How to design an innovative new plastic product
Over the last decade, the demand for innovative, new plastic products has gained incredible interest. As a material, plastic offers a number of possibilities but, if you’re not cautious about how you introduce or create new plastic products, there are many pitfalls too.
Before you design any innovative product, there are a few key elements to consider:
- Why do you need this product?
- What problems will the new product solve?
- Your ‘target customer’ – what do they think? Are you onto a winning idea?
- Do you have the technology, expertise and qualified people on board to create, test and implement the product?
- If you are not building the new product in-house, where do you find a credible plastic manufacturer?
So you and your team sat down and connected the dots together to create an amazing strategy and vision for your product. What’s next?
The exciting process of turning your vision into an actual product
Design and prototype
We cannot stress enough the significance of product designs for the manufacturing process. Innovative product designs allow you to visualise your product and reflect on its uses and features before moving onto prototyping.
At Global Rotomoulding, we provide each of our customers with full concept design, complete with product specifications and measurements. Since product designs are the basis upon which mould production begins, they are verified by several experts.
Choose the right plastic manufacturing process
For any designer and engineer working in product development, it is critical to be familiar with the manufacturing options available today and the new developments that signal how parts will be made tomorrow.
Our chosen manufacturing process, rotational moulding (also called rotomoulding) is a process that involves heating a hollow mould filled with powdered thermoplastic and rotated around to produce mainly large hollow objects.
Once the tooling and process are set up, the cost per part is very low relative to the size of the part. It is also possible to add prefinished pieces, like metal threads, internal pipes, and structures to the mould. Typical rotomoulded products include tanks, buoys, large containers, toys, helmets, and canoe hulls.
Global Rotomoulding specialises in creating large products with even wall thickness and zero joints. This prevents stress cracking and ensures superior strength.
Some of Global’s winning projects
The following are just a few projects that we have worked on, where our expertise in plastic rotational moulding has resulted in more convenient and efficient products.
- The Ludowici Exciter Guard. Manufactured for the mining industry, this plastic safety guard acts as a casing for many large machines that continuously vibrate at a very high frequency. It protects miners and is much more convenient than heavy metal guards with various fiddly components.
- Baffle Bones. Global’s superior surge control system for cartage tanks reduces water movement when vehicles break and turn. In contrast to a standard ‘baffle ball’, Global’s unique baffle bones do not unclip during the mass movement of liquid and require absolutely no assemblage.
- The TuffMate2000 Trailer. A plastic trailer that won’t rust – what a relief! You can leave it out in the backyard, and it won’t corrode or fade. It’s incredibly strong, and amazingly light, so you don’t have to worry about load restrictions either.
We have created custom parts for agricultural equipment, designed our very own baffle system for large cartage tanks and manufactured a completely rust-free trailer. We frequently work with our clients to solve ongoing problems that they have been experiencing by implementing the key features of plastic design and creating a solid custom roto-moulded solution.
Contact us today to discuss your next project!