Accede Adopts Virtual Mold Qualifications To Speed Medical Work

Accede was recently highlighted by Plastics News for their adoption of virtual mold qualifications that enables them to speed medical work.

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With video equipment on an injection molding machine and split screens on their computers, engineers at Accede Mold & Tool Co. Inc. in Rochester, N.Y., recently conducted the company’s first live virtual injection mold qualification with a customer in North Carolina.

The customer could see and hear the mold running and undergo tests as a mold sampling technician modified the process. The process parameters, including cycle time and ejection, could be easily viewed by the customer, Camille Sackett, director of business development and engineering support, told Plastics News.

“At the same time we’re inspecting the parts, the customer can watch on their computer screen through cameras hooked up to microscopes and CMMs [coordinate measurement machines]. Everything was done remotely and in real time,” Sackett said in a phone interview.

Real time also meant real fast and less expensive for this project. No one risked travel. No one spent time or money on lodging, meals or entertainment.

“The goal of Accede’s virtual sample is to provide our customers a superior experience, bringing more value than traditional in-person mold qualifications,” Accede President and owner Roger Fox said. “Today’s customer is spread way too thin to spend days onsite qualifying a mold that could be performed virtually, and our job is to make that experience seamless, detailed and effective.”

The virtual samples are one way Accede is working smarter.

“With the efficiencies gained, it frees our team up to do more.,” Sackett said.

Saving time and money is important for all businesses, but especially companies like Accede. A third of its estimated $15.6 million of annual sales in 2019 came from the medical sector, which is challenged to move products at top-speed-to-market with the world in the throes of a pandemic.

Accede is building plastic injection molds for rapid test kit components for COVID-19 as well as other diagnostic equipment and devices.

Another third of the sales are related to consumer packaging, which also is in high demand for sanitizers and wipes being used at fast rates by households, workplaces and schools.

Accede’s medical and packaging divisions are on track for a 15 percent sales increase in fiscal year 2020, which ends Oct. 31, Sackett said. The privately held company, which was founded in 1981, recently added five employees to handle the additional work.

*Pictured is George Diaz, Director of Process Development at Accede Mold & Tool, Co. Inc.