Custom Molds Case Study

Introduction

Custom Models is a company specialized in plastic molds production, founded by Tom and Mason Miller in 1987. The main activity of the company is the manufacture of custom molds used for making plastic parts. The company also produces high quality plastic connectors incorporate in electronic devices. The company operates to provide electronic connectors producers with state-of-the-art customized molds that are manufactured closely according to each customer standards and requirements. Having good reputation in molds design and fabrication, the company management decided to expand its business to manufacture plastic parts, which led the necessity to change current strategies in order to handle the demand level and quality control requirements.

Analysis

Tom and Mason Miller, the father-and-son-team of the company, faced the problem of adopting new strategies to meet the change in order requirements, regarding time schedules, quality control and so forth. Regarding demand fluctuations, electronics producers attempted to sign agreements with their suppliers to ensure strict delivery of raw materials provided that the received materials must be both cheap and of high quality. Therefore, Custom Molds Company increased its production of custom molds which required extra work load and full rearrangement of the plant layout. With the expansion in production, the company increased its molding equipments and ingredient mixing facilities in order to be the leading supplier of plastic molds by the mid 1990’s. Therefore, the company became involved in two manufacturing processes: plastic parts production and fabricating molds. The increase in work load in Custom Molds led to reduced performance level. The company received tons of negative feedback regarding its incapacity to meet delivery promises. Furthermore, the large-scale production raised the number of defective products which increased customers’ complaints regarding production quality. In order to achieve its objective and become the leading molds supplier, Custom Molds has to rearrange its manufacturing processes and adopt time management techniques; this can help meet demand while keep production quality level. Furthermore, the company has to evaluate its market and identify priorities regarding quality control and mass production based on marketplace fluctuations and decide where to focus its efforts, either on fabricating molds or manufacturing plastic parts.

Conclusion

Custom Molds is a supplier for plastic molds for electronics manufacturers; lately, the company expanded its activities to include the manufacturing of plastic parts, in addition to molds injection activities. As a result, the demand for the company production increased which implies the expansion in manufacturing processes, increasing work load and rearrangement of current strategy to meet the new demand level. The company faced the problem of increased complaints regarding mediocre quality of products and delayed delivery. In order to solve this problem, the company must change its production policy and prepare new effective and proactive policy that considers the fulfillment of four main aspects: profitability, quality control, timeliness and cost effectiveness.