Services: Program Management

Project launches in the plastic injection molding industry require a significant amount of molder/customer communications. The two parties must discuss a variety of part design optimizations, tool optimizations, resin selection, and other issues as the molder dials in its production process to meet the customer’s requirements.

To ensure that new customer projects achieve production on time and within budget with a minimum of hassle, New Berlin Plastics has developed the LaunchLogic process. It combines a streamlined and optimized process for product launches with proprietary software that enhances project communication and collaboration. The result is a 98% on-time launch track record, achieved over 100 simultaneous open customer projects.

NBP’s product development process is based on the Automotive Industry Action Group’s (AIAG) Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP) methodology, and Production Part Approval Process (PPAP).

While PPAP is a common method injection molders use to ensure a new part meets expectations, New Berlin Plastics adds process verification and validation steps to streamline the project launch process. These extra steps provide efficiencies that often result in parts being approved and moved into production faster, saving customers time and cost.

Proper mold qualification is also an essential part of an efficient project launch. Once the product design and material selection are finalized with the customer, the mold design is verified before steel cutting begins. Transferred molds are also validated through a multi-stage sample process to ensure that the parts meet NBP’s and the customer’s requirements.

Once a mold has been qualified, we set up a preventive maintenance schedule to mitigate the risk of tool wear, failure, and unplanned downtime for both New Berlin Plastics and the customer.

Throughout a production run, data is collected and analyzed to ensure that the tool and process are running as expected. This reduces waste and helps to prevent unnecessary costs.