How Do I Get a Plastic Part Made?

It can be challenging to determine where to start in mass producing plastic parts. The experts at HiTech Plastics & Molds are here to help walk you through the manufacturing process from design to delivery.

Manufacturing Injection Molded Parts

CNC machining, 3D printing, and injection molding are three common processes used to make a custom plastic part. CNC machining often wastes materials and is associated with higher production costs. 3D printing provides fast turnaround times but works with limited materials.

Injection molding has a low cost of production, produces highly accurate plastic parts, and can work with any thermoplastic material. Injection molding can handle most production run volumes, produce parts of varying sizes, and is highly repeatable. At HiTech Plastics & Molds, we follow four basic steps in manufacturing a plastic injection molded part that meets your every specification.

Designing Your Plastic Part & Injection Mold

The first step in the process is to design the plastic part and the corresponding mold. Before manufacturing a custom plastic injection part, you must create a design and build an injection mold. Whether your engineering team creates your design or you require design assistance, HiTech works with you and gives you the exact amount of control you need. From CD cases to military components, we have the design capacities to create your plastic parts.

Once your design is complete, we provide mold-building services. Injection molds are a vital component to creating high-quality plastic parts. We use state-of-the-art tooling and comprehensive quality inspection methods to ensure that we build a mold that meets the strictest requirements for any industry.

Choosing Your Plastic Molding Manufacturing Process

Once your plastic part design is finalized, the next step is to determine which plastic injection molding manufacturing process to use. Together with your team, we determine which thermoplastic manufacturing service will complete your plastic part manufacturing operation the best:

Custom Injection Molding. Injection molding mass produces plastic parts by injecting molten thermoplastic into your custom mold. The plastic material cools, hardens, and forms your product. Injection molding is a good fit for large-volume orders or mid-sized plastic parts such as package/closure caps, medical products, construction parts, and much more.
2-Shot Injection Molding. 2-shot injection molding allows you to create a plastic injected part featuring multiple materials, colors, and other features. For instance, one component of a part using a specific material may be molded over top of another component of a different material. In one stage,your mold is filled with a thermoplastic resin before moving to the next stage where a second material is applied to create your plastic product. 2-shot injection molding is an excellent choice for manufacturing processes looking for increased design flexibility.

Producing a Prototype

The third step in the process of creating a prototype is perhaps the most important step in manufacturing your custom injection molded plastic parts. Flaws or performance complications are not always apparent in designs and CAD drawings. By creating a physical prototype, we can address these issues before moving to production. We begin manufacturing only when you are happy with the efficiency and functionality of your part.

Manufacturing Your Injection Molded Parts

Finally, after your custom mold is designed and produced, your manufacturing process selected, and your prototype perfected, we manufacture your custom plastic parts. When the parts have been ejected from the injection mold, we inspect each component before moving along to further processing or delivery.

Your Go-To Source for Quality Injection Molded Plastic Parts

HiTech Plastics & Molds is a family-owned ISO 9001:2008 certified contract manufacturer and custom molder. Since 1984, we have provided industry-leading thermoplastic injection molding services from our US-based facilities. We work with most materials, including commodity-grade or engineering-grade plastics, and adhere to the highest quality standards. We are committed to meeting each of your requirements while exceeding all your expectations.