Rapid Tooling

Finding the right partner in China for rapid tooling can be a challenge. While there is without a doubt incredible added value with making rapid tooling out of P20 material, what can’t be lost in the added value part of the equation is the initial reason you are looking at any rapid tooling program…you need parts fast. Communication issues, poor quality tools, and all the typical offshore tooling challenges can turn a rapid tooling project into a slow tooling project and completely throw your project off the tracks.

With Jade, our Western approach to injection mold building in general helps us to deliver on the speed you need to keep your rapid tooling projects just that, rapid. On communication issues, there are no issues as our team is comprised of native English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Chinese speakers. All projects start with USA based engineering before our China team of Westerners takes over. On quality issues, our Western approach to mold building and QC delivers on quality, tools that will run great in your presses right out of the shipping crate.

Beyond addressing typical mold building concerns our advanced use of DFMPro and Moldex3D on all projects helps to qualify any potential design issues fast on the front end, before tool steel is cut. Particularly on the Moldex3D side of things, if you are not running level 3 Moldex3D simulations on every project (rapid or production tooling), then you are simply missing out, learn more here.

Rapid tooling for automotive – For all rapid tooling projects speed is important, hence the name rapid. But there is no industry that better illustrates the need for rapid tooling and the importance of speed than the automotive industry. When deadlines are missed in the automotive world the knock on effects and potential penalties (financial and market) are massive. Jade’s rapid tooling programs help vehicle launch programs stay on schedule. From bumper packages for crash testing to engine and interior parts, we will make your mold fast and make it right…the first time. Because it’s not rapid tooling if it is not made right the first time.

Rapid tooling for product development – The phrase ‘speed to market’ has been around for a long time but we think ‘speed to revenue’ is a phrase, a better fit for our rapid tooling programs, a better mantra for any product developer to embrace because ‘revenue’ is what it is all about. Revenue takes the pressure off. Revenue can bring financial freedom from investors. Revenue is the entire reason you got into product development in the first place. Speed to revenue is what our rapid tooling programs can deliver product developers.

Rapid tooling for product fulfillment – 15 years ago the model for selling injcection molded product was to invest in high production injection molds (heavy capital investment), make final product and present production product to big box buyers or middle distributors, get container quantity orders and win. The flip side was when you didn’t get big orders you were in big trouble. It was be a big risk big reward world when it came to selling product made via injection molding. Why was it this way? Margins in brick and mortar retailers were skinny for the manufacturer and big box retailers had all the power.

Quick case study on a typical $10 retail item. You needed a $2 production price so that you could sell at $4 to the retailer and make $2 while the retailer made $6. Amazon and the like have flipped the product world on it’s head. Now investment in a 50,000 part quantity rapid injection mold can be a sound move. The $2 part price may move to a $3 part price (when all costs are considered) but you get to sell direct to the market and you get $7 gross profit per unit sold. That is a massive power shift towards product developers and manufacturers.

Rapid tooling also takes a lot of capital risk out of the equation. Even if the market does not completely respond with high positivity towards your product, the chances of recovering at minimum your smaller rapid tooling and production run investment is high due to multiple online selling channels. Plus you will learn a lot and be ready for version 2.0 of your product. Simply put Rapid Tooling helps to mitigate risk.

Rapid tooling for high value niche product – There are products out there that are high value, high profitability, but low market penetration. Real niche products. A market sector like Medical is a good example. You may create a highly specialized medical tool but over the entire life of your product you may only sell 80k units. So why invest in a high volume production tool that will consume valuable capital dollars and give you way more capacity than you need?. If the margin is for your niche product then consider rapid tooling as a budget friendly choice.

Rapid tooling for bridge production – One of the oldest reasons for rapid tooling programs and still relevant today. You put an order in for your high volume production tool and a rapid tool at the same time. The rapid tool is ready quick and bridges your production needs while your high volume production tool is being built. A good strategy for fulfilling P.O. obligations quickly.

At Jade we run all tool builds using Western methodology at our facilities in China. We partner Western expertise, experience, and technology to gain efficiencies in our mold making process so that we can offer you Western quality molds at China level pricing. Our entire system is set up so that you receive your mold, you take it out of the crate, you put it in your press and it runs without issue. That is our 100% goal. That said we do have partners in North America and Europe who can help to troubleshoot if there are any issues.

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