The injection moulding industry as well as the mould making industry in Europe are together generating an annual turnover off approximately 150 billion Euros and employing 1.5 million people. They are global market leaders in their class and key industries in Europe.
In consequence of globalisation the competition from low-wage-countries is growing rapidly. Therefore these industries are searching for new and systematic approaches to develop products with higher functionality and complexity and to reduce development costs and time to market at the same time.

This goal is to be reached by the aid of the project Pro4Plast, which is funded by the European Community within the framework of the “Collective Research” programme. The key elements of the Pro4Plast project are the development of a “Product Development Guiding System” (PDGS), an extended simulation method for multi component injection moulding and insert injection moulding. It also includes the development of a convenient viscosity measurement method, which enables even small companies to measure material properties needed for the simulation of plastic parts. Pro4Plast will disseminate the knowledge acquired in the project to small and medium sized enterprises (SME’s) located all over Europe.
This new application of innovative technology will reduce the costs during concept development, product development and the engineering phase by 30 %. The time to market will be reduced by 50 %. Certified users of this new technology and methodology can guarantee a high standard of innovation and thus be highly competitive for their customers.
In Pro4Plast eight leading research institutes and eleven SME’s from the plastic and tooling industry as well as nine industrial associations, located in eight European countries, are working together to reach this goal.
More information: http://www.pro4plast.net/