Enlightenment from European and American mold companies

In order to further strengthen the technical and economic cooperation with European and American mold companies, the China Mold Industry Association recently organized the directors and managers of mold companies to visit the United States and Europe. During the inspection, everyone felt a lot, and summarized the following three points:

One. High and new technology is widely used in European and American mold companies.

During the inspection visit, everyone saw that the production technology level of many mold companies in Europe and America is first-class in the world. The application of high technology to the design and manufacture of molds has become a powerful guarantee for the rapid manufacture of high-quality molds.

1. The wide application of CAD / CAE / CAM shows the superiority of using information technology to drive and enhance the mold industry. In Europe and America, CAD / CAE / CAM has become a commonly used technology for mold companies. In the application of CAD, it has surpassed the initial stage of throwing away the drawing board and two-dimensional drawing, and the current 3D design has reached 70% to 89%. The application of PRO / E, UG, CIMATRON and other software is very common. Using these software can not only complete 2D design, but also obtain 3D model, which provides guarantee for the integration of NC programming and CAD / CAM. Using 3D design, assembly interference can also be checked during design to ensure the rationality of the design and process. The universal application of CNC machine tools ensures the machining accuracy and quality of mold parts. Mold companies with 30 to 50 employees generally have more than ten CNC machine tools. Parts processed by CNC machine tools can be directly assembled, which greatly reduces the number of assembly fitters. CAE technology has gradually matured in Europe and America. In the design of injection molds, CAE analysis software is used to simulate the plastic stamping process, analyze the cooling process, and predict possible defects in the molding process. CAE software is used in the design of the die to simulate the metal deformation process, analyze the distribution of stress and strain, and predict defects such as cracking, wrinkling, and springback. CAE technology is playing an increasingly important role in mold design. After the Italian company COMAU applied CAE technology, the mold trial time was reduced by more than 50%.

2. In order to shorten the molding cycle and improve market competitiveness, high-speed cutting processing technology is commonly used. High-speed cutting is a processing technology whose main characteristics are high cutting speed, high feed speed and high processing quality, and its processing efficiency is several times higher than that of the traditional cutting process, or even more than ten times. At present, European and American mold companies widely use CNC high-speed milling in production. There are many three-axis linkages, and some are five-axis linkages. The number of revolutions is generally 15,000 ~ 30,000 r / min. Using high-speed milling technology can greatly reduce the mold-making time. The mold surface after high-speed milling and finishing can be used with only a slight polishing, saving a lot of time for grinding and polishing. European and American mold companies attach great importance to technological progress and equipment updates. The depreciation period of equipment is generally 4 to 5 years. Increasing the number of CNC high-speed milling machines is one of the key points of equipment investment for mold companies.

3. Rapid prototyping technology and rapid molding technology have been widely used. Due to the increasingly fierce market competition, product upgrading is accelerating, rapid prototyping and rapid molding technology emerged at the historic moment, and quickly gained widespread application. At the European Mold Show, rapid prototyping technology and rapid prototyping technology occupy a very prominent position. There are various types of rapid prototyping equipment such as SLA, SLS, FDM and LOM. There are also institutions and companies that provide prototype manufacturing services.

Among the mold companies examined, many of them combined rapid prototyping technology and rapid mold making technology to mold manufacturing, that is, using rapid prototyping technology to manufacture prototypes of product parts. Then quickly build a mold based on the prototype. Many plastic mold manufacturers use rapid prototyping to cast silicone rubber molds for a small number of plastic parts, which is very suitable for product trial production.

two. The management experience of European and American mold companies is worth learning.

(1) Streamlined personnel and "thin" management. The majority of mold companies in Europe and the United States are not large, and the number of employees is less than 100. The number of mold companies investigated is generally 20-50. The configuration of various types of personnel in the enterprise is very streamlined, with one specialty and multiple abilities, one person with multiple positions, and no idlers can be seen in the enterprise. The ideas of lean production and "lean" management are well reflected.

(2) Adopt specialization and accurate product positioning. Most of the mold companies surveyed are based on the needs of various types of molds in the automotive and electronics industries to determine their product positioning and market positioning. In order to survive and develop in the market competition, each mold manufacturer has its own superior technology and products, and all adopt professional production methods. Most mold companies in Europe and America have a group of long-term cooperation mold users, and there are a group of mold production cooperative manufacturers around large mold companies. Some of this cooperative partnership of mutual benefit, mutual benefit, win-win and coexistence has lasted for 30 to 40 years.

(3) Adopt advanced management information system to realize integrated management. Mold companies in Europe and America, especially large-scale mold companies, have basically realized computer management. From production planning, process formulation, to quality inspection, inventory, statistics, etc., computers are commonly used, and various departments within the company can share information through the computer network.

(4) Advanced process management and high degree of standardization. Unlike most domestic mold factories that adopt a locksmith-based or contractor-made production organization mode, mold manufacturers in Europe and America rely on advanced process equipment and process routes to ensure parts accuracy and production progress. Each mold has a detailed design drawing, including the detailed design of each part, and a detailed processing technology has been formulated.

three. For China's mold to go to the world, it must deepen reforms and expand exports.

The advanced technology and advanced management of European and American mold companies have produced large, precise and complex molds that have played an extremely important role in promoting the development of automobiles, electronics, communications, home appliances and other industries Economic benefits. American mold companies have annual sales per capita of around US $ 200,000; Italian sales per capita are also above US $ 100,000. Compared with domestic mold companies, even after deducting the influence of price factors, the production efficiency of European and American mold companies is many times higher than ours. To narrow the gap with advanced industrial countries, we must accelerate technological progress, increase the application of CAD / CAE / CAM, increase the proportion of CNC processing equipment, and use information technology to further improve the design and manufacturing level of molds. At the same time, it is necessary to learn from and draw on advanced foreign management experience to further deepen enterprise reform. At present, some domestic mold factories do both stamping and plastic molds, and large, medium, and small molds. It is difficult to do well. You must take the path of small and specialized, small and precise, and small and special. At the same time, it is necessary to increase awareness of participating in international competition, strengthen international economic and technological cooperation and exchanges, and at the same time increase the degree of localization of molds, further expand exports to the world.