Packaging Closure: Taperless One-Step Pins Reduce 64-Cavity Mold Build Time by 30%
Challenge
A packaging company was building a 64-cavity mold for HDPE beverage bottle closures. Each cavity required a one-step core pin for the tamper-evident ring feature. The conventional approach — taper-reaming 64 individual bores — was estimated at 128 hours of CNC time, representing 30% of the total mold build schedule and a significant bottleneck.
Solution
Specified One-Step Taperless Core Pins that fit into standard straight bores. The 64 pin bores were machined using conventional drill-and-ream operations instead of taper reaming, which could be programmed as a single CNC toolpath pattern and run with minimal operator intervention.
Results
| Metric | Before | After | Improvement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bore Machining Time | 128 hours (taper reaming) | 42 hours (standard drill + ream) | 67% reduction |
| Total Mold Build Time | 420 hours | 294 hours | 30% reduction |
| Pin Replacement Time (per pin) | 15 min (verify taper fit) | 5 min (straight bore, any qualified pin) | 67% faster |
| First-Year Pin Replacement | — | Same interval as tapered | No service life penalty |
"Taper-reaming 64 bores was the worst part of the build schedule. Going taperless cut that operation by two-thirds and let us deliver the mold three weeks earlier than quoted."
— Mold Build Supervisor, Packaging Tooling Specialist