Moldmakers Turn to Process Automation in Race to Recover

ST. LOUIS, May 27, 2020 (Newswire.com) - As production begins to ramp up in some sectors, Swoosh Technologies is seeing an increase in mold and die manufacturers turning to automation of design and manufacturing to regain lost revenues.

Swoosh Technologies & Solutions, a certified-Smart Siemens Digital Industries Software business partner, has noticed more interest in mold and die-specific programs that automate tasks in the design and manufacturing of molds. “By automating some of the more tedious and predictable steps in the production process like creating parting surfaces or feature recognition for CNC programming, manufacturers can step up the speed of production throughput with the workforce they have in place,” notes Dan Wibbenmeyer, Managing Partner at Swoosh Technologies. “And in an industry like consumer products or automotive, speed of delivery and cost will determine who receives the order.”

A recent survey from the American Mold Builders Association found that most plant operations fared well during the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic operating at full capacity, while only 2 percent had to shut down operations entirely. Those who specialize in the medical device market are seeing the highest production levels with 91 percent of companies reporting they are 90-100 percent staffed and 55 percent looking to add staff.

Swoosh has introduced a series of on-demand virtual demos of advanced tooling solutions for companies looking to accelerate production with automation of industry-specific processes.

Current on-demand materials include:

• The mold-making process in NX from validating a part for moldability, to creating an optimized mold base. 
• The progressive die making process in NX from receiving the CAD model, to simulating the forming operations. 
• And how to reduce manufacturing errors and costs and produce a higher quality part on the first run with built-in design for manufacturability tests. 

Source: Swoosh Technologies