August 30, 2018

Lean 5S Training Provides Continuous Improvement For Mold Craft

No matter how good your customers say you are or how well you deliver on-time, there is always room for improvement.  In order to fill that desire for continuous improvement, late last month, the employees at Mold Craft underwent hands-on 5S training. That’s right, the entire company was invited to participate and learn continuous improvement/efficiency techniques. 5S stands for the terms; sort, shine, set in order, standardize, and sustain. This is a methodology to increase efficiency in one’s workspace by keep things close at hand in an organized fashion.

Mold Craft Invests In 5S Training

Mold Craft was awarded grant money from the MJSP grant foundation and put it towards training their employees with the 5S training. Mold Craft brought in Mark & Mary Kay who are Continuous Improvement Specialist at Lean Processes, LLC (the hosts of the 5S training session). During Phase 1, Mark and his team spent a week working with small groups of employees at Mold Craft not only teaching them the 5S concepts, but also doing hands on simulation of a production setting building Lego robots.  During Phase 2, they walked the shop and pointed out ways that Mold Craft could improve efficiency in real time. Operations Supervisor Todd Larson said, “It was amazing to see the changes and really see how simple it is to be more efficient.”

The 5S Training Process at Mold Craft

In Phase 1 the company separated into 4 groups with Lean Processes, LLC working with one group at a time. Some of the key concepts that employees learned were the 5S principles plus they learned about the 8 Wastes with an acronym of (DOWNTIME) which are defects, overproduction, waiting, non-utilized resources, transportation, inventory, motion, and extra processing. They also learned about concepts such as TAKT time vs. Cycle time and the value of balancing time, space, and materials. “Mark and his team were fantastic with the entire staff. The concepts we learned were not only relevant to our work lives but many of the concepts bled over into our personal lives as well”, said Todd Larson when asked about his experience with Lean Processes, LLC.

Results from the 5S Training Session

The employees loved their experience with Mark and his team. When asked what the employee feedback was, Todd said, “It was all positive. The employees really learned a lot from Mark and his team and they really appreciated the hands-on teaching style and enthusiasm that they brought.” Todd went on to explain that this ended up serving a dual purpose as it ended up being a team building event. The random groups were made up of people who often do not spend much time with each other. It created a situation where coworkers who don’t normally interact with each other had to work together and as a result it brought the team closer together.

As a part of Phase 2, Mold Craft spent an additional week to plan and execute a Kaizen event and has rearranged some work stations and made some small investments to enhance efficiency. Part of the program includes two follow up visits, one at 30 days and the other at 90 days so that Lean Process, LLC can track the progress Mold Craft is making as well as offer any additional solutions. This program brought operational efficiency and team building to Mold Craft. Mold Craft will certainly continue to pursue opportunities like this in the future.

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DevjweisBusiness, Future
July 30, 2018

WestFall 2019 Gen Z Connection

The Gen Z Connection Program is a program put on by White Bear Lake High School supported by the Vadnais Heights Economic Development Corporation (VHEDC) and others. The nature of the program is to hire high school students and expose them to a number of different cultures and companies in the manufacturing industry. The focus of this program is to show students that manufacturing is a justifiable career path going through a 2-year program vs. a 4-year post-secondary education.

The Gen Z Connection Program started in May 2015. The students work 90 hours and are paid $10 per hour over the course of 4 weeks. The students rotate and work at a new manufacturer every week. The companies involved are all local manufacturing companies in the Twin Cities. While there were 8 companies in total that were involved, there were only 4 that this group of students were able to work with. The companies are LasX Industries, Renstrom Dental Studios, Superior Machine, and of course, Mold Craft. Each company has their own unique niche in the market and has something new to teach the kids.

Each company that participates in this program has an itinerary for what each student will accomplish during their stay. At Mold Craft, there is an agenda that details what every student will be doing almost by the hour. At Mold Craft, each student will be working to create a mold that produces key chains. They will also do a run of 50 plastic key chain parts that they will be able to keep along with the mold and print package. Other companies in the program will be doing similar activities. All of the students go to White Bear Lake High School, located in White Bear Lake, MN. Each student was considered based on their class work as well as their interest level. In other words, the students had to have taken some type of manufacturing class and they must have shown interest in this program. The students also get some perks for participating in this program. First of all, these are paid internships. Each student receives a wage of $10 per hour. The VHEDC also pays to have each of the students OSHA certified. Finally, the Vadnais Heights Economic Development Corporation buys each student a pair of steel toed boots as some manufacturing facilities require them.

Throughout their tenure, each student will be exposed to working in a manufacturing setting. At Mold Craft, they even go through the experience of getting “hired.” On the first day, each student sits down with a shop supervisor and has a formal interview. Once the employee is “hired,” each student is shown standard employment forms as well as benefits packages. From there they get a tour of the facility, review expectations, and they get an explanation of the entire sales cycle. That is the entire first day. The second day is focused almost entirely on mold manufacturing and the days to follow are focused on designing and building their mold.

As for the students that participated in the program – Mold Craft’s marketing team got to meet the 4 students from “Team Milling” which are the 4 students that got to experience a week at Mold Craft. The marketing team spoke with each one of them individually about their experiences at Mold Craft. Collectively, they all had something to say about how great their experience was at Mold Craft. When asked what was their favorite part, I received many different answers. Kyle Anderson said, “Watching the machines run has been my favorite part. I liked seeing things actually get molded.” Some of the other students enjoyed milling, grinding, and wire EDM. Taylor Nelson even admitted that he could not pick just one thing. He had to narrow it down to a whole day. Taylor said, “… Maybe a whole day would be day 2 because the machines I worked on were really cool.” It was clear from the interviews that the students not only learned a lot, but more than that, now have an even deeper appreciation for the manufacturing industry.

This program means just as much to the companies involved as it does to the students. The marketing team had an opportunity to ask Justin McPhee, Co-Owner of Mold Craft, a few questions about the Gen Z Connection experience. When asked what the Gen Z Connection program means to Mold Craft he said, “The Gen Z Connection program is a way for us to affect the community in a positive way by exposing local youth to new opportunities. With this program in place, we are able to make connection and have an impact on the lives of some promising up and coming students.” When Justin was asked what he considered to be the most important experience for students, he replied, “Of course the technical things that they are learn are important. They got to work with a handful of machines, they were able to build a mold, etc. In my opinion, the most important things that the students got out of their time at Mold Craft was a lesson in workplace communication and a walkthrough of a real interview process. Those 2 experiences are applicable in any industry.” Finally, Justin made sure to note that he and Mold Craft will continue to support and participate in the Gen Z Connection program for years to come.

The manufacturing industry is not what it used to be. It had the stigma of the 3 D’s; dark, dirty, and dangerous. The manufacturing industry has come a long way in recent history and now, thanks to safety regulations and companies investing more money into retaining high level talent, the stigma is no more. Working in the manufacturing industry offers a plethora of opportunities that many people are unaware of. Going to trade school and getting a degree in a manufacturing trade is now more attractive than ever before. Engaging in a 2-year program simply affords one with opportunities that are either extremely rare or altogether not available for individuals engaged in a 4-year program. The 3 main advantages that students in a 2-year program are time, money, and part-time work in one’s chosen career path. An individual in a 2-year program will spend less time going to school, spend a fraction of the money than individuals in 4-year programs, and will have the unique opportunity to work part-time in their career of choice while going to school. If students perform well in their part-time roles, there is a chance that they could have full-time jobs lined up before they graduate.

Another thing that should get people excited is the type of work you do is much more hands on. You won’t be sitting in an office or in a cubicle at the computer most of the time when you work in the manufacturing industry. You will be moving around, actively creating things. Finally, the thing that should really intrigue most people, is that skilled workers in the manufacturing labor market are in high demand. By getting a 2-year diploma, you can rest assured that companies will be competing for you rather than you competing with dozens or even hundreds of other applicants for the same job.

The goal of the Gen Z Connection program is to show students that they don’t have to go to a 4-year college to be successful. They can deviate and potentially make an economically wiser decision for themselves. After speaking with the students at Mold Craft, it is evident that they have deeper appreciation for the type of work that is done as well as for the manufacturing industry in general. Mold Craft is proud to be involved in this program and will continue to support it year after year.

Mold Craft and GenZ in the News

Mold Craft is proud to be a part of both the GenZ Connection Program as well as the students that come through our doors. We’re also very pleased that the program has gained attention in the news, and link to relevant coverage on other sites below.

The Association for Career & Technical Education

“State Funding Enables Community Programs to Give MN High School Students Valuable Job Training Opportunities”

This article by the Association for Career & Technical Education (ACTE) provides an excellent overview of the program along with statements from active members of the program. It focuses on the “why” to give you more background on the program’s roots up to where it’s at now.

Minnesota Public Radio

“How to make high school more interesting? Here’s an idea”

A MPR Radio segment that looks at the program from a student’s point of view. It touches on the things that can be gained by the GenZ program and how the student can benefit.

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DevjweisBusiness, Future
June 29, 2018

Plastics Technology Alliance

Earlier this year, Mold Craft announced their involvement in the Plastics Technology Alliance. The Plastics Technology Alliance is an alliance between three of the industry’s top mold builders. The names of the companies involved are Mold Craft, Extreme Tool and Engineering, and Westminster Tool. The premise behind the partnership is simple; no one company can do everything.

The Plastics Technology Alliance is a convenience for customers because what one company may not have had the capability to do before, they do now.

Combining the resources of the 3 top mold design/build companies provides expanded capability and adds capacity for all of our customers. Co-owner’s Tim Bartz and Justin McPhee are very excited about the Plastics Technology Alliance and wanted to provide a quick background.

Westminster Tool is a company based out of Connecticut that specializes in High Performance Component Production, Injection Molds, and Composite Tools in the Medical, Aerospace/Defense, Automotive, Consumer, and Industrial Industries.

Westminster Tool was founded in 1997 by Ray Coombs Jr. and started in the basement of Ray’s home. Westminster Tool’s core values align almost perfectly with that of Mold Craft’s, save for a few differences in naming conventions. Westminster Tool’s 3 main core values are Continuous Learning, Continuous Improvement, and Accountability whereas Mold Craft’s core values are Pursuing Innovation in Technology, Collaborating with Clients, and Getting it Right the First Time. When asked about the partnership, Ray Coombs said, “… there is strength in collaboration and Westminster Tool is excited to partner with fellow world-class organizations, Mold Craft and Extreme. Partnering with these two companies provides us an opportunity to learn and improve our operations while providing expanded offerings to our clients. Together we offer a wide range of services that will enable us to better address our clients’ diverse challenges.”

Extreme Tool and Engineering is a company based in the UP of Michigan. Extreme Tool and Engineering specializes in Mold Manufacturing, Injection Molding and Engineering Automation in several industries including Medical, Automotive, and Consumer Goods.

Extreme Tool and Engineering was founded in 1998 by Mike Zacharias. Extreme Tool and Engineering’s team prides itself in providing excellent results and aims to build meaningful relationships with customers as opposed to transactional ones. For that reason, Extreme Tool and Engineering has many core values which also closely align with Mold Craft’s core values. Extreme Tool and Engineering’s core values are Results Versus Excuses, Thinking Outside the Box is a Matter of Routine and Reinvest. Based off their core values, it is clear that Extreme Tool and Engineering cares about their customers, their employees, and the quality of work they put out which is parallel to Mold Craft’s standards and beliefs.

When asked what drove this joint venture, Extreme Tool and Engineering Owner and President Mike Zacharias said, “The desire to continue providing world-class solutions, continuous improvement and increased capacity were drivers developing this joint venture. Many of our clients already work with one or more of us. Now, they have access to the best of each company through one, central, easy-to-use resource. We expect clients benefiting from different perspectives including capacity, capability, innovation, and total turnkey solutions.”

Together, the Plastics Technology Alliance stands to assist their fellow companions with filling orders that they otherwise would not have the means to fill. This speaks to a core value that they all share (although it is worded differently at each company) which is deliver value to the customer. As each company grows, changes, and innovates, they learn from each other and because of it are a step ahead of their competition in the industry.

VP of Engineering and Co-owner of Mold Craft, Justin McPhee said, “Not only does the creation of the joint venture help our clients, it allows the partners to share resources and best practices.” The Plastics Technology Alliance is more than just a few companies helping each other out with projects; it is an industry driver that is pushing the limits of innovation. Be on the watch for some big things coming out of this group.

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DevjweisBusiness, Future
June 21, 2018

Westfall makes a major move to expand capacity and capability with the acquisition of AMS

WESTFALL TECHNIK, INC. MAKES A MAJOR MOVE TO EXPAND CAPACITY AND CAPABILITY WITH THE ACQUISITION OF AMS.

Westfall Technik has added a premier plastics processing business to its design, prototyping and toolmaking capabilities in the Southwest.

El Cajon, California – March 23rd, 2018 – AMS Plastics, Inc. has been acquired by Westfall Technik, Inc., a recently formed global holding company that provides highly productive plastics manufacturing solutions to the medical, packaging and consumer goods industries.

westfall-technik-ams-medical

AMS Plastics, Inc. with its offices in El Cajon, CA and its 75,000 Ft2 manufacturing site in Ciudad Industrial Nueva, Tijuana, Mexico expands not only Westfall’s footprint but also its manufacturing capabilities. AMS Plastics operates 32 injection molding machines from 50 to 1,000 tons of clamp force including vertical and multi-component machinery. The medical capabilities include a 4,000 Ft2 clean room and the ISO 13485 certification needed for demanding medical device and disposable manufacturing. AMS Plastics offers a number of cost effective value-added services for the decoration and assembly for a variety of applications.

This acquisition supports the Westfall Technik vision to build a market-leading integrated network of plastics experts that provide optimally engineered solutions throughout the plastics manufacturing process. Westfall Technik can now offer comprehensive DFM services quickly and comprehensively as well as rapid prototyping and short-run molding to the medical, industrial and consumer goods industries. This significant increase in both footprint and molding capacity allow Westfall to flawlessly execute everything from low volume – high mix to extremely high-volume packaging or medical disposable applications.

Westfall Technik is now well positioned to offer a true end to end supply chain manufacturing system and more importantly an unparalleled ability to optimized time to market for new product introductions. Westfall’s intention is to continue to expand their footprint and capabilities domestically and internationally to complete their technology roadmap.


About Westfall Technik
Westfall Technik is a new global holding company which provides highly-productive plastics manufacturing solutions to medical, consumer packaging and consumer goods industries. Westfall Technik’s competitive advantages include modern automated systems, correlative molding processes, and effective industry 4.0 concepts. The results for brand owners include high quality, excellent value, fast response for shorter time-to-market, 100% inspection and traceability from pellet to pallet and beyond, supply chain security compliance, and reliability from a team you can trust.

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DevjweisBusiness, Future
May 4, 2018

Westfall Moves east and improves medical device time to market capability with NPI medical

WESTFALL TECHNIK, INC. MOVES EAST AND IMPROVES MEDICAL DEVICE TIME TO MARKET CAPABILITY WITH THE ACQUISITION OF NPI MEDICAL.

Westfall Technik has added its first east coast injection molding company to enhance the process of improving time to market for the medical device and disposable market. The collaboration with the 7 other Westfall Sites adds a new dimension to their “prototype to production” concept.


Ansonia, Connecticut – May 4th, 2018 – NPI Medical Inc., has been acquired by Westfall Technik, Inc., a recently formed global holding company that provides highly productive plastics manufacturing solutions to the medical, packaging and consumer goods industries.

westfall-technik-npi-medical-INPI Medical is located in a well-established manufacturing site offering both clean room and white room molding, primarily for medical devices and disposables. The over 66,000 Ft2 facility currently holds 46 injection molding machines from 28 to 330 tons of clamp force. The 3,450 Ft2 (Two ISO Class 7 and one ISO Class 8) clean rooms for both injection molding and assembly. NPI Medical specializes in prototype to production for “New Product Introduction” and provides complementary capabilities and increased scale to the Westfall Technik group of companies. Collaborative efforts with the two design firms and tooling capabilities of 10 Day Parts and Fairway Injection Molds dramatically reduce costs and time to market.

westfall-technik-npi-medical-IINPI Medical was founded in 1967 as Spectrum Plastics and moved to their current facility in 1999. At that time, they began to implement the current P2P strategy and focused 100% on medical applications. The NPI Medical facility gives Westfall Technik a significant presence on the east coast and the ability to expand the facility to 100,000 Ft2. Modernization plans are already underway for the molding and tooling facilities to better serve the extensive medical customer base. Enhancements through synergies with the other Westfall Technik sites will offer the most cost effective and comprehensive solutions in the industry.


About Westfall Technik
Westfall Technik is a new global holding company which provides highly-productive plastics manufacturing solutions to medical, consumer packaging and consumer goods industries. Westfall Technik’s competitive advantages include modern automated systems, correlative molding processes, and effective industry 4.0 concepts. The results for brand owners include high quality, excellent value, fast response for shorter time-to-market, 100% inspection and traceability from pellet to pallet and beyond, supply chain security compliance, and reliability from a team you can trust.

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DevjweisBusiness, Future
May 4, 2018

Westfall Technik moves east and improves medical device time to market capability with the acquisition of NPI/Medical

Ansonia, Conn. – NPI/Medical has been acquired by Westfall Technik, Inc., a recently formed global holding company that provides highly productive plastics manufacturing solutions to the medical, packaging and consumer goods industries.

NPI/Medical is located in a well-established manufacturing site, offering both clean room and white room molding, primarily for medical devices and disposables. The more than 66,000-square-foot facility currently holds 46 injection molding machines from 28 to 330 tons of clamp force. There is 3,450 square feet (two ISO Class 7 and one ISO Class 8) of clean room space for both injection molding and assembly. NPI Medical specializes in prototype to production for “New Product Introduction” and provides complementary capabilities and increased scale to the Westfall Technik group of companies. Collaborative efforts with the two design firms and tooling capabilities of 10 Day Parts and Fairway Injection Molds dramatically reduce costs and time to market.

NPI/Medical was founded in 1967 as Spectrum Plastics and moved to its current facility in 1999. At that time, the company began to implement the current P2P strategy and focused 100 percent on medical applications. The NPI/Medical facility gives Westfall Technik a significant presence on the east coast and the ability to expand the facility to 100,000 square feet. Modernization plans are already underway for the molding and tooling facilities to better serve the extensive medical customer base. Enhancements through synergies with the other Westfall Technik sites will offer the most cost effective and comprehensive solutions in the industry.

About Westfall Technik
Westfall Technik is a new global holding company which provides highly-productive plastics manufacturing solutions to medical, consumer packaging and consumer goods industries. Westfall Technik’s competitive advantages include modern automated systems, correlative molding processes, and effective industry 4.0 concepts. The results for brand owners include
high quality, excellent value, fast response for shorter time-to-market, 100 percent inspection and traceability from pellet to pallet and beyond, supply chain security compliance, and reliability from a team you can trust.

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DevjweisBusiness, Future
April 24, 2018

Production Quality Prototypes

Our goal is to get you Production Quality Parts in a prototype micro mold and quickly provide you proof of concept. You may be developing a new part intended to run a micro mold, or you may be considering a conversion from conventional molding to micro molding.

At Mold Craft we care about everything, most importantly, our customers. To that end, we offer many time saving conveniences for those who choose to do business with us. With timelines being what they are today, we now offer a new service called Production Quality Prototypes (PQP). This process helps minimize the time to take a custom molded part project from design to sample molded parts.

Mold Craft has developed a specific program where we own the mold base and molding tool steel which will reduce your upfront costs. We custom design the molding steel around your specific part exactly to your specifications with the ability to mold any plastic resin. The custom components that will need to be built consist of cavity inserts, ejector pins and an ejector retainer plate. As a result, you will receive molded parts that will meet your print and model. There are no limitations on corner radii or tolerances. It is built like a production mold.

“The samples produced give our customers as much information as possible which cuts down on validation time, expenses, and reduces time spent on internal troubleshooting.” Mold Craft President and Owner, Tim Bartz had this to say about PQP at Mold Craft; “This process helps minimize the steps required to build a mold and provides a one stop shop that will allow a custom mold project to go from design to production-ready.” All of that time saved with the prototyping process equates to our customers getting their production mold that much faster.

Production Quality Prototypes must be scalable to production parts. By using tool steel in lieu of aluminum or other preproduction methods for prototyping, PQP by Mold Craft is scalable to production in the form of tight tolerance ± .001 machining using the same steel the and manufacturing methods as production molds.

Over the last 5 decades, customers have come to rely on Mold Craft for our tight tolerances and manufacturing precision. The knowledge and experience that we have gained designing and building precision injection molds, most recently for micro injection molding, makes us uniquely qualified to provide precision micro molded prototype parts. Regarding production quality prototypes, Mold Craft’s experience lies in commonly used micro part types (gears, filtration screens, bone screws, other implantables, bioresorbable, etc.) with achieved part weights as low as 5 milligrams (.005g) and a shot sizes from 1g to 3.5g.

Here at Mold Craft, we have the opportunity to give our customers one of the best products on the market. By utilizing the PQP process, we can help discern the best course of action by truly turning design into a production quality sample part in less time. We work with our customers to determine critical to function features, ensure scalability and develop a molding process. The bottom line is, PQP gets you where you are going faster.

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DevjweisBusiness, Future
March 31, 2018

NPE 2018: Looking Back

NPE 2018; The Plastics Show that is produced by the Plastics Industry Association. This is a major convention focused on the plastics industry that is held every three years. NPE 2018 was held in Orlando, FL and consisted of over 1.2 million square feet of exhibit space. Mold Craft. put Micro Molds at “center stage” showing two variations of 100 micron Filter Screens. The Mold Craft booth was running a 2 Cavity Micro Mold using POK resin in a Wittmann Battenfeld MicroPower 15t press and the Sodick Plustech booth was running an 8 Cavity Micro Mold running PPSU (Solvay Polyphenylsulfone) in their 20t Micro Vertical LP20VRE Molding Machine. Both molds had .004” x .004” shutoffs (100 micron) and .013” & .008” wall sections with a part weight of less than .007 grams in POK and .0095 grams in PPSU. Mold Craft managed both R&D projects from the part design to mold cavity design and finally processing.

Mold Craft. also introduced the Production Quality Prototype (PQP) product offering where our goal is to get you engineering quality sample parts in a prototype micro mold and quickly provide you proof of concept should you be developing a new part intended to run in a micro mold. This is parts to print using any engineering resin.

Mold Craft sent 10 staff members to NPE 2018 to either work with customers in the exhibit space or to walk the show for further learning about the future of the plastics industry. Upon returning from the show, several staff members were asked about their experience. When asked what his favorite part of the show was, Mold Craft processing tech & mold designer Derrick Jahr responded, “The amount of interest at our booth. A lot of people came by to engage with us and had genuine interest in what we were displaying.” Derrick was among the individuals stationed at the booth for the duration of the show, answering questions and providing solutions for guests. Designers Patrick Manship and MJ Kavanagh had a different experience as they walked the floor for the whole show and were exposed to a ton of innovative technology that is sure to impact the industry in the near future. Both Patrick and MJ enjoyed learning more about the mold making industry and seeing a number of innovative molding machines.

There were similar responses when each individual was asked about their biggest take-away. Everyone had some level of exposure to new technology whether it was seeing a new style of mold, new press technology or other innovative concepts. NPE is a platform for the whole plastics industry to get together and share ideas and experiences. It was clear from everyone’s response that they were not disappointed with what they had seen.

When asked what other value will be taken out of NPE, Derrick responded that he got a lot of non-engineering experience. For the greater part of the week, Derrick was able to spend time at the booth and speak with individuals about Mold Craft. MJ said that it was eye-opening to see how big the plastics industry really is. It is interesting to see other styles of molds and different types of molding companies. Patrick mentioned that some of the best value he got out of NPE was being able to see the presses that he designs molds around. Patrick said, “We had an opportunity to see how they operate and now we have a better idea of their working parameters and how to better integrate with automation during the design process.”

NPE 2018 was an invaluable experience for Mold Craft both as a vendor and as observers. The individuals that went certainly took a lot of value out of the event and will be better mold makers for it. Mold Craft is already looking forward to NPE 2021: May 17-21 in Orlando, FL.

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DevjweisBusiness, Future
March 23, 2018

Westfall has added another premier plastics processing business to its design

WESTFALL TECHNIK, INC. MAKES A MAJOR MOVE TO EXPAND CAPACITY AND CAPABILITY WITH THE ACQUISITION OF AMA PLASTICS.

Westfall Technik has added another premier plastics processing business to its design, prototyping, toolmaking and molding capabilities in the Southwest.


Riverside, California – April 13th, 2018 – AMA Plastics Inc., has been acquired by Westfall Technik, Inc., a recently formed global holding company that provides highly productive plastics manufacturing solutions to the medical, packaging and consumer goods industries.

westfall-technik-ama-companyAMA Plastics is located in a world class manufacturing site offering both ISO 8 clean room and white room molding for a variety of applications. The over 165,000 Ft2 facility currently holds 95 injection molding machines from 35 to 720 tons of clamp force. The ISO Class 8 clean room currently holds 16 injection molding machines and will be expanded to include clean room assembly. AMA Plastics has an excellent track record and provides complementary capabilities and increased scale to the Westfall Technik group of companies. AMA Plastics also offers multi component and vertical molding as well as innovative automation systems. Over 1.2 megawatts of the total power requirements of the facility are supplied by the 3,500 solar panels installed in 2015. AMA Plastics was founded in 1971 in Anaheim, California and has several changes of address with the most recent to the current state of the art facility in Riverside, CA in 2011.

The AMA facility gives Westfall Technik the size and scale required to execute larger medical and packaging applications already in the Westfall Pipeline and allows for future expansion in the Southwest Region. Upgrades are already in process for injection molding and quality assurance equipment.


About Westfall Technik
Westfall Technik is a new global holding company which provides highly-productive plastics manufacturing solutions to medical, consumer packaging and consumer goods industries. Westfall Technik’s competitive advantages include modern automated systems, correlative molding processes, and effective industry 4.0 concepts. The results for brand owners include high quality, excellent value, fast response for shorter time-to-market, 100% inspection and traceability from pellet to pallet and beyond, supply chain security compliance, and reliability from a team you can trust.

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DevjweisBusiness, Future
March 20, 2018

ERP at Mold Craft

Mold Craft Increases Efficiency With Epicor ERP

Designing and building extremely tight tolerance molds with excellence and offering great value and service to customers is certainly something that Mold Craft is known for in this industry. In pursuit of ongoing excellence and increasing value, Mold Craft implemented the Epicor ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system in 2008.   Behind the scenes, ERP helps Mold Craft to improve process efficiency, gain visibility and clarity into the organization, and enhance the customer experience.

ERP System Implementation at Mold Craft

There are many efficiency enhancements made possible through the use of the ERP system. For example, it allows Mold Craft to have one central place to store information. It reduces redundant data entry and streamlines the communication process across the enterprise. From the shop floor to owners’ office, everyone at Mold Craft uses the ERP system.

Some people use it to simply track their time, while others use it to manage orders, quote projects and produce financial reporting. Most company KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) are tracked and measured in the ERP system, which shows how essential it is to the business.

Mold Craft chose Epicor as their ERP software provider, according ERP Manager Wayne Welsch, because it is priced for small to mid-sized businesses, is scalable, and it supports our manufacturing business processes.

He adds, “We have also found Epicor to be relatively flexible and to offer some good automation tools that help Mold Craft be more productive.” ERP gives Mold Craft a tool to manage production from start to finish. From order processing and material management, to production scheduling, shipping and finance, the ERP system allows Mold Craft to gain visibility and efficiency. Having Wayne as a dedicated ERP resource allows him to develop an intimate knowledge of Epicor so that he can understand a production issue and provide an ERP solution, which is invaluable to Mold Craft.

ERP System Means A Better Mold Craft Customer Experience

The ERP system not only increases efficiency within the organization, but it also improves the customer experience.

Every week, Mold Craft sends its customers a weekly project status detailing exactly how much progress has been made on their mold. That weekly project status is pulled directly from the ERP system. On top of that, any time a customer contacts Mold Craft for shipping status or history, it can be provided with information from the ERP system.

ERP is an essential factor to Mold Craft’s productivity streamlining communications throughout the organization, reducing redundant work, and providing our customers with a one-of-a-kind Mold Craft Experience.

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DevjweisBusiness, Future
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