Capabilities We use this section to highlight some of the skills and talents which we have developed and maintained. Each of these was developed to meet the specific needs of a customer. We will develop the Capability to set a new standard of service for your parts.

Molding Capabilities High Volume Molding Clear Part Molding Elastomer Molding Insert Molding Finishing and Assembly Decorating Finishing Assembly by Camilllus Cutlery with 2 tone knife handle molded and dyed by Autech Plastics

Special Molding Capabilities Molding that requires a unusual amount of skill or experience. Volume Molding When we develop a process for high volume molding we optimize a series of factors to produce the most uniform and least expensive part possible. We have very high volume processes which feed the most demanding sort of robotic assembly. Our experience includes developing parts to the point of “lights out molding.” Factors optimized include cavitation, material, part design, gate type and location, appropriate automation but the list varies with every part. The project will get a thorough evaluation and a plan developed. Clear Part Molding Autech is a major supplier of clear parts. Our experience includes molding a variety of lenses, light pipes and optical components for a variety of the most demanding customers. The parts vary greatly in size and complexity. Materials used in this type application include Acrylic, Polycarbonate, NAS, San, Polystyrene, PES. We have the skill and experience to make your lens program a success without the high costs of specialty molders. Elastomer Molding The molding of flexible materials offers a unique set of problems and opportunities. Flexible material can be made into shapes that are impractical, or impossible with rigid material. The challenges of having dimensional stability, good degating, reliable extraction from the mold, and acceptable cosmetics require the type of experience and special planning which Autech can provide. Our current parts from flexible materials include syringe components, mouth pieces, ear buds and a variety of specialty parts. Insert Molding Insert molding is molding plastic into close contact with some other material. In most of our projects the other material is metal. We have considerable experience developing a successful insert molding process. We use a variety of tooling styles to accomplish this including vertical clamp, rotary table molding. We also have a lot of experience putting inserts into parts after molding. Finishing and Assembly The great advantage of injection molding over other manufacturing processes is the ability to produce a complicated part in a single step. There may be times when it is desirable to perform additional operations on parts. Autech has an interesting assortment of additional operations available. Decorating A series of operations to alter or customize the appearance of the parts. Dying Dying is a process to ad a color to the surface of parts. The material of the part must be selected to be compatible with the desired dye. This process was developed and used successfully on knife handles. It could be used on other cosmetic parts or to specially identify parts. Others have used dying to facilitate family molding of parts of different colors. Stamping In hot stamping pigment is transferred from a foil to the surface of a plastic part. Heat is used to bond the pigment, which is carried by a foil, to the target surface. Hot stamping is older technology, but still useful. There are two techniques in use at Autech Plastics. Tipping and metal die hot stamping. In Tipping the foil is pressed onto high points on the part with a hot, relatively soft plate. This is often used to highlight the tops of raised lettering molded onto parts. In steel plate molding the pattern to be stamped is cast into a metal plate. The foil is pressed into a relatively flat surface by the plate. The transferred pigment is often forced slightly below the surface. Hot stamping with a metal die is usually inferior to pad printing in print quality. Hot stamp dies are more expensive than the analogous tooling for Pad printing. Printing Pad printing is a technique to transfer ink to mark a surface. It works well with plastic but has been used on other materials to. Nice sharp graphics are obtained. Complicated surfaces can be printed. We have successfully printed logos on golf balls. Production of a cliché to form the ink into the desired pattern is required. With adequate art this is cheaper and quicker than making hot stamping dies. Changing patterns is easy. Custom logos on products are practical. Silk Screening Silk screening is a printing technique where ink is applied to a surface through a screen which acts like a mask, or a template. Resolution with this method is not as good as pad printing, but it is able to do larger areas and is a little more flexible as to designs which can be printed. Finishing We use this term to specify a number of operations which are performed away from the machine. In this group are machining such as drilling or tapping as well as any special degating, polishing, packing or any unique operation required by the specific part. Assembly We are available to assemble the parts we make. There are some assemblies where we mold all the parts. In some cases parts we make are assembled to other parts brought to the plant for this purpose. This assembly often allows us to ship our customer’s product directly into distribution. Insert Assembly Inserts are used for a variety of reasons.  The most common reasons are to give the plastic more wear resistance on things like treads or bearings or bearing surfaces.  We have the knowledge and skill to assemble these in a variety of ways.  The most common assembly technique is Ultra-Sonic.