Hello and welcome to a new blog post in which I want to share a story that changed the way of thinking about cost-saving in manufacturing:
Ratio projects
Not long ago, I was sitting across the table from a customer who was laser-focused on one thing: lowering material costs for an injection-moulded part. He was convinced that if we could just supply a cheaper material, his problems would be solved.
But as our technical team and I examined the part and the moulding operations together, something caught our eye. The runner and sprue—the channels that guide the molten polymer into the mould—were enormous. In fact, they were much bigger than the part itself! Imagine pouring a glass of water and spilling twice as much on the table as you actually get in the glass. That’s what was happening here.
Instead of just talking about material prices, we rolled up our sleeves and worked side by side with the customer. We reimagined the entire gating system, redesigning the part and the tooling. It was a true collaboration, blending expertise and creativity.
The result? We didn’t just shave a few cents off the material cost. We cut the total cost by 50%. Half! Not by using a cheaper material, but by using our knowledge to optimize the design and the process (Figure 1).
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| Figure 1: Optimizing the sprue and gating of an injection mold as part of a ratio project. |
The customer was amazed. He realized that the real savings came not from squeezing suppliers for lower prices, but from looking at the bigger picture—design, tooling, and production.
This experience taught us all a powerful lesson: sometimes, the answer isn’t in the price tag of the material, but in the ingenuity we bring to the table. When we focus only on material costs, we risk missing out on much greater opportunities for improvement.
So next time you’re tempted to chase the lowest material price, remember—true value comes from partnership, innovation, and seeing the whole picture.
Thanks for reading & #findoutaboutplastics
Greetings,
