Why Polycon International was founded in Melbourne in 2013: the expensive gap between design and manufacturing, and a practical way to close it for manufacturers of every size.
Every engineer who has worked in manufacturing knows the moment. A beautiful product design arrives from the design team, the tooling order is placed, and eight weeks later the first parts come off the press with sink marks on the show face, a snap fit that cracks on assembly and a lid that will not close. The redesign costs a month. The steel changes cost thousands. The launch date slips, and somebody asks the question nobody wants to answer: "Couldn't we have seen this coming?"
Almost always, the answer is yes.
Polycon International was founded in Melbourne in October 2013 to make that answer yes earlier: to put real manufacturing knowledge into the design process, where changing a decision costs a few hours of CAD time rather than a few weeks of toolmaking.
The gap we set out to close
Australian manufacturers, and many of their peers overseas, face the same structural problem. Large companies have in-house manufacturing engineering teams. Small and mid-sized companies, which make most of the products we use, usually do not. They rely on designers who may never have stood next to a moulding machine, and on suppliers who are paid to make parts, not to question the design.
The result is predictable. Industry studies consistently show that 70–80% of a product's lifetime cost is locked in during design, while only a small fraction of the development budget is spent there. The cheapest improvement any manufacturer can make is to get the design right before the steel is cut.
What we do
From day one our work has been practical and hands-on:
- Product development engineering, from concept and detailed design to prototypes and production launch.
- Plastic part and assembly design, built on the rules that decide whether parts mould well: wall thickness, draft, ribs, bosses and snap fits.
- Injection moulding and tooling support: DFM reviews, mould design reviews, toolmaker management and trials through to part approval.
- Process improvement on the factory floor, because good designs still need efficient, stable production.
How we work
Three principles shape every project:
- We go to the gemba. Problems are understood at the machine, the bench and the assembly line, not only in meeting rooms.
- We measure before we act. Opinions about cycle times, scrap rates and tolerances are replaced with data.
- We leave capability behind. A project is only finished when your own team understands why the solution works and can keep it working.
Who we work with
Our clients range from start-ups with their first product to established manufacturers running hundreds of moulds. The common thread is a need for senior engineering judgement without the overheads of a large consultancy or a full-time hire.
What comes next
Over the coming months we will publish practical articles on the topics that cost manufacturers the most money: designing parts that mould well, understanding moulding defects, comparing tooling quotes fairly and getting new products into production on time. Each one will be written for people who make things, by people who have made them.
If there is a product, part or process keeping you awake at night, that is exactly the conversation we started Polycon to have.
