Hot Runner, Mold Component Partnerships Lead to Innovative Mold Designs


Since 2020, Formula Tooling has built more than 90 molds, growing revenue to over $10 million in 2021. The strategy is simple—build molds that solve technical challenges for strategic customers who appreciate and understand the team’s value to the process. Get more news about Innovative Mold And Design,you can vist our website!

Many traditional tooling companies focus on the capital to build molds, whereas Formula Tooling says it leverages its supplier partners to deliver the best solution. The Formula Tooling team works this strategy by targeting customers who see the shop as an indispensable partner in mold design, delivery and qualification, as well as investing in the latest tooling technology and design.

California-based Formula Plastics launched Formula Tooling in Mexico to capitalize on new business opportunities involving in-house moldmaking. The company offers a range of services that include feasibility studies, design for manufacturability, MoldFlow analysis, 3D modeling and prototyping, mold manufacturing, startup support and final mold validation. They also provide in-house engineering changes, preventive, corrective and predictive maintenance, as well as repairs.

Formula Tooling’s Managing Director Ruediger W. Kuemmerle joined the company in early 2020 with a resume of building several successful businesses and 16+ years of tooling, molding and product development experience in Germany, China and Mexico.

To develop innovative solutions for customers that improve sustainability, increase production efficiency, improve process repeatability and stretch the boundaries of physics, he brought together an international team of experts—Kunstoff Institut Luedenscheid in Germany, Ewikon Hotrunner Systems, AHP Merkle Hydraulics and CUMSA standard mold parts.
Kuemmerle believes that the key to Formula Tooling’s success is working with dedicated partners, 3D modeling services and highly trained engineers to develop advanced mold standards. Here are three examples of successful partnerships leading to innovative customer solutions:

1. Two-component (2K) nose cap included a metal insert and unscrewing cores. Previously, the team manually inserted the metal insert into the injection molding machine, overmolded it with a hard material, then manually transferred the parts to another injection molding machine, repeating that process for the final overmold with a soft material. As a result, to reach the annual volumes, it required six injection machines.
Formula Tooling was able to substitute the six injection machines with only one fully automated injection/production cell because of the specific mold design, a high-tech hot runner solution from Ewikon and a 3D-printed end of arm tool (EOAT) from Savage Automation.

2. An electrical plug connector whose existing eight-cavity cold runner mold required removal from the press to change the part version/configuration. There were 12 different pin configurations to manufacture with only one mold. Formula Tooling replaced this mold with a full hot runner four-cavity mold, eliminating the runner, material waste and labor needed for removal.