introduction
Hear Hillary Thomas of Westminster Tool share how they utilized Mantle’s metal 3D printing technology to help a leading medical device OEM bring a new product to market dramatically faster by printing the tooling with their Mantle machine.
About Westminster Tool
Westminster Tool is an injection mold builder based in Plainfield, Connecticut specializing in Class 101 medical production mold building, handling molds with up to 32 cavities and 6,000 pounds. Westminster Tool thrives on tackling complex challenges, specializing in more intricate projects such as two-shot, micro, multi-cam, unscrewing, insert molds, and collapsible cores.
CASE STUDY:
prototyping and material compatibility testing
Westminster Tool was approached by a leading medical device OEM to assist in prototyping and material compatibility testing. The OEM was bringing a new medical device product to market and wanted production representative parts ASAP.
- Over 40 swipe-by shutoffs with minimal post-print processing required
- Production-representative-molded-plastic parts in just 4 weeks
- Lead time reduced by 50% | 8 weeks to 4 weeks
- Saved 65% (110 hrs) of manufacturing time
- Molded over 7,000 pieces across ABS and PC/ABS blend
- Printed tools replicated the production molding environment to evaluate cooling time, part quality, and molding parameters
- By using Mantle to produce the prototype tooling, Westminster Tool won the production order and saved 25% of the time and cost of the production tool design
