Multi-Cavity Injection Mold for Automotive Sensor Housing

Challenge

A German Tier-2 automotive supplier approached us to build a replacement mold for an ABS sensor housing used in a European vehicle platform. Their existing supplier — a German mold maker — quoted €48,000 for a new 2-cavity cold-runner mold with a 12-week lead time. The customer needed to reduce cost while improving cycle time for an upcoming production ramp.

What We Did

• DFM optimization: Our engineers identified that the original 2-cavity design could be upgraded to a 4-cavity valve-gated hot runner without changing the molding machine. This doubled output per cycle with no additional equipment investment.
• Steel selection: The sensor housing mounts in the engine bay and requires continuous operating temperature resistance. We specified H13 hot-work tool steel to handle the glass-filled PA66 material, which would have worn standard P20 or 718H within 20,000 shots.
• Cooling optimization: Conformal cooling channels — designed in our DFM phase and machined via the factory partner's 5-axis CNC — reduced cycle time from 28 seconds (original mold) to 22 seconds. At 4 cavities × 500,000 shots per year, that 6-second reduction saves over 3,300 production hours annually.
• Quality control: We inspected at four stages: incoming H13 spectrometer verification, in-process checks at roughing and finishing milestones, T0 sample CMM with full dimensional report, and final pre-shipment inspection including cooling circuit pressure test.

Results

Customer Feedback

"Peifeng's DFM report found cooling issues in our original mold design that our German supplier never flagged. The 4-cavity upgrade they proposed paid for itself in three months of production. We now run all new mold projects through their DFM process before committing."