MoldMaking Technology

July's most-viewed IMTS showcase products span the shop floor and the front office — pointing to moldmakers' sustained focus on speed, precision, and smarter workflows.

From five-axis machining centers and sinker EDM upgrades to CAD/CAM software updates and AI tools that extract more value from existing ERP data, the month's top 10 reflects where attention — and investment — is directed heading into IMTS 2026.

Notable entries include:

- Mitsui Seiki's Vertex55X NEO for complex mold and die geometries
- MC Machinery's SG70 Sinker EDM, engineered for stable performance across long machining cycles
- Open Mind's Hypermill 2026, with expanded automation and five-axis capabilities
- Genius Cortex, an AI platform built directly into ERP for natural language search and workflow automation
- Progressive Components' new stainless steel ejector pins, which topped the list

The range of products drawing reader interest — from tooling fundamentals to front-office intelligence — reflects the breadth of operational challenges moldmakers are actively working to address.

Read the full roundup to see all 10 products. https://www.moldmakingtechnology.com/articles/julys-most-viewed-products-on-moldmaking-technology

Best Tool & Engineering is using a quiet market to rebuild itself from the inside out — with AI, a lot of scrappiness and a plan.

When automotive programs stall and downtime sets in, most shops wait. Best Tool, a full-service plastics manufacturer and tooling supplier in Clinton Township, Michigan, started sharpening its saws.

After one failed ERP implementation, Operations and Business Development Manager Isaac Trevino used Claude to build a custom job-tracking system from the shop's own data — without a software development background. The longer vision: a shop floor knowledge base where any employee can ask why they're getting splay on a tool and get back a specific answer drawn from documented history.

On the commercial side, a social media strategy built around accessible, niche content crossed two million Instagram views and generated the shop's first inbound lead from a drone company CEO.

The throughline is a business model that doesn't fit neatly into any one category — molding, tooling, assembly, fulfillment and now product development.

Read the full story to understand how one Midwest mold shop is approaching the slow period differently. https://www.moldmakingtechnology.com/articles/what-a-slow-market-looks-like-when-you-use-it-to-build

When a seasoned toolmaker retires, the knowledge they carried rarely leaves with documentation attached. It leaves with them.

This is the core challenge facing mold shops today: not a lack of standard operating procedures, but the absence of captured, experience-based knowledge — the kind built through years of diagnosing symptoms, adjusting settings, and resolving problems that manuals never anticipated.

A step-by-step approach addresses this directly, showing mold builders how to capture, organize, and reuse tribal knowledge to reduce risk and accelerate technician development. The framework includes eight practical steps:

- Identify where knowledge loss creates the most operational risk
- Capture knowledge during actual work, not after hours
- Structure content so it is searchable by machine, task, or workflow
- Document decision-making and reasoning, not just procedural steps
- Ensure retrieval is simple and situational — accessible at the machine

The underlying shift is not about capturing more knowledge. It is about changing how knowledge is used in daily operations.

The full breakdown is worth reading for any shop managing workforce transition or technician development. https://www.moldmakingtechnology.com/articles/how-mold-shops-can-retain-critical-knowledge

Mold shops are re-evaluating how much work is truly necessary in EDM — and the opportunity lies in shifting predictability into the machining process itself.

Although EDM remains essential for certain features, it introduces indirect costs that compound quickly: electrode design and programming, manufacturing and material costs, machine setup, burn time, multiple passes, and post-process polishing.

Advances in CAM technology, high-speed machining strategies, and tool path accuracy now make it possible to significantly reduce EDM usage by optimizing roughing and finishing strategies earlier in the process.

Key factors driving this shift include:

- Surface-based tool paths generated directly from CAD geometry, reducing deviation in hard steel with small, long-reach tools
- Accurate stock recognition that prevents unexpected tool loading in deep ribs and difficult conditions
- Varied stepover strategies that allow ribs and tight features to be roughed to near-net shape
- Simulation and verification tools that reduce perceived risk before the part reaches the machine

The result is a more efficient, balanced process in which EDM is reserved only for applications where it adds true value.

Read the full analysis to explore these strategies in depth. https://www.moldmakingtechnology.com/articles/reducing-edm-dependency

Polymer powder 3D printing is expanding what's possible in automated end-of-arm tooling — and the food and beverage sector is an instructive example.

At Automate 2026 in Chicago, two companies demonstrated how additive manufacturing complements industrial automation, particularly in bottle gripping and handling.

Piab Group used HP Multi Jet Fusion to 3D print an entire bottle gripper — vacuum chambers included — from TPU and nylon. The result: a lightweight, eight-suction-cup gripper designed for Gatorade bottle handling on automated lines. As Piab's project engineer manager put it, "if you can dream it, you can do it."

EOS co-exhibited with end-of-arm tooling specialist Anubis 3D, which produced single- and multi-actuated external bottle grippers via SLS — no molds required. Built from PA2200 on an EOS P110 system, the grippers were completed in six hours and postprocessed via tumbling and drying.

Both cases illustrate the design freedom and production efficiency AM brings to automated handling across beverage, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and chemical production environments.

Full coverage is linked below. https://www.moldmakingtechnology.com/articles/3d-printed-grippers-at-automate-2026-2

In July, moldmakers were focused on talent, security and keeping manufacturing rooted in their communities.

MoldMaking Technology's top-read content this month reflects the priorities shaping the industry:

- Workforce development, with Pennsylvania College of Technology addressing the widening skills gap through customizable, hands-on education
- Cybersecurity compliance, as CMMC Phase II remains paused but cyber readiness obligations for mold builders do not
- Leadership and decision-making, including how shop owners can get the right signals — not just more information — to act decisively
- The next generation, through a new series documenting what early careers in manufacturing actually look like in real time

Rounding out the list: candid MMT Chats on catching design flaws early, competing in medical moldmaking, and preparing engineers for AI responsibly — alongside a regional story on keeping injection molding and moldmaking in the Midwest.

These are the stories that resonated most with readers in July. The full top 10 is worth a look. https://www.moldmakingtechnology.com/articles/julys-most-read-on-moldmaking-technology

Precise melt temperature control is a fundamental requirement in injection molding — and when a hot runner system is involved, maintaining consistent temperatures across every nozzle and manifold zone adds measurable complexity.

Today's controllers have advanced well beyond manual rheostat systems. Modern PID-based controllers regulate heater power several times per second, limiting temperature variation to within ±1°F — dramatically reducing startup times and scrap rates.

Three controller formats define the current landscape:

- **Modular systems** offer cost-effective, zone-by-zone control for smaller to midsize applications
- **GUI controllers** add touchscreen interfaces, recipe storage, group settings, synchronized heating and visual diagnostics — well suited to operations with frequent mold changeovers
- **Advanced GUI controllers** layer in network connectivity, remote access, leak detection and machine integration protocols such as OPC-UA and Modbus TCP/IP — supporting Industry 4.0 and multi-facility environments

Selecting the right system depends on hot runner demands, complexity and connectivity requirements. More advanced controllers offer greater capabilities but require thorough operator training to maximize their value.

Read the full article to evaluate which format aligns with your production requirements. https://www.moldmakingtechnology.com/articles/understanding-hot-runner-temperature-controllers-2

Mold design problems don't usually start on the shop floor — they start upstream, in the part design.

Nick Vitelli, lecturer in the Plastics Engineering Technology program at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, makes the case that the biggest wins in moldmaking come from examining a part early and flagging where cooling, ejection, or parting lines might create downstream problems. Small changes caught early "can save quite a bit of money."

That same instinct shapes how Vitelli teaches. The program leans into critical thinking, problem solving, and adaptability — the skills students need whether they're troubleshooting a project or evaluating what an AI tool hands them.

"You have to be able to filter out the nonsense," he says, noting that large language models answer with confidence whether or not the answer holds up against the fundamentals of how plastics behave.

Vitelli also describes Penn State Behrend's open-lab model for integrating AI into manufacturing research — designed to give smaller shops insights they don't have the capital to develop on their own.

Read the full MMT Chat to hear more. https://www.moldmakingtechnology.com/articles/mmt-chats-catching-problems-early-building-better-engineers

Manufacturing talks often about workforce development and talent pipelines. Rarely does it slow down to show what becoming a manufacturing professional actually looks like in real time.

This ongoing series follows Jeremy Draper — early in his manufacturing career — as he learns, asks questions, makes small mistakes and figures out how he learns best. No recruiting video version. No polished success story told years later.

What it does capture, month by month:

- How understanding builds as terminology becomes familiar
- How intimidation fades through repetition and mentorship
- How identity starts to form through skilled work

The series offers something different depending on where you sit. For those considering manufacturing, it is a realistic window into what the first stretch actually feels like. For shop leaders, trainers and mentors, it is a chance to see your culture and habits reflected back through fresh eyes.

The core premise is straightforward: careers are not built in onboarding sessions. They are built in ordinary weeks that slowly add up.

Read Part 1 to follow the journey from the beginning. https://www.moldmakingtechnology.com/articles/new-series-the-making-of-a-manufacturing-professional-what-the-early-years-really-look-like

Rather than leave manufacturing behind, Jeremy Draper went looking for something better inside it.

At 21, Draper had spent three years at an automotive supplier — twelve-hour shifts inspecting and packing heavy aluminum parts, with advancement promised but rarely delivered. The work was physically demanding, the air quality poor, and the future felt static. He wanted a trade, not just a job.

So he attended a job fair in person. One conversation led to an interview, a hire, and within weeks, an offer to travel to South Korea for a month-long training program at a hot runner manufacturer's headquarters.

What followed was full immersion: profiling, milling, gun drilling, inspection, and assembly — observed, documented, and reinforced through handwritten notes and daily summaries. He worked alongside experienced technicians who relied on sound, feel, and intuition as much as instruments.

His story is not about having everything figured out at 21. It is about curiosity, willingness, and a company that followed through on its promise to train.

In an industry searching for its next generation, that combination may matter more than anything else. https://www.moldmakingtechnology.com/articles/the-making-of-a-manufacturing-professional-a-21-year-olds-unexpected-path-into-manufacturing