b'Molding a Stellar Trajectory speed milling is its impact on themanufacturers started building in-bottom line. It has been an astro- jection molds about 20 years ago. nomical cost savings as well, Don- Donlin estimated that about 80% the mold.lin said, adding that Comet canof U.S. moldmakers eventually went Thats a slow process, and there- build a mold today for the sameout of business as a result of the ag-fore its an expensive process, heprice as it did in the mid-1980s evengressive competition from mold-said, noting that its much faster tothough the shops hourly rate hasmakers with low labor costs. Prior cut a feature. Its a necessary evilroughly doubled since then. to Chinas entry into the market, on most molds. That cost savings proved to beComet was able to substantially in-Thebiggestbenefitofhigh- a lifeline for Comet when Chinesecrease its profit with high-speed milling but then had to lower its prices and make the same profit margin as the company did before acquiring high-speed mills.Comet Die President T.J. Donlin with the companys latest Kitamura vertical bridge-type machine.Reducing prices to compete with China wasnt an option for most U.S. moldmakers because they never in-corporated high-speed milling and therefore never realized the tech-nologys significant cost savings, Donlin said. This understanding was based on the equipment listed on the flyers sent by auction houses when a moldmaker was going out of business and seeking to liquidate its assets.When I would get one of those things, very rarely did I see any high-speed equipment coming up in 42MARCH 2020Moldmaking.indd 42 2/14/20 3:38 PM'