B A Die Mold, Inc.: Innovative Thinking, Design Savvy Wind Up Profits for Customers

Part I of a two-part feature 

Since 1968 B A Die Mold, Inc. in Aurora, IL, has worked with some of the top OEMs in the country, lending its expertise in the design and manufacture of injection molds for everything from automotive parts and home appliances to water filtration and medical products.

The B A Die Mold Manufacturing Facility in Aurora, Illinois.

B A got its start when company Founder and President Alan Petrucci rented a small part of a plastics processing company’s plant in Rolling Meadows.  But the company soon outgrew the space, as it did two more locations in Downers Grove, and, in 1975, B A moved to yet a larger plant in Lisle, IL.  For the next 25 years, the company grew in size and in its reputation for building first quality injection molds for plastic.  B A peaked at about 29 employees while in Lisle – 80 if counting Imperial Plastics, a plastics processing company Petrucci owned for 11 years.  Then, in 2001, Petrucci, along with his daughter Francine, who joined the company full time in 1994 and is now its vice president and a majority co-owner, built a manufacturing plant in Aurora, where it is located today. 

When B A moved into the 16,000-square-foot Aurora facility that Alan and Francine had designed and constructed, its staff had reduced to a team of 16 employees.  Alan will acknowledge that this is partly due to the downturn that occurred in 1999, when business fell off for many U.S. mold manufacturers, but it’s not the only reason. 

“We learned to be more efficient and utilize every advantage available to reduce price, shorten deliveries and still maintain our reputation for excellence,” he explains. 

In addition to improving operations, Alan reflects on some internal goals that motivated him to do more with less. 

“Before I started B A, I worked on the bench and never had a managerial job,” he explains.  “I quit my job and simply jumped in.  I never intended for the company to get really large.  Large isn’t necessary to be successful.  Did I desire to become established?  Yes.  Did I aspire to do excellent work and be recognized for it?  Absolutely. 

“When I think about it, my goal was not to employ 100 people but to have fun,” he continues.  “I love problem-solving and my customers took advantage of my ability to do it because I do it well.  I have fun building molds and creating new products.” 

Petrucci says growth in expertise and capabilities has always been a primary goal for B A and it’s what makes the business one that customers keep coming back to time after time.  In fact, most of the customers B A has dealt with over the years remained loyal customers for twenty years or more – some almost from the beginning.

“We’re always working on continuous improvement and developing better ways of doing things for our customers,” he says.  “You don’t have to be the biggest in order to be the best at what you do.” 

Francine adds, “I remember being in grade school and asking my dad to take me with him to visit customers.  I worked at B A part time then.  I felt a surge of pride because as I walked through customers’ plants I could look around and see mold after mold that was manufactured by B A Die Mold.” 

Changing Times 

“There are countless companies, small companies, that don’t grow every year but they are very successful,” Alan notes.  “Their customers keep coming back because of the quality of work they do.” 

He loves his work and he says he still likes to be somewhat hands-on with projects.  He also regularly interacts with his employees out in the plant as well as in the office because he cares about his people and it helps him stay on top of things.   

“I enjoy working with my customers, most of whom are demanding and expect an excellent outcome in a timely manner,” he adds.  “When you’re small company-wise, you typically have fewer customers but you have closer relationships that last a long time. 

“That’s changing now,” he continues.  “I recently wrote an article for Start Magazine in which I talked about close customer relationships, giving customers service and knowing what they want. The close customer relationship is gone for the most part.  It’s price now.  Some customers are smarter than others, though, and they realize that quality engineering and quality tooling is worth paying for.” 

Francine agrees, saying, “Too many people focus on the price of a mold, and it’s understandable because it is such a large, lump-sum expense.  But what they don’t take into account is that you can amortize the cost of that mold over, say, one million parts per year and that puts the true cost of the mold into perspective. 

“For example,” she continues, “we’re proud to say a major customer of B A’s is still running molds we manufactured over 20 years ago.  They’ve produced millions of parts – perfect parts – out of those molds and there’s no question that that level of results paid for the molds ten-fold.” 

“Skill is still important, too,” Alan notes.  “For example, China has the best of the best equipment but their molds are, in most cases, class 3 molds.  They are getting better, but no one’s really getting the quality they want.  One customer we’ve had since 1974 has recently begun sourcing molds overseas.  They sent designs from a mold we designed and built about 15 years ago, which is still in service today, over to China and it took more than a year for them to get the mold online.  In fact, that customer has already come back to us and asked us to build thousands of dollars worth of replacement parts for the mold that China built.  Our customers can’t get the same quality molds and service in China as they can with us.  The innovation and problem-solving skills aren’t there either and that helps set B A apart, too.” 

End Part I. 

Part II:  Innovative Thinking, Unique Solutions

In Part I the TPR introduced you to Aurora, IL-based B A Die Mold, Inc., an injection mold manufacturer that specializes in unscrewing and runnerless technology.  In Part II, we’re focusing on some of the innovative solutions B A has developed over its 36 years that keep customers coming back. 

Today, B A manufactures molds for water filtration, medical, appliance controls, electrical components for automotive and caps and closures.  The company is especially known for molds that generate precision threaded parts – automatic molds for threaded parts are a particular specialty.  In addition, quick turnaround product development is also a very strong customer service offering. 

Typical unscrewing mold with hydraulically operated rack

PERC, which stands for Programmable Electric Rotating Core, is due to receive a patent this year.  B A has received numerous inquiries about the system and to date PERC molds have been built for the caps and closures, plumbing and water filtration industries. 

“I consider something like the PERC System growth,” says Alan.  “It’s not how many people you have in the company; it’s what you do to further the industry.” 

Other earlier firsts for B A include developing hot runner systems for molding starch.   

“It was a proprietary medical application for a pharmaceutical customer that came about following the Tylenol scare back in the late 80’s,” Alan explains.  “The starch capsules were tamper-resistant and would shatter if you tried to do anything to them.  B A didn’t invent the idea, but we made it work, and we were the first to make it work.” 

B A also made hot edge gating work for a vendor that couldn’t make it work.  B A redesigned the system and the vendor is still using the process today. 

B A developed internal actions for a couple of customers where the motion of the mold controls the action within the mold to form features on parts that would otherwise be impossible, Alan explains.

 “Our design eliminated cylinders and external cams by activating the mechanism within the mold motion,” he explains, adding that this system is being used by customers in the appliance and industrial spray applications industries. 

“We’re known for our expertise in troubleshooting and making molds work –molds we didn’t build,” he notes. 

B A manufactures molds for 750-ton or less molding machines.  Multi-cavity molds and prototypes are no problem.  The design department is state of the art, using Unigraphics and SolidWorks®, plus MoldFlow® analysis.  Everything is done in 3-D solid models for mold design and machining as well as product design and development.  A typical product design job can be turned around in as little as three days to a week.   

“We offer customers photo-realistic renderings fit for sales presentations and other similar business dealings,” says Francine. 

Photo realistic renderings can be supplied for the completed mold, partial assemblies or, any other components.

“Four years ago, we bought a standard mold set from a vendor and during assembly of the mold the moldmaker assembling the mold stripped the threads off the cap screws,” he continues.  “We found out that the screws were not heat treated and were imported from Portugal.  We were concerned for the safety of our customers because if the mold falls out of the press it could severely injure the operator.  So since then we started requesting American-made components whenever possible.” 

In addition to attention to quality, B A’s services sometimes extend beyond what the customer expects. 

“When we build a mold, we think ahead, meaning we anticipate future maintenance needs,” says Francine.  “On our own accord, based on materials being molded or just our experience and knowledge of the customer’s needs or special features built into the mold, we’ll manufacture or be sure to order and stock spare components.  If something happens during the night shift, for example, and the customer calls in a panic, we can get on the job immediately, fix it and in most cases have that mold back online in a day or two. 

“It’s not the quality of the mold,” she continues.  “It’s the nature of the products, the abrasive materials so many of our customers are molding, that dictates our preparedness.  The customer doesn’t even necessarily know we have the spare parts, but they are very happy when we do at times like that.  Let’s face it.  It’s a valuable service because what would normally take three to five weeks to handle now takes only a day or two.  It’s something our regular customers have come to depend on.” 

B A Die Mold has donated a significant amount of staff time and resources back to the U.S. mold industry through memberships to such organizations as the American Mold Builders Association (AMBA), the Tooling & Manufacturing Association (TMA) and other programs that promote education in the mold industry.  But more than anything, the company’s drive to manufacture the finest molds at a fair price, combined with its continued desire to innovate, has made many customers very happy over the years. 

“You ask me what we’ve done differently than we did in the past,” says Alan.  “My answer is we’ve done nothing different.  We still focus on customer service and quality.  We’ve learned how to continually improve both of these and by default we have reduced lead times on molds by 50% overall and that’s not bad.” 

To find out more about B A Die Mold, Inc., call 630-978-4747, or visit the company’s website at www.badiemold.com.