Lookin for infp

digger doug said:

There are little plastic mold shops stuffed up in every nook & cranny
around here.

And they are being put out of business by China.

Also, word on the street, is that they don't get paid until
the primary molder runs the mold, and gets paid for the product.

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Dualkit said:

I know a couple of places where my ex coworkers are that started outsourcing their mold work and other labor intensive tool and die projects to China where they paid the higher end Chinese shops 50 cents on the USA dollar.
Almost everything needs rework, but the companies figure they are saving money. At least where my two friends work no tool makers lost their jobs but they went from all the overtime they could handle to 32 hour weeks and rotating days off, so guys ended up working every other weekend for straight time.

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Dualkit said:

I know a couple of places where my ex coworkers are that started outsourcing their mold work and other labor intensive tool and die projects to China where they paid the higher end Chinese shops 50 cents on the USA dollar.
Almost everything needs rework, but the companies figure they are saving money. At least where my two friends work no tool makers lost their jobs but they went from all the overtime they could handle to 32 hour weeks and rotating days off, so guys ended up working every other weekend for straight time.

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digger doug said:

So they are dragging their own casket to the hole then.....

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moldcore said:

I don't think it's the out sourcing. It's the way things are manufactured today. We've gotten so good and efficient that we don't need as many tool shops. I will turn 70 this year and considering closing up my shop because of the lack of profitable work and unrealistic delivery dates. Modern shops have rows of $250K machining centers that can make molds faster and cheaper than I can and I'm not going to invest that kind of money at this stage of my life. If you want to get into the business today and be competitive you have to have some very deep pockets. At least that is the way I see it. Good Luck.

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digger doug said:

I got some nice tooling from a large mold shop, they were tearing out all the Moore
Jig grinders, and surface grinders, etc. and putting in all CNC hi speed
VMC's and such for hard milling.

China, being new at this, already has all this "latest & greatest"

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Gordon B. Clarke said:

And yet to some China makes rubbish. Go for the lowest price in any country and you won't get the best that can be made.

If you (you plural) want to make a genuine comparison then compare price with comparable quality.

I'll give an example. I have a WEBER grill. The WEBER brand is more expensive (here) than as good as all other grills. Nevertheless it's the most sold grill here. Good quality lasts longer than a "bargain" price.

Grilled outside for the first time this year last Saturday 25ºC

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SIM said:

As to Weber...I went through many grills before biting the bullet with a premium SS Weber. It used to be one, maybe two years from other brand grills, we use several times a week year round...had the Weber almost 10 years with a few items needing replacement. This may be its final year as SS is burning thru in spots... Only issue is they make'em worse and worse each year...some of the old units are bullet proof tanks.

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Ox said:

The opp never mentioned building molds....
Just sayin' ......


Personally - if you are a toolmaker and want to work, I would think that you could find work.
But you don't want to be bidding online for work! You'll spend WAY too much time quoting, and zero margin on any that you doo manage to land.

Knock on doors.



---------------------------------

We've still been below freezing every night here yet...
Had snow flakes this morning...
Ox

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SIM said:

Look-E-there...I answered the OP's question like a politician...by totally avoided it altogether.


Yes, several online sources to bid work, mfg.com comes to mind.

Usual scenario is you Pay to play.
Sign and Pay for contract over certain period of time and they forward you a ton of items to bid on...

Find one you'd like to Bid, work up your best price and submit...wait for bidding and hope.

I went in with idea even if I broke even maybe I could develop a relationship of good, on time work at a good price. So it was worth the thousand or so for the possible leads.

I found using my Best price I was consistently high by more then a 1/3. Many times the winning bids were awarded at less then I could buy material for...


As to relationships...the few times I did speak with someone about drawing/print questions they wanted to talk bottom line period.


If you look down under Commerce in this forum you'll see and area you can look for and list work/jobs.

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Ox said:

Many of us "pro's" have put our time in, and good $ towards online bidding. I don't know if many of us have tried that since the crash, but many of us paid good $ for the privilage of quoting no margin work back in the early to mid twenty naughts.

Of everyone here, I know of only one success story, and he doesn't come out to play much these days.

Good luck.


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Think Snow Eh!
Ox

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Jashley73 said:

Who is your one success story?

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