When developing a new silicone product and preparing for mass production, selecting the appropriate silicone mold manufacturer is crucial. Avoid choosing a manufacturer solely based on low costs, and instead, prioritize those with comprehensive supporting equipment and facilities. This article outlines tips for selecting a suitable silicone rubber manufacturer for your business.
When considering the factory size of the manufacturer, it is essential to evaluate your business circumstances. While some may believe that larger factories are better due to their strength and extensive resources, larger factories may also have higher costs and potential coordination issues. Ultimately, your chosen factory size should align with your specific needs and priorities.
Selecting a reliable custom silicone mold manufacturer that values your business is crucial. Choosing a supplier is akin to finding a partner and blindly partnering with a large-scale mold manufacturer when your company’s limited financial resources can lead to frustration. In some cases, the staff at larger factories may not take you seriously if your order size does not meet their requirements. To avoid such issues, many people opt for smaller or medium-sized mold factories, as their mold and product prices are often more reasonable. However, new concerns can arise, such as whether the mold will be completed on time, the mold’s life expectancy, and the factory’s ability to handle mass production.
It is essential to exercise some basic common sense when selecting a customized silicone mold manufacturer. Specifically, it is recommended that you choose a comprehensive equipment manufacturer, also known as an “all-round” mold factory. Such a factory should possess important equipment such as a precision CNC machining center, an EDM mirror spark machine, a high-speed and high-precision liquid silicone injection molding machine, or a sufficient number of solid silicone compression machines, as well as three-dimensional measuring instruments and other necessary mold processing, production, and testing equipment. Your assessment and final selection should be based on this criterion. If a mold manufacturer’s factory lacks such equipment, it may need to outsource the mold manufacturing and production process. This can lead to three negative consequences:
Choosing a mold manufacturer with a factory that lacks important equipment can lead to increased costs, delays in lead times due to communication and coordination issues during the outward processing of workpieces, and potential delays in mold and product delivery. While procurement agreements or contracts may include provisions for delays, penalties may not fully compensate for the actual losses incurred by the enterprise in the long term.
The most serious consequence of outsourcing the mold manufacturing and production process is the inability to monitor the entire process promptly. The factories undertaking such processing are often smaller and only possess one or two pieces of second-hand equipment, which may not meet the required standards. Thus, these are some criteria that you must study and analyse carefully before deciding on a silicone rubber manufacturer for your business needs. A reliable manufacturer will provide high-quality silicone mold according to your business needs within the given time frame. So, start finding a silicone mold manufacturer near you with the help of these above-mentioned tips!