Engineering consultation · manufacturing route
Which of five moulding routes your part actually needs.
Hand-made, cast, vacuum-cast, compression, injection. Each one is right for somebody. The consultation tells you which is right for you now, and which you'll need next.
The detail
Manufacturing route consult, at group level.
The route decides most of what follows — tooling spend, unit cost, finish, how quickly you can change the design. Get it wrong one way and you've paid for steel you didn't need. Get it wrong the other way and you're hand-pouring parts that should be pressed.
Because all five routes run under one roof, we can recommend across them without a conflict of interest. We'll also tell you where the next step up sits, so the first tool isn't a dead end.
Back to An engineering conversation before you commit to a route.
What's involved
Six parts of the work.
Volume, first
Ones and tens, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands. The band you sit in shortlists the routes before anything else.
Finish and consistency
A cosmetic face and a hidden seal want different routes. We ask how the part will be judged.
Design stability
If the design is still moving, a cheaper tool that can be remade is usually the smarter start.
Material compatibility
Not every material runs on every route. The shortlist gets narrower once grade is known.
Tooling versus unit cost
We show both lines so you can see where the crossover sits for your forecast.
Which division runs it
The route usually tells us which division's bench the job belongs on. We tell you plainly.
How it runs
Four steps, in order.
- 01
Brief
Part, forecast, how it's judged, any hard dates.
- 02
Route comparison
Two routes side by side, with the trade-offs in plain English.
- 03
Next-step note
Where the tipping point to the following route sits, so you can plan.
- 04
Hand-off
If you go ahead, the same engineer carries the brief into DFM and quoting.
Is it right for you?
An honest fit check.
A good fit when
- You're somewhere between prototype and production
- You've been quoted steel tooling and aren't sure it's justified
- Your volume forecast has changed since the part was designed
- You want to know what the second tool will be before you buy the first
Probably not the answer when
- The route is fixed by a customer specification
- You need thermoplastic injection moulding — we'll say so and point you on
- You want a price without discussing the part — send it to quoting instead
At a glance
The ideas in pictures.
Which route suits your quantity
Swipe to see the whole diagram
One enquiry, the right team
- 01One enquiryTell us what you need
- 02Right divisionWe bring in the specialists
- 03One quoteCovering every part of the job
- 04Named contactOne person keeps it moving
- 05DeliveredMoulds, parts or both
Swipe to see the whole diagram
FAQs
Common questions.
Do you favour one route?
No. We run all five. The recommendation follows your volume and finish, not our capacity.
Can we start on one route and move later?
Yes, and that's often the right plan. We'll design the first tool with the move in mind.
What if I only know a rough volume?
A band is enough. Tens, hundreds or thousands changes the answer; the exact number rarely does.
Related
The rest of this service.
Picking the material before anyone picks the tool.
Most moulding problems we're asked to fix started with the wrong material, not the wrong mould. A short consultation on…
When your part is selling and the tooling needs to catch up.
The part works. Orders are climbing. The question is when to step up the tooling, and how to do it without changing…
An engineering conversation before you commit to a route.
You have a part in mind. You're not sure whether it wants silicone or polyurethane, cast or compression, prototype or…
The group
Delivered across the group
This work is coordinated by TCI Group and carried out by whichever of the four divisions suits your part.
Get in touch
Not sure which division? Tell us what you're making.
Send us a sketch, a photograph, or a paragraph. We'll come back with the right division, the right route, and an honest sense of what it will take.
Real people, a real workshop
You deal with the people who make it.
No call centre and no middlemen. When you contact TCI Group, you speak to the team who design, build and check your mould.
- A real Warwickshire workshopUnit 15, Waterloo Park, Bidford-on-Avon, Alcester B50 4JG.
- Real people on the phoneCall the team on 01789 224228, Monday to Friday.
- The same team on every jobDesign, production and aftercare come from the people you see here.
- Five brands, one teamMoulds, culinary, construction and contract products, all run from Bidford-on-Avon. See the divisions.
Thomas LaneManaging Director
George PrestonDesign & Project Manager
Kelly BallingerHead of Partnerships
Jim AndertonProduction Manager
TheodoreEmployee Welfare