How to market a mold design business?

[Jabmaster]

Hi everyone, I am new to these forums and this is my first post. I hope I don´t set any kind of red flag.

So, I've been woking the last year in setting a mold design business in Mexico, the vision is to sell either mold designs or the manufactured mold itself.
The problem is this is a very echnical field and I am struggling with contacting valuable clients.

Does anyone hee could give me any suggestion? Where to look or someone to contact?

Regards
Uriel

 

[MikeHalloran]

I've designed a fair number of molded parts, but I've never bought a mold directly, and I've never worried much about how they are designed. I always left that to the molder.

I.e., I produce a drawing that tells a molder what I want in a part.
The molder engages a mold designer and/or a mold builder to design and build the mold.

Most of the contracts associated with those molds claimed ownership thereof, but I have seen and touched only a very few molds, mostly when some idiot Supply Chain Manager attempted to move a mold from one molder to another. ... whereupon the second molder asserted that the mold was junk, and extorted the cost of another mold before making decent parts.

I.e., your customers are molders, not part designers.

Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[Jabmaster]

Thak you Mike. This has been very good advice. I've been in contact with other industrial designers and they are eager to work together.

I was thinking that perhaps a good way to find work is through mold brokers... you know people in USA or Europe who buy tooling from China. Do you knwo how can I contact them?

Regards

 

[MikeHalloran]

You will have to move to China.
Seriously.
Maybe it can be done, but I have never met or heard of anyone making a living as a mold broker.
All the American molders I have met prefer to deal with mold builders and mold designers whom they know on some personal level. I am told the Chinese are even less likely to deal with or through strangers.



Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[patprimmer]

Mike is correct. Most mould design is arranged by the mould maker and the mould maker usually deals with the moulder and maybe the mould owner.

The Chinese market with internet spam, but I doubt it works very well, but it's cheap.

I think most Chinese mould makers get their new business by attending Chinaplas.

Regards
Pat
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