Why it works
| Mechanism | - Residue builds up with every cycle, so a mold needs cleaning after a number of cycles, not a number of days.
- The counter shows that number on the mold.
- Cleaning at a set count clears the vents before a part sticks or plastic leaks out.
- Done between jobs, it takes mold shop time but no press time.
|
| Math | - Avoiding five of the nine stops per week means 250 fewer stops per year, over 50 working weeks.
- Each loses about 1.2 hours of press time and 25 pounds of plastic.
- A freed press hour is worth $55 if an order fills it, and we assume 70 percent are filled.
- With plastic at $1.50 per pound, those stops cost about $20,900 per year.
- Planned cleaning takes 150 mold shop hours per year at $48 an hour, about $7,200.
- That leaves about $13,700 per year.
- The counters and the first cleaning cost about $2,300 once, paid back in about 2 months.
|
| Industry evidence | - Guides from plastic suppliers name clogged vents as a cause of burned and incomplete parts, and cleaning them as the fix.
- Mold makers' guides set cleaning by cycle count, not by the calendar.
- In published cases, planned mold care cut unplanned mold downtime by roughly 60 to 80 percent.
- Those cases come from other plants, so we estimate the share here: five of the nine stops per week, or 56 percent.
|
| Limitations | - Cleaning prevents only the stops that build-up and wear cause, not those from press settings or a damaged part.
- A freed press hour is worth money only when an order fills it.
- With no order waiting, only the plastic is saved, about $9,400 per year against $7,200 of cleaning.
- And the plan lasts only if one named person reads the counters.
|
Illustrative sample. The plant, the walk and the footage are synthetic. Figures from our analysis are estimates made with AI, not guarantees.