Injection Molding Technology Center:: Boosting the future of the Venezuelan Plastic Industry

For several reasons, national raw material transforming sector currently undergoes a relatively technological delay in the area of mold-making, which can be considered a disadvantageous position against foreign competitors. In 1997, as a mechanism to overcome this problematic situation, the company Indesca proposed the creation of a technological center for the design and optimization of molds. This effort was included in the National Olefins-Plastics Agenda of the Fondo Nacional de Ciencia, Tecnologia a Innovacion (Fonacit), whose aim is to promote the production of olefins, plastics and plastic products for final use in the national productive apparatus. The Center of Plastic Injection Technology was created at a cost of approximately US$2 millions dollars and its main responsibility is to offer the necessary technical advisory to plastic producers and transformers, so that they can efficiently compete in the market of injection with finished products. The center has achieved a consolidated position in the analysis, design, and optimization of injection moulds. Short term plans of the center are to stimulate production and transformation sectors to use technological tools available in the center to optimize current processes, and to design new molds and products with the necessary quality and costs to efficiently compete on global markets. This paper summarizes the methodology applied for the creation of the Center for Plastic Injection Technology, and describes most relevant results achieved so far.