Press release submitted on behalf of Lakeshore Plastics.
Lakeshore Plastics, Orem, Utah, has expanded its Orem, Utah manufacturing facility, increasing their capacity by about 50 percent. The new facility totals 12,000 square feet of mold fabrication and injection molding space, up from 8,000 square feet.
Beginning in 2024, Lakeshore Plastics is escalating its caps and closure manufacturing services, adding new equipment for cap lining (vented, foil, foam, etc.). “Right now, we produce about
4 million caps per year. In the coming months, we’re making available specialized molds to easily swap logos and textures on numerous cap sizes, to produce a custom closure at a much lower initial cost,” said Kyle Pontius, CEO of Lakeshore Plastics.
On the mold fabrication side, the facility expansion enabled the addition of a new CNC lathe and three EDM machines (Wire EDM, Sinker EDM and Hole Popper EDM) to its existing CNC milling machine.
Lakeshore Plastics started as a mold fabrication company in 2019 and now provides turnkey engineering, mold fabrication, production and assembly for both custom injection molding and the packaging industry.
The company owns five injection molding machines from Absolute Haitian (three Haitian Mars servo-hydraulic IMMs and two Zhafir Zeres electric IMMs) ranging from 100 U.S. tons to 427 U.S. tons. The new space has the capacity to add three additional IMMs in the future. “Absolute Haitian has been a key partner, enabling us to confidently spin up new projects quickly, minimize downtime, and consistently keep commitments to our customers.”
“The benefit to customers of our turnkey experience is risk mitigation. From CAD modeling to in- house fabrication and repair to prototyping and mass production, the development cycle is under one roof,” said Pontius. “If a mold has an issue, rather than having it taken out of the machine and shipped away for repair, we can diagnose the problem and repair it in a matter of hours, minimizing downtime and maximizing production schedules.”
Automation contributes to higher quality, consistency
Lakeshore Plastics pairs three of its five IMMS with top-entry robots from Absolute Robot. “The primary added value is quality control,” said Pontius. “We have several projects where aesthetics is particularly important, for example, a case for high-end rings (jewelry). Dropping the case would potentially leave scuff marks; automation more carefully and consistently pulls the parts from the mold.
“Another example where automation played a key role for us was in the molding of a polished part made of clear Tritan copolyester. This sensitive material degrades quickly if there is any variation in the cycle time. The ARI top-entry robot is faster and more consistent at removing the part from the mold and prevents damage that could be introduced if a machine operator so much as bumps the mold when removing the part,” Pontius noted. (In addition to Tritan, Lakeshore Plastics also molds parts made from ABS, HDPE, glass-filled nylon, PVC, polystyrene, polypropylene, TPEs and TPUs.)
Onshoring molds
According to Pontius, numerous companies have worked with the mold fabrication team at Lakeshore Plastics to onshore existing molds or rebuild molds that are difficult to move from their previous supplier. Customers have also transitioned domestics projects to the Orem facility to improve their customer experience. The company has established a rigorous transition preparation process to onshore molds successfully:
- Confirm mold/tooling compatibility with Lakeshore’s facility
- Match material and color to the existing product
- Review QC requirements to maintain or improve product quality
- Plan the logistics to provide a smooth transition from the previous supplier
About Lakeshore Plastics
Lakeshore Plastics is committed to being a leading integrated manufacturer. We continue to expand in-house services across verticals to streamline cost and quality for your projects. Our highest priority is fostering a customer experience that maximizes value for your projects while being the best collaboration experience available. More information is available at https://www.lakeshoreplastics.com.
About Absolute Haitian
Absolute Haitian, based in Worcester, Massachusetts, is the exclusive sales and service partner in the U.S. and Canada for Haitian International based in Ningbo, China. Haitian International is the world’s largest supplier of plastics injection molding machinery, shipping an average of 43,000 machines annually. Haitian products are sold in more than 160 countries with machine sizes ranging from 44 to 7,425 U.S. tons of clamp force. More information is available by visiting the Absolute Haitian website at www.absolutehaitian.com
