Short-run specialist Xcentric Mold & Engineering has opened a second manufacturing plant.
Xcentric has begun renovating a facility in Shelby Township, Mich., several miles away from its existing factory in Clinton Township. Both communities are suburbs of Detroit. It expects to open the second plant in the second half of 2016.
“It’s to handle our growth of about 30 percent a year,” explained Xcentric director of marketing Brian Graves.
Graves said his company typically turns an injection molding job around in 15 or fewer days, from quote to mold building to short production run. For plastic or metal parts made with Xcentric’s CNC machines, turnaround can be shorter than 10 days, he estimated. The company employs 3-D printing, selective laser sintering and stereolithography to make prototypes. It also boasts in-house tool building, mainly producing aluminum molds that can typically run 25,000 parts. Xcentric offers a lifetime guarantee on its molds and will retool a mold at no cost when a production run taxes the mold to its limit.
Xcentric runs its entire system from quote to molding or machining using its own proprietary software. The process is highly automated, Graves said. Even optimal molding parameters are automatically calculated by the software before being set by machine operators.
Xcentric operates more than 20 injection presses with clamps ranging from 55 to 400 tons. The horizontal presses are all-electric and can do insert molding and overmolding. The new plant will house presses with similar capabilities.
The family-owned company was established 20 years ago and about halfway through its existence it began focusing on short-run, fast-turnaround jobs. Xcentric claims it will provide a quote and manufacturing analysis in 24 hours or sooner.
Source: Plastics News
