Here at D&M Plastics, we take pride in our reputation of delivering what you need, exactly when you need it. Founded in 1972, D&M Plastics has become an industry leader in custom injection molding that always meets the needs of our customers. We take pride in delivering quality products that exceed industry standards for the medical, automotive, and electronics industries. D&M Plastics makes it a priority to listen to our customers to solve any problems you have that stand in the way of completing your product.
Inteva, one of our automotive customers, approached us with a request to mold cover plates for one of their automotive projects. They had worked with D&M Plastics for 10 years but didn’t fully appreciate our design and manufacturing capabilities. The customer needed us to mold cover plates that fit into their overall design which had already been completed and could not be altered. This created a need for additional engineering in order to ensure that the cover plates worked within the design.
The Cover Plate Dilemma
Inteva had already created the rest of the build and only approached D&M Plastics after the project was nearly completed. The customer believed they would merely require a run of single plastic pieces to finish the project. However, because the build was already completed, the design actually required a more complex assembly process.
Our team of experts discussed the problem with the customer and came to an agreement on how to best help them achieve their vision without scrapping the previous build and starting over.
Each of our service and product departments worked together in order to construct a unique part designed to fit the specific requirements. Our process, design, materials, and manufacturing engineers collaborated to mold a part that would meet the customer’s needs. We wound up creating a three-step process that had to be pre-molded, inserted, then over-molded.
Our manufacturing and tooling engineers came together to fabricate the cover plates, and the quality assurance team tested the plates for defects based on the customer’s design specifications—only when the product passed all of our rigorous quality checks was it deemed ready for the customer’s approval. By the time we entered full production, the customer had experienced our full range of capabilities.
An Engineered Solution
Ultimately, we were able to provide a solution that met Inteva’s budget and production schedule. While we are always happy to put our expertise to work helping our customers, a single insert-molded solution would have been ideal for this part. Such a solution could’ve saved time and helped our customer come in below their projected budget. Even though it worked out for all involved in the end, this situation demonstrates that consulting our experts early on in the design process can help to ensure that parts are designed and fabricated using the most cost-effective, time-sensitive methods available.
Our customer trusted us to meet and exceed their needs, and they weren’t disappointed. They gave us great feedback for the completed cover plates, and the plates fit in with the rest of the build flawlessly. Our customer was able to sell the finished part to Tesla.
D&M Plastics takes the needs of our customers seriously and our talented engineers will work hard to solve any problems you may have. Contact us to learn more about how we can serve your operation.