Challenge: Rapid Production with Evolving Design Requirements
Drummond Scientific Company faced a challenge balancing fast-paced production demands with ongoing design changes for their lateral flow assay cassettes. Typically, high-quality production molds are not created in the early design stages due to uncertainties, but tight time-to-market constraints required a different approach.
The company needed production-quality parts from the start, with minimal time for prototyping. As design iterations emerged, the molding process had to adapt quickly while ensuring efficiency and scalability for full production ramp-up.
Solution: HARBEC’s Agile Mold Development Strategy
HARBEC devised a phased mold development strategy that enabled quick-turn production while accommodating evolving design changes. Each phase was designed to support immediate manufacturing needs while paving the way for large-scale production.
Phase 1: Quick-Turn Aluminum Molds for Immediate Production
To ensure rapid delivery of production-quality parts, HARBEC modified the part geometry to facilitate complete mold machining.
- Mold type: Aluminum 4×6 (1+1 configuration)
- Manufacturing time: Less than one business week
- Lifespan: Approximately 25,000 production shots
Phase 2: Parallel Development for Continuous Production
As design revisions emerged, HARBEC implemented quick-turn aluminum molds alongside high-cavitation mold development, ensuring a continuous supply of parts.
- Mold type: Aluminum 4×6, 2-cavity (4 molds)
- Manufacturing time: Less than one business week per pair
- Lifespan: Approximately 363,000 production shots
Phase 3: Enhanced Features for Improved Performance
HARBEC introduced aluminum-inserted MUD units, incorporating advanced cooling, hot-tip inserts, and hardened gate inserts to improve part quality and mold durability.
- Mold type: Aluminum 4-cavity (2 molds)
- Manufacturing time: Four weeks
- Mold design class: Type II Unit Insert
Phase 4: Full-Scale Steel Production Mold
The final mold was a steel full-frame system designed for long-term production, featuring a hot runner system, hardened gate inserts, and optimized cooling provisions.
- Mold type: 8-cavity steel production mold
- Manufacturing time: 16 weeks
- Mold design class: SPI 102
Results: Increased Speed, Scalability, and Efficiency
HARBEC’s agile mold development approach allowed Drummond Scientific Company to:
- Accelerate time-to-market by simultaneously producing production-quality parts while scaling toward full production.
- Ensure continuous product flow through parallel development despite ongoing design changes.
- Use prototyping for interim production, allowing for real-world testing and validation before ramping up output.
Conclusion: Adapting to Change Without Slowing Down
By combining quick-turn mold development, parallel processing, and iterative improvements, HARBEC enabled fast, efficient, and scalable production for Drummond Scientific Company. This approach ensured that despite design uncertainties, high-quality parts were always available, allowing the company to meet demanding timeframes and transition smoothly into full-scale manufacturing.
This case demonstrates that when speed and flexibility are essential, a strategic mold development process can eliminate bottlenecks and accelerate market entry.