“Knowledge transfer” the hardest part of transferred projects

That is according to Christer Landgren, strategic account manager at injection molder Nolato (Torekov, Sweden), who spoke with MPW during last week’s Medica/Compamed tradeshow in Düsseldorf, Germany. “We do a lot of taking over of projects,” he said, with many of those coming from OEMs who decide to close or reduce their captive molding capacity. That is proving an especially common situation in Sweden and other Nordic countries, he said, as so many OEMs formed 15-30 years ago with heir own processing in-house. As business strategies have changed and "focus on your core business" has become the common mantra, opportunities have appeared for Nolato.

“Moving machines, molds, documentation isn’t hard,” Landgren said in an interview at his company’s stand at that show. “The most complicated part is moving the unwritten knowledge”—the experience of the employees of the former processor. Sometimes, this means that hiring a key employee proves necessary, but Landgren said his company has developed its own checklist of questions designed to draw upon the experience of the previous project management.

Captive processing arms tend to be subservient to an OEM’s sales force, he explained, so when sales yells that production is taking too long, the answer often is to add more equipment and personnel. “We however earn our money by making production lean” when taking over a project, he said. Typically the processor will take over not only processing but also assembly and packaging, and even complete logistics.

Nolato has long had processing facilities in Sweden, Hungary, and China, and recently opened a site in India. The company is keen to expand to North America and possibly Mexico, too, he said. “We think we need to be on three continents (Europe/Asia/North America),” he said. Plus, he added, the cost of shipping parts from China to Europe or North America has been low for years, arguably too low. “We spend more trucking parts from Hungary to Hamburg than we do shipping them from Hamburg to China,” he noted. “This will definitely change.”  Landgren believes that local processing will have a resurgence following the past decade’s "outsource to Asia" trend. “Plus, I think plastics processing in Asia and especially China will soon be done to serve those markets, not for export,” he added.

During the tradeshow, Nolato exhibited a number of parts from projects it took over. One highlight was a tiny silicon pin with two miniature hooks on it. “The moldmaker said it couldn’t be done,” he recalled, but added he reckons his firm is one of the best liquid silicon rubber (LSR) molders around. The company has also developed in-house expertise in tampon printing of soft parts, such as LSR moldings, such that the print does not degrade even if the part is frequently bent. —Matt Defosse