How Much Does Plastic Injection Moulding Cost?

Plastic injection moulding is one of the most popular forms of volume manufacturing, as a precise and cost effective method for producing parts it can be scaled up for significant volumes without impacting quality or cost.

There are a lot of factors to consider before bringing your project to life with production, however, and a variety of different factors within the process that can have a significant impact on price. 

At Cameron-Price, we have over 60 years of experience delivering projects of all sizes for a number of different industries, and understand how price can be a make-it or break-it moment when putting a project together.

We’ll explore the most common factors that influence pricing for a plastic injection moulding project, and how our expert team can help manage these costs when moving to production.

Planning, designing, and prototyping

Moving your project from an idea sketched on paper right through to a production environment is a very involved process, and each step along the way adds additional time to that process. 

Planning the project and finalising the design for production are essential steps, it helps to highlight potential issues that may occur during production.

This allows for a reasonable lead time to be established based on the scope and volume of any product run.

Similarly, prototyping and testing push this time requirement further, but have the potential to remedy any issues that could be substantially larger if they’re not addressed before a production run. 

Our team at Cameron-Price are fully equipped to help with the design and development, and prototyping stage, and our expertise working across countless projects helps us streamline the process and get your final product into production as quickly as possible. 

Tooling is a major investment

Once a project has been planned, the product prototyped and tested, the first thing that takes place before any moulding starts is the creation of the tool mould.

We’ve covered everything you may need to know about mould tooling to help give some perspective on the steps involved.

Depending on the exact specifications, these tools can cost anywhere from a few thousand pounds to tens of thousands, and for many projects can make up a significant portion of the overall investment.

It can take a few weeks to have the tool finished, but this is controlled by our engineering and planning department, and regularly communicated to the customer.

Material costs vary depending on project

During the design and prototyping stage, the type of material you’ll be using will be decided based on factors like strength, durability, and if the product needs to perform in adverse conditions such as high heat or exposure to chemicals. 

The team at Cameron-Price will be able to give an accurate estimate of cost for the material based on what’s been agreed to use, with an accurate quote that will help give a detailed breakdown across a variety of different materials.

One of our recent blog articles, the main drivers of polymer prices provides greater insights into the costs associated with different materials.

Labour costs are fixed, but may vary depending on requirements

Our experts will work alongside you every step of the way to get the project moving forward. This also means labour costs are included throughout the process depending what services are required.

We’ll never encourage a customer to use something we don’t think they’ll need. This helps us to monitor costs as closely as possible to stick within a planned budget, but some expenses come with production.

The most common costing here will be from our team that creates and maintains your mould and helps monitor the progress of the project to ensure it’s kept on track and well within proposed lead times. 

Getting started on your next project

The key difference between plastic injection moulding and other plastic part manufacturing methods is most representative of a funnel.

The upfront and initial costs can be higher, but costs shrink as the production runs and volumes increase. 

Other methods may have cheaper upfront costs, but tend to balloon at the end of the funnel with additional costs coming from finishing and other quality assurance factors. 

To find out how Cameron-Price can help you plan, design, prototype, and put your project into production with all of the costs involved, enquire today for an accurate quote or get in touch directly to find out how Cameron-Price can bring your project to life.