You might be tempted to feel bad for a rotational molder. When naming the glamor processes of producing plastic parts, rotational molding doesn't roll off many tongues. It's a low tech, back-to-basics process that's been around for centuries and adapted to making complex plastic parts.
Simplicity and lower cost tooling enhance the beauty of rotational molding. And they make it much easier to get your project off the ground. Parts can be prototyped at reasonable cost so a design can be tweaked to maximum efficiency.
Additional savings come from lower economic run quantities and controlled material use meaning there is no wasted plastic- what goes into the mold comes out in your part. Plus, stronger plastic part can be made that replaces metal, wood, fiberglass and even other plastic pieces.
As reliance on rotational molding expands rotomolded plastic components are adding customer value and earning their spot in a manufacturing process by replacing several parts with just one. By molding dissimilar pieces together and designing other features right into the mold, rotational molding adds flexibility and options for manufacturers that other plastic molding processes just can't match.
Think of the broad impact of being able to do that: Fewer parts to stock, track and handle and easier assembly means reduced labor. Assembly labor is reduced when multiple parts are combined into just one. And in many cases assembly is eliminated altogether when the finished product is complete after molding. With no painting or finishing required, your part is ready to go out the door. Often vendors will drop ship your parts to your customer creating a virtual manufacturing center for your product. You never touch the part but earn your markup.
As the boundaries of what can be achieved with rotational molding keep getting pushed farther out, awareness of the savings that can be achieved making parts this way is growing. Companies of all sizes looking for lean manufacturing solutions in their own plants are giving it a second look. The payoff is more than just reduction in the cost to make the parts; companies are banking the savings from smoother processes and higher throughput.
Lean manufacturing and its emphasis on continuous process improvement has found its way into new solutions to old problems. Material handling adds no value to your product and becomes the obvious focus for cutting costs. Wasted labor steps bog down many manufacturing processes, especially in the food, meat and poultry and pharmaceutical processing industries. Work flows vary by company, work culture and how they evolved.
Few plants find off the shelf solutions that can maximize the improvement to be had in their manufacturing processes. For those willing to invest the time, they'll discover they can have custom designed, plant specific products made that help them reclaim, labor, process time and space - with a substantially larger return on investment.
The better rotational molders take a consulting approach which leads to more exacting and cost saving solutions. Instead of peddling what they produce and trying to make it work, they seek out opportunities for process improvement for their customers. Using an alert eye for bottlenecks, they do value stream mapping of the customer's operation from beginning to end. This can be a tedious process so you'll want to work with a rotomolder with experience in lean manufacturing techniques.
This blended approach changes the whole dynamic of procurement. Instead of calling in a rotomolder to outsource parts, it now makes sense to invite them in to understand your operation and possibly uncover opportunities right under you nose.
There is a rotational molder that markets itself with just such a consultative program. Their system came together when they adapted lean manufacturing principles learned and practiced in their own plant to situations they observed when they visited customers.
You can learn more at http://rotationalmolder.net
Lee Schwarz is a business to business copywriting expert. He specializes in exploiting online and offline marketing opportunities to attract new business and profits for manufacturers, professional services companies and commercial and industrial contractors.
Learn more about him at http://www.blacklionmarketing.com or arrange a free 15 minute consult by e-mailing him at leeschwarz@businesstobusinesscopywriting.com
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