST’s complete
mission and commitment is to provide the complete solu-
tion for the mold industry.
Bohler-Uddeholm Corp., Elgin, IL
Kevin Rochford, Director of Sales
800.638.2520 • www.bucorp.com
Provider of mold base steel and related machining services,
including saw cutting, rotary and surface grinding, milling,
handling holes and clamping slots and more.
Meusburger US, Inc., Charlotte, NC
Iris Winkelbauer-Hoelzl, President
704.280.8411 • www.meusburger.com
Meusburger is a leading manufacturer in the field of standard
parts for mold and toolmaking and sells its products in more
than 50 different countries. The company operates several
sales offices, one of them in Charlotte, NC. 
dme.net • 800.626.6653
www.amba.org 31
 Industry
IMTS Show 2012 to Host First-Ever Job Center
IMTS – The International Manufacturing Technology
Show 2012 – will partner with experts from Trillium
CNC / CNC Jobs to bring the first-ever IMTS Job Center
to IMTS which is being held Sept. 10-15 at Chicago’s
McCormick Place. Located in the West Building Booth
W-200, the IMTS 2012 Job Center will provide a forum
for the IMTS community to learn more about and make
connections to careers in manufacturing. Companies will
have access to top-level talent for manufacturing positions,
and job seekers will find countless resources as they search
for their next career opportunity.
Using the IMTS Job Center, high-performance manufac-
turing professionals can search available jobs, post re-
sumes and be interviewed by recruiters in private inter-
view rooms. Employers can speak with industry experts on
the best ways to attract and screen the strongest candidates
for technical manufacturing positions. Advice will be pro-
vided ranging from recruitment, advertising and screening
to employee recognition. “We bring over 28 years of experi-
ence in technical recruitment and staffing expertise to what
we view as North America’s most important manufacturing
event,” says Bob Lawson, director, Trillium CNC / CNC Jobs.
We increase Profitability!
With our Automation and Cell Management Solutions
With EROWA, the machine operator has the production cell under control at all times.
More info: www.erowa.com
32 the american Mold Builder Summer 2012
“As the battle to staff skilled talent in manufacturing con-
tinues to grow, it is more important than ever to have ac-
cess to the tools and expertise that can help companies at-
tract and maintain a highly skilled workforce.”
Employers and job seekers can prepare for a visit to the
IMTS 2012 Job Center before the show in a number of ways:
• Employers should compile a list of open positions to fill
or those that may need to be filled in the near future with
complete job descriptions and skill requirements and
bring business cards.
• Job seekers should create a basic resume including pre-
vious work history and contact information. Create a ref-
erence sheet including names and contact information
for previous supervisors. Job seekers are encouraged
to bring both documents on a memory stick for easy
uploading or printing in the IMTS Job Center. Those
who need immediate career search assistance should
register at www.trilliumjobs.com to view non-confi-
dential opportunities.
For more information, visit www.imts.com.
Tech Mold Celebrates 40 Years in Business thickness. The aluminum cores and cavities are housed
Tech Mold Inc., in 4140 steel, with P-20 for the nozzle seats and other
Tempe, AZ, a leading components where wear is a consideration, to protect the
designer and manu- aluminum cores and cavities. The second- and third-largest
facturer of high-tech, production aluminum plastic injection molds designed and
multi-cavity injection built by Franchino are a 211,000-lb mold with a 35-drop
molds for high-vol- hot manifold and a shot weight of 134 lbs, and a 215,500-
ume production for lb mold with a 27-drop hot manifold for multimaterial
the packaging (caps molding and a shot weight of 118 lbs. Founded in 1955,
and closures), medical Franchino designs, engineers, and manufactures custom
disposables and con- die-cast dies and plastic injection molds, and also provides
sumer products mar- contract machining and engineering services. For more
kets, is celebrating information, visit www.franchino.com.
40 years in business
in 2012. Tech Mold Westminster Tool and OMNI Mold Systems
was founded in 1972 Announce Strategic Partnership
by Bill Kushmaul, a Westminster Tool Inc., Plainfield, CT, a manufacturer of
Bill Kushmaul stands by a 96-cavity
moldmaker by trade, precision injection molds that specializes in providing
mold, in which Tech Mold specializes.
who has been in the innovative manufacturing solutions for the plastics
industry for 58 years. New industries, particularly the per- and composites industries, is pleased to announce the
sonal computer industry, business equipment and telecom- formation of a strategic partnership with OMNI Mold
munications, led the charge and created a huge demand for
page 34 u
plastic components. Tech Mold’s success was tied closely
to that growth. Today, Tech Mold employs just over 80 peo-
ple, and Kushmaul considers that a big responsibility. “Once
you hire people you’re responsible for them, and I take that
responsibility very seriously,” he said. For Kushmaul, it’s
not all about business however. He considers his greatest ac-
complishment to be that of balancing the needs of his family
with the needs of the business. “Balance is very important,”
he stressed. “Balancing work and family means that you can
find that place where you are comfortable and can be happy.
One the main reasons any of us do what we do here is for our
families.”

Huge Aluminum Molds Completed by Franchino

Three of the largest production aluminum molds ever
manufactured were recently completed by Franchino
Mold and Engineering (Lansing, MI). The largest,
weighing 300,000 lbs, has a 50-drop hot manifold and was
constructed using multiple materials including 5000- and
7000-series aluminum, and 4140 and P-20 steel. The shot
weight is 176 lbs. The mold was created for a leading septic
and storm-water product manufacturer in the US. Todd
Phillips, VP of sales & engineering for Franchino, said that
according to Vista Metals (Fontana, CA), an international
supplier of specialty aluminum products that poured the
blocks, and Clinton Aluminum, which cut and squared the
mold blocks for the mold, these were the largest they’d
ever been requested to make. Phillips said that the cores
and cavities are aluminum because the customer needed
faster cooling times for the part, which has a 0.25-inch wall

www.amba.org 33
 Industry
t page 33
Systems® of Lisbon, CT, a supplier of standardized mold
components. Westminster Tool and OMNI Mold Systems
have been doing business together for over ten years. Both
companies believe a formal strategic partnership will
enhance their ability to bring their customers’ products to
the market faster. In 1994 OMNI Mold Systems developed
the idea of maintaining a complete inventory of standard
mold bases and Versa-Slide® slide components, creating
the ability to ship all orders in one day. Westminster Tool
incorporates OMNI Mold Systems’ standardized mold
components as part of its customized solutions to ensure
completed products are ready for production. Maximizing
B2B relationships has been at the core of Westminster
Tool for years. Most recently, in addition to its strategic
partnership with OMNI Mold Systems, Westminster
Tool also has partnered with Roehr Tool Corporation and
Single® Temperature Controls. For more information,
visit Omni Mold Systems at www.omnimold.com or
Westminster Tool at www.westminstertool.com.
Commercial Tool & DIE Earns Safety Award
Commercial Tool & Die, Inc., Comstock Park, MI, recently
received the prestigious Michigan Safety and Health
Achievement Recognition Program (SHARP) Award
today for an exemplary safety and health management
system. The Michigan Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (MIOSHA) established the Michigan
SHARP Award to recognize employers that have achieved
workplace safety and health excellence far beyond their
peers. MIOSHA CET Division Director Nella Davis-
Ray presented the SHARP Award to the Commercial Tool
Health and Safety Committee on behalf of all employees
in early August at an awards ceremony and luncheon. “All
employees are entitled to a safe and healthy workplace.
A positive environment with open communication,
employee involvement and participation and a respect
for one another has helped us achieve high levels of
safety performance,” said Commercial Tool Owner and
CEO Douglas Bouwman. Commercial Tool & Die, Inc.
is a leading manufacturer of plastic injection molds,
checking fixtures, special machinery, aerospace tooling
and custom molding. Commercial provides quality service
to the automotive, medical device, appliance, aerospace
and hardware industries. For more information, visit
www.commercialtoolgroup.com.
Industrial Molds Group on Winning Track
Industrial Molds Group, Rockford, IL, is the proud man-
ufacturer of a complex mold in a metal-to-plastic conver-
sion of a water outlet for customer MPC that won the
34 the american Mold Builder Summer 2012
Single Part Award in the International Plastics Design
Competition (IPDC) at NPE2012 in April. Industrial
Molds next captured the Leadtime Leader Award given
at the recent amerimold trade show in Novi, MI. The
company, founded by the Peterson family patriarch, Jack
Peterson in 1968, has grown to become one of the larg-
est and most recognized mold companies in the Midwest.
With 60 employees including a top-notch engineering
team, and recent investments in automation and machine
tool capabilities, Industrial Molds Group has managed to
cut its leadtime for new mold design and build to eight
weeks. Over the past three years, Industrial Molds has
invested more than $1 million in state-of-the-art high-
speed machining, EDM equipment and software. It also
has invested in hiring and training the best moldmakers
available. Today the company is run by a management
team of John Kuntze, CFO, and brothers Eric Peterson,
operations manager, and Tim Peterson, who also serves
as sales manager. “We understand that any company can
buy equipment, but it is the creativity of our engineers,
the innovative thinking of our mold designers and the
precision skills of our machinists and moldmakers that
make the difference and put us on the cutting edge,” said
Tim Peterson.
Metro Mold and Design Launches
Medical Expansion
Metro Mold and Design, Rogers, MN, is adding six electric
injection molding machines and one new blowmolding
machine this year as part of a major expansion in the
medical field. Metro Mold and Design does rapid mold
manufacturing, custom injection molding, thermoset
plastic molding, extrusion blowmolding, precision CNC
machining, product prototyping and product assembly
and finishing. Major customer markets include general
manufacturing, medical devices, fuel cell components
specializing in bi-polar plates for the fuel cell stack,
printer components, custom plastic containers and
enclosures. Metro Mold President and CEO Tim Holland
said, "We have been experiencing tremendous growth in
our precision molding and precision machining solutions
over the last six to eight years and the medical segment
was the next logical market to apply our experience
producing high-precision parts." Currently, 20 percent of
the company's business is for medical customers. MMD
serves many US Fortune 500 medical device makers and
most of the top medical device companies in the Twin
Cities market. A new facility in Brooklyn Park, MN, has
the capacity to employ 250 people. "Our investment in
this new facility displays our commitment to growing
along with our customers. It was a critical next step for
MMD that will allow us to serve the growing needs of
our medical OEM customers and foster a collaborative
environment that spawns the intellectual property MMD
and its partners need to thrive in today's global economy,"
said Holland. C U T T I N G E D G E S O L U T I O N S

SCHMOLZ + BICKENBACH Expands Tooling • Insert & solid carbide tools for conventional,
Materials Inventory to CA high speed & hard milling. Inch and
SCHMOLZ+BICKENBACH USA, INC., Brea, CA, has metric sizes 0.020” to 1 1/4”
begun stocking tooling materials at its existing warehouse & 0.5 to 32 mm
in Brea, CA, to better serve its customers in the western US. • Ball nose, toroid, bull nose,
The products stocked in Brea include Formadur® Plastic square & back draft tools for
virtually every milling
Mold Steels, Thermodur® Hot Work Die Steels, Cryodur® application
Cold Work Tool Steels and MoldMAX™ Copper-based
• Cut cores, cavities
alloys produced by Materion Brush Wellman. The Brea & surfaces
Service Center is one of seven locations for distribution cleaner,
in North America. The improved access to the local smoother &
tooling market allows SCHMOLZ+BICKENBACH USA faster
to provide faster deliveries to its customers in the region
with reduced logistical challenges. For more information
visit www.schmolz-bickenbach.us

CLM Buys Die-Sep

CLM Marketing, Inc., an investor group headed by
brothers Charles, Louis and Michael Bowler, recently
acquired the assets of Die-Sep, LLC. Terms were not
disclosed. Die-Sep, LLC was owned and operated by Joe
and Lynne Forrestal of Janesville, WI. Forrestal, a former
injection molding maintenance manager, invented the Die-
Sep machine to replace the half hour-plus tedious method
of using cranes, pry bars and hammers to open his firm’s
molds with a three-minute method. Using his invention to
open, tip up one half, return that half to a down position
and close the mold significantly shortened the time period
WORLD HEADQUARTERS
needed, protected the mold from pry-bar damage and 30200 Ryan Road
reduced the potential for worker injuries. A core-pull for Warren, MI 48092 U.S.A.
Tel: (586) 573-9450
activating cores also is available. Die-Sep benefits a tool Toll Free: 877-645-5782
877-MILLSTAR
room in many ways other than opening molds, tipping Fax: (586) 573-9451
info@millstar.com
mold halves and closing molds. Some additional benefits www.millstar.com
include working cores, tipping entire molds, pulling
plates, bluing, checking for leaks, timing of molds,
reducing injuries to tool room personnel and eliminating
the potential damage to molds from prying them open
with a pry bar. For additional information, contact Mike
Bowler by email at mike@diesep.com or by phone at
225.464.6424 or Louis Bowler, louis@diesep.com,
262.767.9751. 

www.amba.org 35
 Strategies

Terms and Conditions: Contracting for Economic Uncertainty

By Alan Rothenbuecher, Ice Miller LLP

Given the challenging economic times, we are all unless you do something affirmative to get rid of it. Implied
looking for ways to improve the bottom line. Even after warranties not only provide that your product is fit for the
combating some of the more traditional problems that ordinary purposes for which the product is to be used, but
erode profit such as raw material costs, machine rates also can be expanded depending on how long the supplier
and labor expenses, a business’ bottom line is still subject has been dealing with the customer and what the supplier
to significant exposure if its sales terms and conditions should have reasonably known about how the customer
(T&Cs) are deficient. T&Cs can be one of the most would use the products.
valuable defenses to economic uncertainty and dealing
with financially distressed customers. Unfortunately, The best way to avoid liability for an express warranty
more often than not, T&Cs create more ambiguity than is not to make one in the first place. Unfortunately, that
they eliminate. Highlighted in this article are some of the also is the best way to avoid selling your products. After
most common deficiencies, all of which represent ideal all, you make an express warranty every time you adopt
opportunities for shifting risk and lowering exposure in specifications, say something orally about your product or
customer relationships. point to a sample or mod-
el. Having done one or all
Warranties: What of these things, you have
you say and what “Terms and Conditions can created customer expecta-
you don’t say about tions that your product will
your products be one of the most valuable comply with the representa-
T&Cs need to be drafted
in a way that both you
defenses to economic tions made. One option is
to live with the liability as-
and your customers uncertainty and dealing sumed by these representa-
know what you are tions. Your other option is
representing as to the with financially distressed to disclaim or at least limit
quality of your product
and what you are not
customers, thereby shifting those express warranties
to the ones you think you
representing. Express risk and lowering exposure and your product can live
warranties (what you are up to. Unfortunately, this
representing) are only in customer relationships” is a very tricky course to
created when you do navigate because there is a
something affirmative. strong public policy against
Implied warranties, on disclaiming representations
the other hand, are automatically a part of your contract you make to generate business. Therefore, any disclaimer
with your customer unless you do something to limit or of an express warranty must be crafted very carefully.
exclude them. Your T&Cs need to be carefully crafted
so that both you and your customer know which express Here, form can be as important as substance. Unless
warranties are in the contract and which implied warranties a disclosure of warranties is properly formatted to be
are not in the contract. “conspicuous,” it can be void. And, if an express warranty
has vague or imprecise language, it can result in a warranty
It is important to keep in mind that a warranty is not simply so broad as to undermine any disclaimers. The takeaway is
limited to any written warranty, but will include certain that this is not an area of law that is friendly to suppliers.
warranties implied by the law unless properly disclaimed. Unlike most contract law, where courts will look at what
Unknowingly, you can be assuming a warranty obligation you and the customer agreed upon, this area is rife with
that is dramatically broader than what you have put in minefields for the unknowing. Do not be in a position
black and white. For example, the implied warranty of where you are held responsible for warranties that you did
merchantability is part of your contract with your customer not make or even know existed.

36 the american Mold Builder Summer 2012

Remedies: what is my exposure?
Even if warranties are properly addressed, unless the
T&Cs limit the buyer’s remedy to repair, replace or return
of the product for the purchase price, the scope of recovery
can become rather broad and include the costs of repairing
products of which it is a component, the cost of procuring
substitute goods and similar obligations. This exposure
could be broadened further by the indirect, special and
consequential damages discussed below.
T&Cs often limit recovery to “repair of defective goods,
replacement with conforming goods or repayment of
purchase price.” Ideally, these options are identified as
“the buyer’s exclusive remedy.” However, if your T&Cs
don’t disclaim indirect, consequential or special damages,
you are leaving the door open for much more significant
exposure. The reason that most suppliers don’t exclude
these types of damages in their T&Cs is because they do
not know what these other damages mean or the wide
range of expenses covered by these types of damages.
Indirect damages include reasonable charges, expenses
and commission incurred in covering any other reasonable
expense related to the delay of delivery or sale of defective
goods. Consequential damages include any loss resulting
from the general or particular requirements of your
customer that you knew or should have known about.
For example, if you deliver defective products to a
manufacturer, there is a strong argument that you should
have known that defective goods would cause a disruption
of production and consequently, loss of profits. Special
damages can include anything that flows from the error and
can cover remote losses if you’ve had a long relationship
with the customer. In an economic downturn, customers
are going to be watching the bottom line as closely as you
are, and you cannot afford to be stuck with bills for lost
profits, downtime, personal injury and property damage.
If your customers are large operations, these are the kinds
of claims that can reach a magnitude that may result in
having to shut the doors.
Late or non-paying customers are an all too common
theme in today’s business landscape. Getting out in front of
issues with financially distressed customers is absolutely
critical in this climate. All too often, T&Cs fail to provide
some basic tools a vendor can use to deal with a delinquent
customer, such as the assessment of late fees (to ensure
that customers do not start to use the supplier as a bank)
and the ability to recover all costs of collection (including
attorneys’ fees). Don’t be in a position where you have to
ask yourself, “Is it worth getting paid what I am owed?”
You have already upheld your end of the contract; you
should not have to pay to get them to uphold their end.
Surprises are not only bad for the bottom line, but can
be injurious to your relationship with the customer. The
phone call after a shipment of late or defective goods
may never be welcome, but it can be less rancorous if
you have been clear about the extent of your financial
liabilities from the start. In addition, you can point out
that you include these limitations in T&Cs with all your
customers, thereby protecting your financial viability in
these uncertain times. This means that customers may
have to eat some of the costs that flow from error, but it
also means they have a supplier they can depend upon to
keep producing the products they need.
Fine line between adding value and increasing
exposure
Rarely is a vendor-customer relationship quite as simple
as “I make – you buy.” Often, the supplier plays an active
role in developing specifications for the products and
perhaps even in tooling development. These value-added
services can mean getting and keeping the business, but
also represent an additional source of risks for a supplier.
This sometimes blurry line between adding value and
increasing exposure raises key questions. Who owns the
tooling or product design? Whose problem is it if there is
a design defect? What if a third party sues because there
is an intellectual property infringement with respect to the
design? The lack of a clear-cut answer to these questions
can be a source of friction with a customer. Far worse,
any ambiguity can represent inadvertently assigning
intellectual property or proprietary rights to another party
or finding oneself in the cross-hairs should a customer be
pursued for claims related to tooling or a product design
the vendor helped (even marginally) develop.
While there is no standard way to answer these questions
because every relationship is different, vendors need to get
out in front of these issues in their T&Cs. What should
be consistent, however, is that you should only be held
responsible for those facets of the project over which you
had some control and, frankly, for which you are paid.
The takeaway
As businesses are becoming increasingly concerned with
the financial health of their vendors given the economy, they
are beginning to run the numbers on how much it would
cost them if their suppliers go under or their custom-made
products cannot be made. As a result, companies appear
page 39 u
www.amba.org 37
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38 the american Mold Builder Summer 2012

t page 37
to be becoming more collaborative recently because both is Manufacturing
sides of the table have a vested interest in keeping each Software Solutions
other’s business viable. As these dialogues spring up, they
may present a great opportunity to clarify the nature of the
obligations within even existing relationships and to ensure Fastest 2 axis - Simultaneous 5-Axis CAM
your T&Cs reflect that understanding. Software for the toughest molds.
Auto-5 for automatic deep 5-axis milling.
Tightening up business terms and shrinking exposure are the
low-hanging fruit of cost-cutting. They are steps rather easily Job Management & ERP solutions for
taken when considered against the backdrop of more dramatic Custom Manufacturers and Job Shops.
approaches, such as workforce reductions and benefits cuts.
Giving T&Cs a thoughtful review is always important, but is
an absolute must in these difficult economic times. 
Work Smarter Plan your Work
This publication is intended for general information purposes Work your Plan
Work Faster
only and does not and is not intended to constitute legal
advice. The reader should consult with legal counsel to
determine how laws or decisions discussed herein apply to
the reader’s specific circumstances. The article was originally
published in the Spring 2009 issue of Plastics Business.

Alan Rothenbuecher is a partner at Ice Miller LLP. His www.sescoi.com

practice consists of complex business litigation involving info@sescoi.com
trade secrets as well as false advertising, business torts and 248-351-9300
infringement. He also has a significant immigration practice.
He can be reached at 216.394.5075 or har@icemiller.com.

www.amba.org 39
 Strategies
Midsized Manufacturers are Major Benefactors of the R&D Tax Credit
By Saqib Dhanani and Rebecca Icenogle, Paradigm Partners

Confirmed by the latest IRS statistics (The article is based on the latest data available from the IRS so the charts are current
per available data. Based on historical data, the numbers would vary minimally so although the data is not more recent the
essence of the article would remain the same.)

We hear it all the time from prospects: “We’re a manufacturer, manufacturers frequently have more R&D than they think
not an engineering firm. I’m not sure we really do R&D,” and are ideal candidates for filing the R&D credit.
or “We’re not a Fortune 500 company; I’m not sure we
have enough R&D to file for a credit.” When it comes to Part of the misconception about who can take the R&D
the Credit for Increasing Research Activities (I.R.C. §41, credit stems from the definition of R&D. Put simply, §41
“the R&D credit”), there is a common misconception that has a four-part test for qualified expenses:
if you don’t have a laboratory, a dedicated R&D division,
or an engineer on staff, you won’t qualify for the R&D 1. The activity must be for the design and/or development
credit. While those things can certainly be evidence of of a new or improved business component.
R&D, they are far from being the only factors. 2. There must be technical uncertainty inherent in the
developmental process.
Percentage of R&D 3. A process of experimentation must be undertaken
Credits Claimed by in order to eliminate the technical uncertainties
21.17% Manufacturers
encountered during design and development.
21.16%
69%
4. The process of experimentation must rely on one or
20.84%
69%
more of the hard sciences, such as engineering, physics
18.36%
Percentage Claimed by or chemistry.
69%
18.59% Manufacturers
9%
9%
10% 10%
72%
The many rules and exceptions that make up the R&D
71%
10%
2005 tax credit can make companies, especially manufacturers,
Percentage Claimed by Professional,
Scientific, and Technical Services
think that they have no qualified research activities when
Companies they actually do. Although traversing these complexities
can be difficult, with the help of tax professionals, many
2009
Percentage Claimed by All Others manufacturers have found that they do have activities that
qualify them for significant R&D credits.

In reality, manufacturing companies actually benefit from
the R&D credit more than any other group. Since 2005,
manufacturers have consistently claimed approximately
70 percent of the total amount of R&D credits given out
by the federal government1. The term “R&D” conjures
the idea of laboratories, engineering firms and other
organizations that focus solely on scientific research.
However, as the first chart demonstrates, professional,
scientific and technical services companies make up a
very small percentage of the credit when compared with
manufacturers2. Manufacturers consistently have claimed
around 70 percent of the R&D Tax Credits since 2005.
This is due in part to the fact that manufacturing companies
frequently have numerous types of activities that may
not seem like traditional R&D but actually do meet the
requirements of §41 for purposes of finding qualified
research expenses for the R&D credit. As a result,
An equally common misconception is that only large,
Fortune 500 companies can benefit from the R&D credit.
Actually, among manufacturers, midsized companies
claim the credit far more frequently. This is due in part
to the fact that midsized manufacturers frequently spend
time doing small, customized and one-off projects as well
as prototyping, whereas larger manufacturers often have a
greater focus on non-qualified production. The next chart
shows that midsized manufacturers (those with receipts
between $1,000,000 and $100,000,000) make up the vast
majority of manufacturers filing for the credit.
Midsized manufacturers generally claim approximately
70 percent of the total credits claimed by manufacturers3.
Further, as the chart below shows, those midsized
companies are not just the manufacturers with receipts in
the $50-100 million range. In most years, the manufacturers
claiming credits come equally, if not more frequently,

40 the american Mold Builder Summer 2012


from the $1-10 million than the $10-100 million range4.
From 2007-2009, manufacturers with $1-10 million in
gross receipts claimed an average of 37 percent of the
total credits and manufacturers with $10-100 million in
gross receipts claimed an average of 33 percent of the
credits claimed by manufacturers. Across the spectrum of
midsized manufacturers, companies are finding R&D tax
benefits related to their own market niche.
In summary, midsized manufacturers are the big winners
when it comes to benefitting from the Credit for Increasing
Research Activities. While navigating the twists and turns
of the R&D credit can seem daunting, with a little help
from tax professionals, many companies are finding it can
be a very rewarding endeavor. Just because a company is
on the smaller side or does not have an R&D department
does not mean it will not find benefit from the R&D credit.
On the contrary, as the charts above show, it is the midsized
manufacturer that has the most to gain. 
1
Number calculated from statistics on total credit amounts
claimed and amount of credit claimed by manufacturers in
each year from 2005-2009.
www.irs.gov/taxstats/article/0,,id=164402,00.html.
2
Percentages based on statistics on total credit amounts
versus amounts claimed by manufacturers and professions,
scientific and technical services companies in each year.
www.irs.gov/taxstats/article/0,,id=164402,00.html.
Percentages based on IRS statistics on Corporations
3
Claiming a Credit, by Manufacturing Subsector.
www.irs.gov/taxstats/article/0,,id=164402,00.html.
Id.
4
Saqib Dhanani and Rebecca Icenogle are both Attorneys
at Law with Paradigm Partners. Paradigm Partners is a
national consulting firm specializing in complex federal
and state tax and funding incentives for both public and
private entities across a host of industries. The company’s
core consulting portfolio includes R&D Tax Credits
Analyses, Hiring and Location Tax Incentives, Grant and
Non-dilutive Funding Advising, IC-DISC, Cost Segregation
Studies and Tax Controversy, Patent and Audit Defense
Services. For more information, contact Saqib Dhanani
at SDhanani@ParadigmLP.com, 281.558.7100 or visit
www.ParadigmLP.com.
www.amba.org 41
 AMBA Webinar: Social Networking Brings New
Calendar August
AMBA Webinar: Protect Your Molds Challenges for Employers, Sept. 19, 847.222.9402,
during Shipment and Delivery, Register at www.amba.org/Webinars.php
August 15, 847.222.9402, Register at
www.amba.org/Webinars.php October
AMBA Webinar: Mold Lien Laws, Oct. 3, 847.222.9402,
september Register at www.amba.org/Webinars.php
IMTS 2012, Sept. 10-15, Chicago, IL,
703.893.2900, www.imts.com 2012 International Rubber Expo, Oct. 9-11, Cincinnati,
OH, 330.972.7814, www.rubber.org/2012-rubber-expo
AMBA Plant Tour Workshop,
Industrial Molds Group, Sept. 13, Rockford, IL, PACK EXPO International, Oct. 28-31, Chicago, IL,
847.222.9402, www.amba.org 703.243.8555, www.packexpo.com

AMBA Night at the Ballpark, US Cellular November

Field, Sept. 13, Chicago, IL, 847.222.9402, Euromold 2012, Nov. 27-30, Frankfurt, Germany,
www.amba.org 49.69.27.40.03.0, www.euromold.com

Ad Index
Acrisure........................................................................ www.acrisure.com............................................Inside Back Cover
A. Finkl & Sons Co...................................................... www.finkl.com ..........................................................................39
AMBA......................................................................... www.amba.org...........................................................................38
CAE............................................................................. www.caeservices.com................................................................21
CGS North America, Inc.............................................. www.camtool.com......................................................................41
Crystallume Engineered Diamond............................... www.crystallume.com................................................................26
DME Company............................................................ www.dme.net..............................................................................30
DMS............................................................................. www.dmscomponents.com..........................................................5
Dynamic Surface Technologies................................... www.dynablue.com......................................... Inside Front Cover
Ellwood Specialty Steel............................................... www.ess.elwd.com.....................................................................25
Erowa Technology, Inc................................................ www.erowatech.com..................................................................32
First American Payment Systems................................ www.first-american.net..............................................................31
Harroun Enterprises..................................................... www.harroun.com......................................................................22
Incoe Corporation........................................................ www.incoe.com..........................................................................29
M & M Tooling, Inc..................................................... www.mmtooling.com.................................................................15
Makino......................................................................... www.makino.com......................................................................11
Millstar, LLC............................................................... www.millstar.com......................................................................35
Noren............................................................................ www.norenproducts.com............................................................23
Progressive Components.............................................. www.procomps.com....................................................Back Cover
Rocklin Manufacturing Co.......................................... www.rocklinmanufacturingco.com............................................33
SCHMOLZ + BICKENBACH USA, Inc.................... www.schmolz-bickenbach.us.....................................................27
Sescoi........................................................................... www.sescoi.com.........................................................................39
Ultra Polishing Inc....................................................... www.ultrapolishing.com............................................................20
Wisconsin Engraving Co. Inc. / Unitex....................... www.wi-engraving.com.............................................................15

42 the american Mold Builder Summer 2012

 RICK MILLER
Over 35 years experience insuring
mold builders just like you.

JAY FAGAN
Over 35 years experience insuring
businesses just like yours.

For businesses that expect more.

As an AMBA member, you should expect
more from your insurance provider. Knowing
your business is our business at Acrisure.

Contact Rick and Jay at 800.748.0351 www.acrisure.com

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See Progressive Components at: Plastics Caps & Closures 2012 | MD&M Minneapolis | Expoplast | Euromold |