Molding Products Division

Interplastic's Molding Products Division (MPD) is a manufacturer of custom Sheet Molding Compounds (SMC), serving Tier I automotive, consumer, marine and industrial thermoset compression molders.

The Molding Products Division can manufacture SMC lot sizes up to 70,000 pounds, making ours the largest mixing operation in the United States. This capability vastly exceeds the mixing capability of other SMC manufacturers. The Factory Link® computerized control system monitors our processes, giving our customers best-in-class quality.

We invite you to work with us when you are designing a materials system. From initial R&D, through trials and post-production, we' ll provide custom or standard SMC formulations and all the technical support you need. Whether you have high strength structural applications, require low density/light weight parts or have Class A automotive standards to meet, the Molding Products Division has the credentials and track record to provide successful, engineered solutions.

As a compounder specializing in merchant sales, you can expect delivery and service tailored to your company's unique fitness-for-use. Our new, state-of-the-art manufacturing facility is centrally located in South Bend, Indiana, to minimize your freight costs.

MPD Means SMC

The more we're involved, the more we can help

Interplastic lights add lightweight strength to this General Motors headlight housing. Developing a new product is nearly always an expensive and unsettling endeavor. It's not enough to have "an idea whose time has come." The entire manufacturing process must be carefully engineered to ensure maximum profitability. Any one part could cause unnecessary delays or cost overruns. And that's precisely where MPD can help.

If a desired part could benefit from fiberglass-reinforced plastic construction, it could well pay you to call us at the earliest possible stages of concept development. Once that call is made, you will have full access to the many years of experience and special talents of our entire staff. We will work closely with you to identify any real or potential problems, analyze specifications and proposed utilization requirements and begin developing specific formulas to successfully satisfy the finished part requirements.

Material Development and Design

No thermoset material is excluded from consideration. All necessary requirements (flame retardancy, pigmentability, etc.) are carefully Every sheet of molding compound must pass our stringent quality control tests. reviewed and discussed. Throughout this critical phase, our engineers will be in close and frequent communication with your designers to make sure all facets of the project are explored thoroughly. Once this process is complete, we are ready to move to a very special part of our complete service package:

Prototype tooling

Because of other customer scheduling demands, it is frequently difficult for a custom molder to provide you with an adequate amount of press time. In addition, prototype matched-metal molding programs will often lose continuity and perspective if not performed in the proper sequence.

Since the Molding Products Division is not a custom molder, the tooling can remain in one of our compression presses while related-formula development and testing are being carried out under the same roof.

What's more, you can probably realize significant savings by using our equipment and expertise. You also save time and effort because molding and compounding will be done at the same facility. If quick modification of a candidate formula should become necessary, it can be executed with a minimal amount of time loss.

Finally, since the Molding Products Division is not in the custom-molding business, we are not competing with you. All projects are considered totally confidential and all information recorded during the program is the explicit property of our customers. As a division of the Interplastic Corporation, we have knowledge of and access to all the most-current resin technology. But it should be noted that we are not restricted to the resins distributed by our sister companies. As in all our services, our only commitment is to our customer. We are dedicated to providing whatever our customer needs to meet specific parts requirements.

The Molding Products Division was established in 1978.

If you're interested in our SMC products, request a factory representative contact you directly. rmcdonald@interplastic.com