Back when I was editing trade publications covering medical manufacturing, minimally invasive surgery was a hot topic, and I remember contract manufacturers telling me that the one question customers kept asking was, “How small can you make it?” Micro molding was around back then, but it was still a fairly niche industry. As medical devices continued to get smaller — not to mention shrinking electronics, telecommunication products, and automotive parts — micro molding got bigger. According to a recent report from Research and Markets, the global micro-molding market is expected to grow from $904 million in 2020 to $1.6 billion by 2025, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.8%. That may be a conservative estimate to my mind.
As micro molders and their customers will tell you, micro molding is not simply applying injection molding processes to the production of very small parts, implying that not much changes other than the size of the molded product. Moving from the macro to the micro level involves numerous considerations, including material sourcing, design elements, potential part assembly, and much more. We spoke with Donna Bibber, Vice President of Business Development at Isometric Micro Molding about the complexities of the process. She graciously shared her insights with PlasticsToday.
Bibber will present case studies in micro molding and the automated assembly of miniaturized devices at the co-located Medical Design & Manufacturing (MD&M) West and Plastec West event, which runs in Anaheim, CA, on Aug. 10 to 12, 2021. Her presentation in the Tech Theater (booth 1175) is scheduled for Aug. 10 at 2:30 PM.
Read more: A Few Fundamental Facts About Micro Molding
