By: Deborah Johnson Wood
The leaders at LS Mold in Holland see diversification as a means to stay alive in a troubled economy. And because of that diversification, the company recently added two positions—CAD designer, product assembler—and says that could be just the beginning.
LS Mold, whose primary business is building plastic injection molds for manufacturers, recently used rapid-system prototyping to help inventors develop SelectAFlush, a retrofit kit that enables homeowners to conserve water by converting toilets to a contemporary dual flush system. LS Mold developed its own in-house prototype sampling system; that system allowed the company to prototype and assemble the retrofit kit, which will ship this month.
“Our rapid system prototyping dramatically lowers the cost for a prototype tool,” says Larry Koning, LS Mold spokesperson. “The auto industry, furniture makers, entrepreneurs can get inexpensive parts very quickly so they can assemble them and make sure they have the design correct before they go to hard tooling. SelectAFlush was able to get into production in four weeks.”
Through development of the retrofit toilet kit, Koning became acquainted with The Right Place Inc.'s InnovationWorks initiative, and registered LS Mold as a service provider for inventors who want to prototype their ideas.
“LS Mold can help with prototype tooling to get a new product on the market quicker with lower quantities,” says Bill Small, spokesperson for InnovationWorks. “Most tool shops produce the tools and send them to a shop to sample them, but LS has their own space to do that, which provides more value for inventors.”
Between an expected jump in SelectAFlush sales—the product launches this month—and the work that will come to LS Mold through InnovationWorks, Koning is optimistic about the company’s future and ability to create jobs.
Source: Larry Koning, LS Mold; Bill Small, Right Place, Inc.
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Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].
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