What do you expect from the company that supplies Urethane, Rubber, Fiberglass, Expansion Joints?

Uniflex Inc describes itself in many different ways:

  • (In the footer) Uniflex Inc. manufactures and distributes urethane, plastics, rubber, and fiberglass products; they are delivered to worldwide automotive, aerospace, and rail system manufacturers.
  • (In our about us) As one of the midwest’s largest molders of urethane and rubber products, Uniflex stands ready to design and build an infinite number of parts for a myriad of solutions.
  • (On Facebook – come like us) Custom Molded Urethane components, plastic sheet rod and tube, fiberglass grating and structural, metal and rubber expansion joints, metal and rubber hose, gas and electric protective sleeves, and fuse separators.

What can we supply you with?  Our service and our expertise can help drive your companies’ innovation.

We are starting a new contest. We would like to see what our customers are using in the place of business. Participate by posting a picture or adding a comment. And, you can enter into a drawing for a $10 Amazon gift card.

Uniflex has been servicing the ‪utility‬ companies with their need for exposed gas line protection and electric utility safety/tagging device needs. Our patented Servgard coupling kits come in three sizes to fit the most exposed gas line, temporary, protection needs.

Go here to post your picture or participate.

Custom injection molding has been a boon for businesses that need high-volume intricate parts while keeping the cost-per-unit low. Today, almost all mass-production processes around the world use plastic injection molding to create single part thousands – or even millions – of times in one cycle.

Obviously, the main advantage of custom injection molding is that it allows you to scale production as a whole. Once you deal with the initial costs, the price-per-unit during the manufacturing process becomes exceptionally low. If you decide to produce more parts, the price will drop even more.

How to Choose the Best Plastic Custom Injection Molding Company

Before you choose any material or make any key decisions, you need to understand how plastic molding works. This process utilizes plastic resins or polymers that are heated, melted, and injected under high pressure to create a mold tailored to your specifications.

To ensure the mold can withstand high temperatures and intense pressure, it usually consists of solid steel or aluminum. Once you inject the melted resin into the mold, it cools and solidifies in the shape of your finished product, and then finally ejected from the mold.

When you are looking for a custom injection molding company to manufacture your products, you want to be sure that they can adhere to your specific proportions or measurements. To put it simply, the company must be able to produce exactly what you want, the way you want it.

If you want a specific logo, design, size, color, or packaging, your custom injection molding manufacturer must be able to provide it all for you, with a reasonable fee. For best and most cost-effective results, they must be able to do the prototyping, molding, tooling, stamping, and welding on the molded plastic under one roof.

Here are a few factors you need to look out for when hiring a manufacturing partner:

They Should Be Focused On Cost-Effectiveness & Efficiency

How long have they’ve been in the industry? Do they have experience producing products similar to yours? Who were their previous clients? In addition, to be able to comply with all your specifications, they must be well established in providing the best customer service possible – and this can only happen if they own state-of-the-art equipment to work in a reliable and fast manner.

Look at their finished products: are they smooth, with no requirement for further finishing? Or do they have unwanted, sharp edges?

Equipped With Adequate Climate Control Systems

The climate of the manufacturing facility plays a critical role in the overall production. Make sure the company’s factory has an efficient cooling (or heating) system in place for their molds.

Dedicated, Customer-Centric Management Team

Does the company have a system in place to deliver finished products on time? It doesn’t matter how complicated your needs are, your custom injection molding partner must be able to make the delivery.

Your One-Stop Shop for All Custom Injection Molding Needs

The market is full of plastic injection molding manufacturers but only a handful have the capabilities to meet your specifications and help you save money and time during production. At Uniflex Inc., we proudly stand behind our promise of helping you optimize your production process with quality work. Call us at 248-486-6000 or fill out this form to have a chat with us today!

There are different types of injection molds based on their characteristics, such as part capacity, plate amount, and runner system. Understanding what each of these categories means for your injection molding process will help prepare you to choose the right type of mold for your part.

Selecting the correct mold type for your production is critical. This is because it will directly affect your production speed, product quality, and overall costs. Based on different features of the mold, there are several ways to classify it:

Family Mold

This is a single mold base with two or more cavities that allow it to produce two or more parts at the same time. You can also choose to use shut-offs to isolate production to the cavities you want. For best results in injection molding, we recommend choosing the parts that are similar in resin, shape, size, and estimated volumes. This is especially if you want to run all parts at the same time. If the volumes are low and mold cost is a significant factor, a family mold is an ideal option.

High or Low Cavitation

As you can imagine, a single cavity mold can only produce one part per cycle. These molds are, thus, cost-effective when your part volume is low since they are less expensive to build. They also have a shorter lead time. On the negative side, the piece-part-cost is higher in injection molding production. Then we have multi-cavity molds that can manufacture more parts per cycle, so they have larger capacity and lead to lower piece-per-costs.

Two/Three Plate Molds

These are essentially cold runner tools; the addition of a 3rd plate to the runner system allows you to pinpoint the injection point into nearly any location on the tool. If a hot runner system is too expensive for you, this is a great option. But keep in mind that this type of injection molding is much more difficult to automate.

Hot Runner Molds

These molds utilize a temperature-controlled manifold to eliminate or significantly reduce runner scrap from the cycle. Injection points can be directly into the part or outside the part. This can really improve cycle times; a runner system (or a sprue) is usually a deciding factor on the mold cycle. Plus, it leads to less waste of expensive material.

A temperature controller for the press is necessary for hot runner molds to run, and the controller must be sized properly to match the manifold inside the mold. In some cases it may seem expensive to maintain the mold on a hot runner tool but it almost always pays for itself in the long run through cycle time and material savings, especially in application that require high annual volumes or expensive engineering-grade resins.

Cold Runner Molds

A cold runner mold utilizes runners and sprues to gate into the component. So, as such, it is not as complicated as other methods. But it may lead to slower running cycles and larger volume of wasted material. In most cases, you can re-ground and re-process a percentage of this wasted material for future use.

Let Us Help You Determine the Right Injection Molding Process for You

At Uniflex Inc., we offer in-house tooling solutions so it takes a few days – not weeks – to make the molds you need. We also specialize in running low and medium volume jobs, with a wide range of materials to choose from. If you’re not sure where to get started with injection molding, just give us a call at 248-486-6000 or contact us online and we will be happy to assist.

When you have a custom plastic injection molding project in the works, you first need to find the right manufacturing partner that is reliable and can match your needs. After all, the process of plastic injection molding is never one size fits all. Your needs may vary based on the design of your products, your industry, and your production schedule.

For example, if your project is medium or high-volume, you’ll need injection molding companies that can handle express production on a large scale. Custom parts also tend to require more ingenuity and expertise to make sure your parts are made just right. All projects take access to the expertise, materials, and equipment necessary to create high quality parts.

Choosing the Best Injection Molding Companies

Custom injection molding is all about communication, and that calls for commitment from you as well as your manufacturing partner. Sometimes production changes occur at the last minute, or designs need to be adapted. So, you need to think about the people that you’ll be working with – and not just the products you will need. That way, you will avoid headaches and delays that come with a communication breakdown.

Here are a few ways to help you find the right injection molding companies that will be just as invested in your project as you:

Consider Their Capabilities & Material Availability

The intricacy of your project will greatly affect your choice of molding partner. The company you pick should have the capabilities and experience working with the materials you have selected. Ask them the following questions to ascertain this:

  • Do you have qualified team members who have experience with similar projects?
  • Do you have the proper equipment to meet all of the program requirements (such as material handling, injection molding machines, automation, etc.)?
  • Does your factory adhere to the necessary regulatory requirements (i.e., FDA, ISO, etc.)?
  • Do you have experience working with the specific materials and resin?
  • Do you have processes and systems in place for larger volume programs, to successfully manage the flow of materials?

Have They Obtained ISO Certification?

Regardless of your production needs, you want to work with a manufacturer who holds a certification from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). ISO certification is difficult to obtain. So, this will ensure you that the injection molding companies who have it are committed to product quality and will create a reliable product for you.

Do They Have Adequate Experience?

With experience comes the ability to anticipate problems and create solutions in advance. Find injection molding companies that have experience manufacturing products similar to the one you’re trying to make. This experience will not only bring valuable expertise to your project, but also ensure that they have the infrastructure and equipment required to do the kind of work you need.

Choose A Manufacturing Partner You Can Trust

It is vital to choose injection molding companies that you can work with productively. Plus, they need to guarantee the delivery of exceptional-quality products. At Uniflex Inc., we make sure that you have access to the quality of work that you need. To know more, please give us a call at 248-486-6000 or send us a message here.