An article by, Metal AM.
Mantle Inc, San Francisco, California, USA, has reported how its customers are automating their toolmaking with the company’s metal Additive Manufacturing technology. In addition to these user case studies, Mantle announced new customers for its metal Additive Manufacturing machines.
Medical device tooling
Westminster Tool, a comprehensive injection mould builder with a specialisation in class 101 medical device tooling, acquired its first Mantle AM machine in June 2022. Since then, the company has been exploring new applications and testing the flexibility of Mantle’s technology.
With Mantle, Westminster Tool produced steel mould inserts in four weeks. Westminster Tool estimated it would have taken eight weeks with traditional manufacturing to build the same set of inserts, thereby allowing its customers to accelerate their product development process. The additively manufactured tools required minimal finishing and reduced labour & machining time by more than 110 hours. The H13 inserts had more than forty swipe-by shutoff conditions and contoured parting lines.
Easing labour scarcity
Recognising the growing scarcity of skilled toolmakers, General Pattern, an injection moulder with in-house tooling services and more than 100 years of experience, is addressing the issue by introducing Mantle’s AM machine to automate its toolmaking processes and bolster capacity. General Pattern anticipates that this investment will result in heightened efficiency, decreased reliance on specialised labour, and improved customer service through faster and more efficient operations.
“Introducing Mantle into our operations has elevated our approach to toolmaking. With the simple press of a button, we can now effortlessly create tools, which completely changes our ability to tackle labour challenges and enhances our capacity to better serve our customers,” stated Denny Reiland, CEO at General Pattern. “Recently with a slide for a transportation trim component, for example, we skipped the finishing process entirely. Instead, we printed it, assembled it into the mould, and immediately began moulding parts. This not only saved us the forty hours of traditional toolmaker time typically required to build this slide, but also freed up my team to focus on other critical projects.”
Ted Sorom, CEO and co-founder of Mantle, shared, “Mantle’s technology remains a game-changer in the toolmaking industry, consistently driving reductions in lead times and costs while addressing labour shortages. The latest deployments, with Spectrum Plastics Group, Heyco, and General Pattern, coupled with the ongoing success of our existing customer, Westminster Tool, underscore the growing adoption and effectiveness of our technology.”
Customer expansion
Continuing the momentum in the field of medical device manufacturing, Mantle also revealed that Spectrum Plastics Group, a DuPont Business and medical contract manufacturer, will be implementing the company’s metal Additive Manufacturing technology within its facilities.
Mantle also announced that Heyco Products, a company under Penn Engineering that specialises in wire protection and termination for various industries, has incorporated Mantle’s metal AM technology into its toolmaking workflows.
“At Heyco, we pride ourselves on taking products from design through to volume production, which includes in-house prototype and production tooling. Mantle allows us to increase our toolmaking capacity and project speed by automating a portion of our toolmaking process, helping to maximise our skilled resources,” stated Danny Anthony, Vice President of Operations at Heyco Products.
