For TK Mold, K show offers chance to highlight its medical, packaging prowess

Later this month one of the stalwarts of China's moldmaking industry, TK Mold, is making its fifth trip to Düsseldorf, Germany for the triennial K show. This time, say TK Mold officials, the emphasis is showing molders that TK can produce high-cavitation tools for top-end companies in medical and packaging business sectors.

The company was founded in 1983 and is still a private own company. More than 90% of its customers are from Europe or the U.S. The company has seen a rapid upturn of business during the last four years with sales almost doubling in that timeframe, so that turnover is around €30 million. The growth in the last years has been driven by sales of high-precision, high-cavitation tools exported to Europe and the U.S.

The moldmaker already counts a host of Swiss and Japanese metalworking machines in its stable, fitted with Systems 3R holders and pallets. This year the company has focused its own capital investment on its mold-qualification capabilities. This included building a new temperature-controlled cleanroom for testing of high-performance medical tools. It has also continued to ramp up capacity; in fact, say officials there, TK has recently completed a large project requiring eight stack molds (16+16 cavities; see photo) for simultaneous delivery to a packaging multinational.

TK Mold is divided into two divisions, one for standard tools such as those required by molders in the home-appliance and automotive industries, and its precision division for customers in the healthcare, packaging, and E/E sectors. Sales representatives in Europe and the U.S. also provide after-sales service for TK tools. The moldmaker is part of TK Group, a contract manufacturer that handles injection molding, painting, printing, IML, and assembly.