CAE for Injection Molding: What’s Next?

After a well-focused research effort over the past quarter of a century, CAE for injection molding has become a common engineering tool used widely in industrial practice. Today, part and mold designers readily make use of CAE software tools to make rational design decisions based on scientific principles rather than solely on prior experiences. While the common goal of the industry is to produce plastic parts anywhere in the world at the lowest cost, with the best quality and fastest speed to market, a missing link in an integrated production system seems to lie in the ability at the shop floor to control the molding process automatically and adaptively without compromising part quality. As the IT (Information Technologies) and Web-based engineering continue to strive, the injection molding industry would benefit immensely to achieve its goals. This paper discusses some issues on technical challenges and opportunities.