A Quick Look at What's Happening at MMT

This month's been a busy one. We hired a new assistant editor, Heather Wintle and Senior Editor Cyndi Kustush and I took her to visit with longtime supporter International Mold Steel to learn about the first step of the mold-building process: mold material. We also got to see its new laser engraver, from Alliance Laser Sales, in action. Bonus! With February right around the corner, I thought I'd give you a sneak peek at what will be online and hitting your inboxes and mailboxes.

Next month's cover photo is courtesy of Reichle Technologiezentrum and it shows a laser-textured mold surface sample produced using a pulsed fiber laser ablation machine. As soon as the laser beam hits the surface, it vaporizes the material with an accuracy of up to 1 μm. One advantage of a laser-textured surface is reproducibility because the data is consistent, transparent and always available. The error factors are very small, and the process is 100-percent repeatable. MMT's European Correspondent Barbara Schulz has a story on this company's use of laser ablation.

5        Great Tips from February include:

1 Texture Tidbits A big advantage is developing design proposals long before tooling is in the manufacturing process, and the customer sees in advance how the surface texture of his product will look.  

 2 Take a Lesson As a rule of thumb, low-run components produced using a 3D-printed mold insert will be less expensive on a per-part basis. 

3 Measuring Up. Review and analyze the profit margin historical data in each project category. Then establish a targeted profit margin for each, thereby establishing a measurable.

4 Stay Safe A small- to mid-size manufacturer must act as a human firewall, implement secure communication methods, develop a sophisticated password strategy, use a secure backup plan, be aware of the internal threats, educate employees and promote vigilance to protect their company data.

5 Make Room Diffusion bonding removes the need for end plugs, eliminating the risk of leakage, and simplifying the entire channel layout, which provides more space for bolt locations.

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