Plastic processing technologies comparison

Manufacturing Process	tooling cost	piece prices	piece sizes	labor cost	lead times	production rate	cycle times
Thermoforming Snap-back Forming Drape Forming Pressure Forming Twin-sheet Thermoforming Vacuum Forming	low	vary depending on machinery	extremely large	high	6-8 weeks	high	from 1 min
Extrusion Profile Extrusion Blown Film Extrusion Foam Extrusion Sheet Extrusion Pultrusion	low	medium	medium	Medium	3-5 weeks	high	n/a
Blow Molding BM Injection Blow Molding IBM Stretch Blow Molding SBM Extrusion Blow Molding EBM Injection Stretch Blow Molding ISBM	moderately expensive	higher than injection molded parts, but lower than rotationally molded	moderate	low	4-8 weeks	low	3-10 min
Injection Molding IM Gas Assist GAIM Reaction RIM Liquid LIM 2-Shot TSIM	generally the highest	lowest available	very large	low	8 - 12 weeks	High	10 to 100 seconds
Transfer Molding TM Resin RTM Vacuum Assisted VARTM Low Pressure LPRTM	low			low	short	rapid	40-45 min
Insert Molding IM Multiple Insert Tooling Film insert molding FIM	high			low	2 to 6 weeks	high	10 to 100 seconds
Rotational Molding RM	Very low	high	small to large	low	3-5 weeks	moderate	40-45 min
Compression Molding CM	moderate	moderate	large	low	2 to 6 weeks	medium	Relatively slow
Dip molding	fairly low	fairly high			3-7 weeks		40-45 minutes
Structural Foam Molding	moderate	moderate	large parts			moderate to high
Large Part Structural Foam Molding	fairly	typically low	large parts
Urethane Foam	low	generally high			short		long
Plastic Lumber	low	low
Cast Film						high
Cold pressure molding						rapid
EPS (Expanded Polystyrene)	fairly high	low

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