Due to increased demand for US Molds, there are more Mold Making companies considering investment. Is most investment going to be in “Capacity that leads to the old labor intensive process? Capability. There are drastically different processes for building molds today. Some that make hitting short lead times, high quality and lower costs look easy. How will companies that rely on older technology compete against a company that uses “Mold Making Cells” where the entire process is captive in the machining centers through probing, lasers, etc. I have recently seen a process that will be nearly impossible to match without being aware of the best in each technology for Tool Making. In plain terms, an 8- Cavity production Automotive Mold with less than 20 Hours of Manual Labor and a completed mold in 15 days (Production ready). No burning was required but there were very small rads and length to diameter ratio’s that would be EDM’d by many.

I think that high-speed machining is definitely going to dominate the tooling market.. but "old school" mold makers will not be swept under the carpet. Tooling demands continue to rise, so I predict plenty of work for all!

Very true.
There will be and is a need for that knowledge. The best have a good blend of old school knowledge to go with understanding how to apply new processes. The molds coming in the door have to be viewed in a different way but the understanding of what makes they run for millions of cycles and how to enhance the design is essential. A Mold cut exactly to print does not close.

i think machining will be over. in few years a complete mold would be made in some kind of 3d printing method which could print the whole mold ,cooling circuits ,inserts & ejectors, no edm, cnc will be required. in the mean time i don't think a lack of technology is the problem. the lack of molds staying at home and not going to China is the problem, and lack of young people going in this profession meaning this profession is in trouble-old mold makers going out and very few younger going in.

I think this printing method is highly unlikely so I have to disagree. The same was said for Stereolithography. The demands are becoming greater for accuracy, complexity, and longevity. I respect the opinion but I think it as likely as us driving a space car like the Jetsons. Technology is very progressive and impressive but I have not seen anything that prints hard steel.
Technology is what eliminates the labor intensive practices that gives China an advantage. The molds stay at home because it makes financial sense, not because people feel compelled to keep the work at home. It has everything to do with technology and that is why are returning.
If we think that the old techniques can work than we are letting China exploit the one advantage they have which is an abundance of cheap labor. We will need more people to enter the trade. I think that there is money in it to pay higher wages because it not something that any machine shop can do and this should attract educated young engineers more easily than basic machining.

OK i bet they said the same things to Jules Verne. good example, look how fast did Stereolithography has developed in the last few years, i remember outsourcing a simple mold cost a lot of money and the result looked like poop, today 3d printing developed so much that titanium implants made in it .by the way molds are relatively not so accurate machining as people think, in molds 0.02 mm is a good tolerance which let parts move freely, there are types of machining which consider that intolerant.
about the "return from china" i totally disagree with you my friend, "they" are coming back from china because the appetite of the good Chinese manufacturer became bigger (righteously) they also want to ride a bmw and not a Gilly.
technology is not a barrier, technology i don't have i will outsource to my neighbor, if you think that you have any technical advantage over the Chinese you are wrong, they have all the equipment you can dream of makino ,yasda,matsuura,nakamura you name it...

If I have a machine process that takes 90% of the labor out of the mold. What good is it to have it done in China. The cost of electricity? They can have the same technology but that provides no advantage for them, There is advantage is labor. Maybe we are talking about a different kind of Mold here. We have just proved out a process for machining molds which hold a .0002 tolerance on posts that are cut with a .023 CBM cutting tool. You can try to tell me something different but I know the industry inside and out. There is no way you will tell me that someone can compete in demanding plastic injection molds without good technology. There are many who thought they could and they don't build molds anymore. Even the small shops that are rich with experience and have been building molds with the leave stock everywhere and use a surface grinder to bring it in, now that the technology is essential. If is wasn't they would not buy it believe me. If your components have nearly a ,001 or play then you are not building quality molds and at the same time you likely don't know what accuracies your holding in 3-d volumetrically. I don't know how you can possibly say that technology makes no difference and they were talking about STL making cavities and core 15 years ago, I have seen nothing. It will not happen and you must be building molds for something different like Die Cast trains where flash is okay. I have just witnessed 3-d printing and it is good for making 20 good parts. Where is the machine that prints hard steel. Have you ever built an electrical connector mold. How about two-shot rotational? you are going to tell me these don't require accuracy. Everything you have said in previous posts has lead me to think you are in tune for the most part. Maybe you need a vitamin or something.

I agree with Danny Fisher because we are also purchasing the best equipment for fine processing.

Jeff, could you share with us what brand and type of cutting tool you are using in order to achieve "0.0002 tolerance"? And what's the machine? Thanks.