TecNiq Inc, an LED lighting company, announced that they have added five injection molding machines to their production facility in Galesburg, Michigan. The move comes over increasing concerns of tariffs and higher priced trade goods.
In 2004, Jeff Condon and Mark Pruss, co-founders of TecNiq Inc. developed the company to create what they term as the “most efficient and cost saving LED product available.” TecNiq’s LED products are primarily sold as a lighting solution for fleet trucks, emergency vehicles, construction trailers, and other light duty trailers and heavy duty equipment, as well as for boats and boating trailers.
Today, TecNiq has incorporated Toshiba plastic injection molding machines to ramp up their proprietary lens manufacturing. The injection molding machines, along with Sepro 5 axis robots and a Novatec central material handling/drying system, are at the heart of the new set up.
Travis Arbogast, manager of the injection molding department says, “The injection molding machines were chosen because of their precision, and being all electric with the latest Sepro design, they are very energy efficient. The Sepro’s are fully programmable with 5 axis movement, which makes them able to manipulate parts for removal from the molds, degating, and packing, as well as automation and insert molding. The Novatec material handling system is a fully expandable system that has the latest technology for proper drying and conveying of the plastic resin.”
With the continued pressures from the current administration on overseas products, this move has helped bring a key component of TecNiq’s productions to the U.S. In fact, the company has realized such cost savings, that they believe even without the additional costs of the tariffs, the ROI numbers would have been justified to bring the production back in-house. The injection molding machines have helped TecNiq to eliminate other incurred costs such as onsite inventory, and costs of goods in transit, while allowing quicker turn-around times and higher internal quality control.
TecNiq’s investment into the plastic injection molding complements further their 3D printing capabilities. Now, company officials state, they can go from a 3D printed prototype into production products in just over four weeks’ time, in some cases, with an increase in quality because of the ability to immediately address any part or tool issues.
