Is Injection Molding Cheap?

The price of injection molding is very cheap for high volume production, the price can be controlled at 0.01USD or even lower, depending on the size of the product, and the number of cavities of the mold.

For small volume products, the price of injection molding is not cheap, because injection molding needs injection molds to achieve, and the price of injection molds are generally in the range of 1000-3000USD, for larger or more complex products, injection molds The price will be higher.

Plastic Injection molding is a manufacturing process that has been around for more than 100 years. It is also one of the most effective methods for creating complex, detailed parts with a high degree of precision and accuracy.

So, is the cost of plastic injection molding Cheap?

The answer to this question is not always so simple. In terms of cost composition, the plastic injection molding cost=raw material cost+machine processing cost+labor cost+packaging cost+transportation cost.

And these costs also depend on the type of product you are producing, the quantity of your order, what materials will be used for production, and even where you are considering producing your plasic injection molding product.

This article will explore several factors that may affect the cost of injection molded products so that you can decide if it is the right choice for your next project.

Factor 1: The type of product affects the cost of the product

There are many types of injection molded products, such as industrial products, kitchen products, medical products, electronic products, etc. Different types of products have different requirements for the products themselves.

Industrial Products:

Industrial products more attention to the function of the product to meet the needs, so in the product’s precision requirement is not very strict, the cost of this aspect can be reduced.

Kitchen Products:

Kitchen supplies are divided into two categories, direct contact with food and no direct contact with food. Products with direct contact with food are more concerned about food safety and surface finish, so these products are generally produced in clean rooms. The production parts cost of the product then increases.

Medical Products:

Medical supplies. Medical supplies are used exclusively for medical purposes. This means they need to be sterile and not react in some way with other materials, which will make them expensive because of how difficult it is to meet these requirements.

Electronic products

Electronic products are often considered delicate products. This is because they tend to have more stringent assembly requirements and require more attention to the precision of the product. High-precision electronics sometimes require more effort to be spent on dimensional control of the product’s 

Factor 2: The part quantity affects the cost of the product

The whole point of plastic injection molding is to produce parts in high volumes. It’s not cheap, but it is efficient and cost effectiveness when your product or project requires a large number of one part.

Why does high volumes order usually mean lower part costs per product?

Before answering this question we need to explain what are the fixed costs of setting up and running an injection molding process.

As we know, before mass production of injection molded products, the injection molding manufacturers need to fix the mold on the injection molding machine manually.

After the mold fixing work is done, the machine needs to be cleaned with raw materials, and finally the injection molding engineer needs to tune the machine parameters to achieve the best condition, and then mass production starts.

The reason why the production cost of a product is lower when the order quantity is larger is that when the order quantity is larger, the fixed cost of setting up and running the injection molding process is spread over more products so that the fixed cost per product share is lower and the cost of the product is lower.

So what quantity of products are suitable for injection molding?

When developing a new project, we need to be clear whether the project is a long-term or one-time project.

If it is a long-term project, it is more appropriate to use injection molding because the investment of injection mold is only cost once and the life of injection mold is generally around 500,000 times with hardened mold material.

Injection molding can guarantee the same accuracy and appearance of the product every time it is produced.

Generally speaking, for normal size products, the part quantity above 1000 is more suitable to be made by injection molding services.

For the number of products below 1000, general injection molding factories will charge a small batch fee to balance the fixed cost of fixing the mold on the injection machine, cleaning the material head and debugging the product, so that the cost of the product will be relatively high when spread to each product.

If the number of products is below 1000 pieces, it is more appropriate to use other processes for processing.

For small quantities of products, what process is cost effective solution?

According to my experience, for low volume injection molding project, the number of products below 100 is suitable for 3D printing and CNC machining process. 100-500 with silicone molds or resin molds low-pressure infusion process. mid volume production 500-1000 with aluminum molds low-pressure infusion.

With these processes, although the plastic part unit price is relatively high, but plastic injection mold cost apportioned to the product is relatively low cost.

You know plastic injection molds cost are very high, although the unit price of injection molding costs are very cheap, but when injection mold costs are apportioned to the product, the unit price of the injection molded parts will be very high, especially when the number of injection molded plastic parts less than 1000.

Factor 3: The raw material of the product affects the cost of the product

The cost of raw materials is one of the main factors that determine the final price of a product. This is because the cost of raw materials usually accounts for a large proportion of the total cost of a product.

Different products have different requirements for raw materials.

Electronic and electrical products

Raw materials are needed to meet the flame retardant grade UL94, different flame retardant grade, the price of raw materials varies greatly.

Kitchen Products

Kitchen supplies, the need for raw materials are food-grade, able to pass FDA certification, this is very important to the product’s food safety, food-grade materials are much more expensive than ordinary materials.

Other Products

Also for example, some products need high temperature resistance, UV resistance, corrosion resistance and other requirements, which will also increase the price of raw materials, thus affecting the cost of the product.

Factor 4: Where a product is manufactured affects the cost of the product

The cost of a product is also influenced by where it is produced.

This is because labor costs and other production costs vary depending on the country or region where the product is produced.

Products produced in developed countries, such as the United States or Japan, are usually more expensive than those produced in developing countries.

This is because their labor costs and other aspects are much higher than those of developing countries.

ASEAN countries, where plastic injection mold manufacturing is in its initial development stage, have relatively low production costs, but relatively less attention is paid to quality control.

China is the country with the most complete manufacturing chain in the world, and after the development of reform and opening up, it has mastered advanced manufacturing technology, the quality awareness is increasing, and the labor cost is relatively low.

As a result, most of the world’s electronic products are produced here. This not only reduces production costs, but also improves product quality and speeds up time-to-market by shortening the supply chain.

The shipping costs for transporting products produced in different countries back to the destination country vary

Especially now that the world is affected by the COVID-19, transportation costs continue to increase, which also increases the cost of products and will be an important factor in your choice of where to manufacture your products.

Conclusion

Now that you have a clear idea of whether injection molding is cheap or not, if you have a requirement for injection molding, first consider the above factors that affect the cost clearly.

And the find a trustworthy injection molding manufacturer. At Zetar, we value your satisfaction and have an excellent team that deals with clients well. Contact us for great offers.