Get new products from old molds.How many $50,000 molds do you have tucked away in inventory at the end of their product life cycle? If they were short-run molds, you may not even have recouped your tool-building costs. Perhaps the customers never even paid the bills for the molds. Now they lie abandoned on a shelf. Getting new jobs for old molds is the aim of 4D Products of Cranston, R.I. Finding new uses for the products made from old molds generates revenue for the owner of the mold, as does slightly modifying the molds to make altogether new products. "It can be viewed as an act of mold recycling as well," says Ray Theriault, the self-professed "mold hunter" who founded 4D. A 32-cavity tool that costs around $75,000 to design and build is the largest tool 4D has helped bring back to commercial life. Many times, finding a new market for a product is the solution to getting a mold back into production. Currently, 4D has a catalog catalog, descriptive list, on cards or in a book, of the contents of a library. Assurbanipal's library at Nineveh was cataloged on shelves of slate. The first known subject catalog was compiled by Callimachus at the Alexandrian Library in the 3d cent. B.C. of 80 products made from reconditioned re·con·di·tion tr.v. re·con·di·tioned, re·con·di·tion·ing, re·con·di·tions To restore to good condition, especially by repairing, renovating, or rebuilding. molds. The firm, established last November, plans to become a nationwide distributor for sports, medical, and floral products. However, the development of a web site will give them global reach, says Theriault. Mold hunter Theriault, accompanied by a network of freelancers, visits factories to dig up molds. So far, the search is conducted in the New England New England, name applied to the region comprising six states of the NE United States—Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. The region is thought to have been so named by Capt. region - from Providence, R.I., to Leominster, Mass. College interns  This article or section is written like an .Please help [ rewrite this article] from a neutral point of view. Mark blatant advertising for , using . , stay-at-home-moms or dads, independent manufacturers - even an independent marketing consultant - are among those who sleuth for molds with Theriault. They also help market the new products made from the old molds for manufacturers who do not have marketing staffs or marketing expertise. About 90% of the molds found and reused are injection molds created to make retail products. These molds run on presses up to 400 tons. 4D typically uses a mold designed to make a complete product, not one made to produce a component of a larger product. A mold may have to undergo slight modification before it goes back into production, but the firm tries to keep mold modification to a minimum. The new product may require a slight change in texture, contour contour or contour line, line on a topographic map connecting points of equal elevation above or below mean sea level. It is thus a kind of isopleth, or line of equal quantity. , or just color. New life for old molds Theriault develops at least one new value-added application for the molds. Sometimes he attempts to merge two separate products into one new design. Some designs get multiple iterations. One successful conversion was a mold for a flower pot liner first produced seven years ago. The first idea was to reproduce the liner in 11 different colors (its initial color was gold) to market to florists as an alternative to wrapping pots in colored foil. The redesigned product was also used to make soap gift baskets A gift basket, or fruit basket is typically a gift that is delivered to the recipient at their home or workplace. There are different varieties of gift baskets, some which have fruit only, some with dry/canned goods only (such as tea, crackers and jam) although the standard , with soap from the Original Bradford Soap Works, West Warwick West Warwick (wôr`wĭk, –`ĭk), town (1990 pop. 29,268), Kent co., central R.I., on the Pawtuxet River; set off from Warwick and inc. 1913. Textile manufacturing remains a leading industry. West Warwick includes the village of River Point. , R.I. Theriault added labels to the pot like "It's a Girl" and "Get Well" for sale to hospital gift shops. Then the product was made with white phosphorous phos·pho·rous adj. Of, relating to, or containing phosphorus, especially with a valence of 3 or a valence lower than that of a comparable phosphoric compound. to glow in the dark. The item could be used by senior citizens as a bedside case to hold eyeglasses eyeglasses or spectacles, instrument or device for aiding and correcting defective sight. Eyeglasses usually consist of a pair of lenses mounted in a frame to hold them in position before the eyes. and pills, says Theriault. Another project, a pill box, should find second use as a glow-in-the-dark bait/tackle box. Other products include a candy basket, lazy susan, and golf umbrellas, tees, and gloves. Even parts that fail in their original intent can find a new market. A flexible ice scraper An ice scraper is a handheld tool for removing frost, ice, and snow from windows, usually on automobiles. Most basic scrapers have a plastic blade and handle, though some have blades made out of metal. was marketed to travel agencies in Florida, which in turn use it as a promotional tool to lure clients from up north. 4D can be contacted by phone at (401) 941-2984, or by fax at (401) 785-8534. |
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