Strategic Capital Purchases Help Tap into New Markets

摘要

LS Mold, Inc. (Holland, MI) - a mold manufacturer specializing in producing molds for the furniture market since 1970 - first considered diversifying in the late 90s as the market began to change and dictate a need for prototyping. LS Mold then began adding equipment to better serve its customers - and became an expert in rapid tooling in the process. According to LS Mold's President Larry Koning, LS Mold built its business serving many of the largest furniture OEMs in the western Michigan area, building injection molds ranging from "very small" to the 750-ton range. Once the company began dabbling in prototyping, LS Mold saw a need for prototyping parts made from production resin. "Lots of companies manufactured prototype tools, and lots of companies created parts, but not in the correct resin, and not nearly as quickly as they were needed," Koning recalls. "So we teamed up with a large automotive supplier in western Michigan and with their training figured out how to be very accurate and build tools very quickly. From this experience came the LS line of "Extremely Rapid Tooling" for prototypes.