Class is in session
This time of year sees your young ones heading back to school to put on their thinking caps and further their abilities in math, science and all other subjects of tutelage; this brings education to the forefront of many of our minds.
It may seem odd that the manufacturing industry places such a high emphasis on the educational piece, but we do for many reasons. Let’s say you have an idea that you want to bring to life in the form of a new plastic product…do you want to use ABS or maybe HIPS? What do those even mean? Do you know which one of these might provide the strength needed or which one is more likely to withstand the high temperatures that your new “widget” will need to endure? How will the design of your new mold affect the flow of the chosen plastic material? So many questions and considerations! By the way, ABS stands for Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene, and HIPS stands for High Impact Polystyrene.
If you have been in the biz for a while, perhaps you’ll have some general ideas on how certain materials react under certain conditions, but if this is your investment or if this is for a customer, do you want to risk making an educated guess or would you rather rely on an expert? How do you think your customer would want you to answer that question?
At Metro Plastics, we believe in the power of an educated, well-informed decision. This is why we nurture the relationships we have and work to establish the necessary relationships still to come. It is through connection that we can build trust; and through trust, we help evolve our customers’ ways of thinking around the plastics industry. What many of them don’t realize is the number of choices they have when it comes to conceptualizing their vision. In order to navigate the various choices, our engineering team walks customers through step-by-step processes, guiding them from start to finish with expert input and considerations.
Make sure you have chosen a molder that not only knows their facts when it comes to material selection, but also that has practical experience with actual application of these selections; real life scenarios are important here. There are at least 5 considerations when it comes to choosing your ideal molder; let us help you decide!
In more than one situation at Metro, there has been a customer who made their material choice against the advice of the Metro Team only to have to make costly changes down the road that could have been avoided. Ensure your chosen team has an experienced processor and material experts at the ready.
Countless factors go in to your custom plastic injection molded part. Not all of these are the same across the board, so Metro constructs unique work instructions specific to each project. With the variances from one project to the next, how do you make sure the engineering staff, production staff, and assembling of the parts exceed expectation? That leads us to the next educational piece of the puzzle: education in the work place.
Our production floor is comprised of 25+ injection molding machines, 120+ employees spread across 4 shifts running 24 hours a day Monday through Friday. Included within those numbers exist supervisors and trainers who work tirelessly to train new operators on the specialized work instructions unique to your project. Education goes beyond the management staff of your account; it’s a necessity on the production floor. So we go even further; Metro offers a class specific to plastic injection molding designed to fit into employee work schedules. The DC Wilson class affords an in-depth look into the idiosyncrasies of this industry with textbook learning and hands-on applications that coincide with their daily operations at the press. It’s one thing to do what you are told and another to understand why you are doing it. As new processes develop, we continue to update and educate our staff on best practices.
There is one more lesson that is crucial to “going back to school” in the manufacturing world. It’s the understanding that not all who walk through our doors are destined to stay within our walls. We encourage devotion and development toward passionate pursuits. We may have an operator who is earning a degree in veterinary sciences; we may have a third shift assembly worker who spends their day working a trade to develop the necessary skills to master that trade. We encourage all aspects of learning knowing that it is of great joy to watch an employee further their self and achieve lifelong goals. When employees feel appreciated and encouraged to pursue their passions, they provide us with quality workmanship and help us grow our passion. These are the people molding, handling, assembling, and shipping your parts.
People who feel valued; people who cherish education; people who add worth to your products.
Class is in session! Give us a call to set up a meeting with an engineer: 317-776-0860
Or visit our website to learn more: www.metroplastics.com