First Mold has successfully reduced its average mold lead time by 25% through optimized operational processes and enhanced supply chain collaboration. This improvement addresses the critical industry challenge of delayed mold deliveries, enabling faster time-to-market for clients in sectors such as consumer electronics, medical devices, and automotive. Key strategies include end-to-end project management, strategic supplier partnerships, lean manufacturing practices, and robust design-for-manufacturability (DFM) reviews. The company's efforts have resulted in more predictable timelines and increased customer satisfaction.
ZHONGSHAN, CN / ACCESS Newswire / September 19, 2025 / First Mold, a global leader in precision tooling service and rapid prototyping services, recently announced that it has significantly reduced its average tooling project lead time by 25% through the systematic optimization of internal operational processes and deeper collaboration with key supply chain partners. This achievement directly addresses the global manufacturing industry's urgent need for rapid tooling delivery to shorten lead times. This optimization benefits the international customer base served by First Mold's Zhongshan, China manufacturing facility and its Guanajuato, Mexico sub-manufacturing facility.
In the context of increased competition and lightning-fast product updates in the global manufacturing industry, long mold lead times have become one of the key bottlenecks for downstream customers to capture market opportunities. According to a recent report by the China Die & Mold Industry Association (CDMIA), more than 65% of surveyed manufacturing companies ranked "untimely delivery of molds" as one of the top challenges to new product development. According to an analysis by international consultancy GFM (Global Fabrication Metrics), the average lead time from design freeze to qualified tooling will still be 8-12 weeks in 2024, while customer expectations are generally compressed to less than 6-8 weeks. This gap between expectations and reality often results in valuable missed market windows, costly idle R&D resources, and even impacts the pace and competitiveness of final product launches.
"We deeply understand our customers' anxiety that time is the key to competitiveness," said Mr. James Li, CEO of First Mold. "The complexity of mold manufacturing involves design review, material sourcing, precision machining, and mold testing and validation. A delay in any one of these steps can have a ripple effect. Our goal is not to pursue unrealistic speeds, but to provide our customers with more reliable and predictable delivery guarantees through executable and sustainable optimization, ultimately helping them win in the market."
At the core of First Mold's ability to realize delivery efficiency gains lies excellence in existing processes and strengthened supply chain resilience, rather than relying on disruptive technologies that are not yet commonplace:
End-to-End Project Accountability and Transparent Communication
First Mold has a dedicated project manager and team for each project. The team is responsible for 7x24 tracking of the entire process from requirements identification, design review (utilizing an online quote page for a quick initial assessment), material tracking, production monitoring, and trial mold feedback. Customers can know the progress of key nodes in real time through the designated interface person, reducing information disconnection and waiting time.
Supply Chain Strategic Partnership Deepening
The factory establishes closer forecast sharing and prioritized supply mechanism with core raw material suppliers. In terms of key imported materials or special alloys, locking up production capacity and logistics resources in advance can significantly reduce the procurement waiting period. The localized procurement network in Mexico has also effectively shortened the lead time for North American customers.
Internal Production Process Optimization and Experience Reuse
First Mold continues to apply lean manufacturing principles to optimize shop floor scheduling logic and reduce non-value-added waiting time. The workshop has set up a standardized component library and a processing process database, so as to achieve rapid reuse of experience and solutions for similar projects and improve processing efficiency.
Enhance pre-design and manufacturability review
Customers can utilize the Quick Quote page (https://firstmold.com/quote-generator/) on the company's website as a convenient entry point for submitting requirements and obtaining preliminary cost and delivery estimates. This tool is designed to accelerate initial communication and feasibility assessment during the project initiation phase. More importantly, First Mold emphasizes that its team of senior engineers conducts in-depth manual design and manufacturability analysis (DFM) based on the uploaded models. By working closely with the customer to optimize the solution, the risk of subsequent design changes in production can be reduced at the source. It is important to realize that design changes after production has begun are one of the most common factors leading to delays. The final accurate quote and reliable delivery commitments are confirmed based on this in-depth review.
"Reducing lead times by 25% has been significant for us," shares the Director of Purchasing at a U.S. home medical device company we've been working with for four years (anonymized at the client's request), "especially during the product validation phase, having the tooling in place quickly has allowed us to start testing earlier. This has resulted in less risk throughout the project and a more manageable time-to-market schedule. The team at First Mold has really excelled in communication and execution, and is able to follow through on commitments."
About First Mold
First Mold (firstmold.com) is a leading provider of precision mold manufacturing and parts processing solutions based in China and serving the world. Founded in 2010, the company is headquartered in Zhongshan, Guangdong Province, with a manufacturing facility in Mexico, First Mold specializes in mold making, injection molding, rapid prototyping, and die casting for customers in the consumer electronics, medical device, automotive electronics, and industrial equipment sectors. The company also has a comprehensive quality management system (ISO 9001, IATF 16949, ISO 13485). Through reliable quality, continuous technology accumulation and efficient delivery, First Mold has become a trusted manufacturing partner for customers worldwide.
Business Contact:
Name: Christine Hong
Position: Sales Manager
E-mail: sales@firstmold.com
Phone: +86 13726029355
Website: https://firstmold.com/
Media Contact
Organization: First Mold Manufacturing Limited
Contact Person Name: Young Lee
Website: https://firstmold.com/
Email: sales@firstmold.com
Contact Number: +8618928160183
Address: 88 West Shagang Road, Gangkou Town, Zhongshan City, China
City: Zhongshan City
State: Guangdong Province
Country: China
SOURCE: First Mold Manufacturing Limited
View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire:
https://www.accessnewswire.com/newsroom/en/industrial-and-manufacturing/first-mold-has-optimized-processes-to-achieve-significant-25-reduction-1075902
