How To Waste Money In Injection Mold Making

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Nearly every machine used in injection mold making has the potential to be a huge waste of time and money. That is because of the tendency to try and save money up front, and have to pay for it down the line.
A good example of this is buying a cheap CMM. Coordinate measuring machines are becoming a standard measuring tool in both captive and job shops. Many customers require documentation for inspection of mold components, as well as plastic parts.
Naturally, anyone would want to save money by getting a good deal on a CMM, or any other tool for that matter. This can be an invitation for wasting precious manpower and time.
It is a little like when Henry Ford was determined to plant rubber trees in the Amazon so he could have a continuous supply of cheap rubber for his cars. He spent millions of dollars, set up a city and planted a huge plantation of trees. Despite the admonition of those who knew better, he went ahead with the project.
The trees never worked out. They were a monoculture in the jungle, with poor topsoil and more insects and blights than anywhere on the planet! Yet he stubbornly refused to quit, and continued to pour good money after bad. There actually might still be remnants of this failed endeavor there, I'm not sure.
The lesson is:
Don't be penny wise and pound foolish!
Don't buy a CNC EDM and neglect the tooling. Don't get a high speed machining center and neglect the toolholders. And don't buy a CMM that will simply never manage to do what a higher end machine can. It is just a futile waste of time.

Things Nobody Knows About Plastic Injection Molding

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Ok, raise your hand if you know anything about plastic injection molding. Hmm.. just as I thought, maybe one or two tentative hands halfway in the air. Most people have some vague kind of idea about this industry, but in actuality, know almost nothing at all!
This is understandable in our society. For some reason, manufacturing in the USA is a second class occupation, in the eyes of the "educated".
I know this from first hand experience. I am an injection mold maker and live in a community full of college professors and doctors. I am sandwiched in between a world class hospital and an Ivy League university.
When people ask me what I do for a living I can tell they have no idea what I am talking about. They think I grow mold in a laboratory, or am a production machinist, or an injection molding machine operator in a plastic factory.
I actually gave up a long time ago trying to explain what an injection mold maker does. I discovered that if I told them I was an Industrial Engineer, I came closest to connecting with their limited experience in the real world.
People do not realize that their keyboard, laptop, mouse, cell phone, half their car (or SUV), and thousands of other things they use day in and day out, came from a plastic injection molding machine.
Even my own family only half gets it. I gave a tour to my daughters once and one of them was most impressed by the soles of my work boots! Another was fascinated by the overhead crane.
So, if you ever get the opportunity to tour a molding facility, make the effort. You will be amazed at the myriad of very expensive equipment in use; all so we can use and enjoy these plastic items!