Westec Plastics Partners With Mantle to Speed Tooling Production

Westec Plastics, an ISO-certified plastic injection molder serving medical, consumer and industrial customers, installed a Mantle P-200 production system which resulted in reduced active operations from 40 hours to 10 hours.

The P-200 metal 3D printer is specifically designed to create injection mold tooling, bringing a new level of speed and flexibility to Westec’s existing tooling capabilities. Westec's Livermore, California, headquarters features 23 injection molding presses and an extensive range of equipment for secondary operations. Its headquarters also features a full in-house tool room.

“Using Mantle's technology, we can complete up to 70% of the job and have our toolmakers handle the specialized steps only humans can do,” says Tammy Barras, president at Westec Plastics. “With Mantle, we can provide our customers a service they can't get anywhere else.”

Westec is using the Mantle metal 3D printer to rapidly produce prototype and production mold inserts, and increase its total toolmaking capacity. This also helps address labor challenges. The company says it can also engage with its customers earlier in the design process by printing prototype inserts in H13 .

“We couldn't be happier about our partnership with Westec as we continue to ship systems that revolutionize the tooling industry,” says Ted Sorom, Mantle CEO and co-founder.

The metal 3D printing technology enables Westec to respond more quickly to evolving customer requirements and get injection molded parts into customers’ hands more quickly. Also, the ability to print production-ready mold inserts using industry-standard materials such as H13 tool steel enables Westec to free up experienced toolmakers’ time to focus on specialized steps like tool repair and maintenance.

Using the Mantle technology, Westec says it has been able to cut lead times in half to produce a mold for a medical diagnostic part, helping to keep the design and development process on track.

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