Now that we’ve determined how valuable a good toolmaker is, it’s time to discuss finding the right one. The way you choose a toolmaker determines whether you wind up with a partner who helps you build market share, or one who makes production challenging and drives your quality ratings down. Let’s assume that you have a ...

Over the last few years, we’ve seen OEMs take a more active interest in Tier vendors’ design, engineering and production. They know that if the tooling’s not right, it doesn’t matter what else is. Beyond that, they’ve seen what well-engineered tooling can do for part quality, lead times and costs. If you’re running final assembly and ...

A surprising number of tooling managers and procurement specialists think they should source molds and dies separately. “You’re good at injection molding tooling? Then you can’t be good at die cast tooling.” Or “You’re great at die cast? You can’t do plastics.” They’re wrong. Both types of tool result from an advanced product quality planning process. Both ...