How Can Small and Medium-Sized Projects Reduce Mold Costs for Custom UHPC Components?

For small and medium-sized projects (order volume ≤100 ㎡), the mold cost of custom UHPC components can be reduced through four core strategies: “mold reuse, shape simplification, material optimization, and batch consolidation.” Qinglong has launched customized mold solutions for small and medium-sized projects, reducing mold costs by 30-50%. Small and medium-sized projects such as the Xinjiang River Ecological Restoration in Yiyang County and the supporting landscape of the Ningbo International Conference Center have all achieved cost optimization.

1. Mold Reuse: Maximizing the Use of Existing Molds

Mold reuse is the core of cost reduction. Standard mold selection: prioritize the manufacturer's existing standard molds (such as conventional flat panels and simple single-curved molds) to avoid new mold making; Qinglong owns more than 1,000 standard molds, covering 80% of conventional shapes. Mold modification: locally modify existing molds (such as adding openings or adjusting dimensions); modification costs are only 20-30% of new mold making; Qinglong's mold modification cycle is ≤3 days, with low cost and high efficiency. Cross-project reuse: share molds with similar small and medium-sized projects (production schedules need to be coordinated in advance) to apportion mold costs; Qinglong has coordinated mold sharing for multiple small and medium-sized municipal landscape projects, reducing the apportioned cost per mold by 50%.

2. Shape Simplification: Reducing Mold-Making Difficulty

Shape complexity directly affects mold cost. Simplify irregular designs: change complex double-curved shapes to single curves and hollow-out patterns to simple geometric shapes, reducing mold-making difficulty and cutting costs by 30-40%; in Qinglong's Xinjiang River Ecological Restoration Project in Yiyang County, double-curved components were changed to single curves, reducing mold costs by 35%. Reduce custom details: reduce unnecessary reliefs and complex textures, and adopt simple surface treatments (such as natural finish and acid washing), shortening mold processing time by 20%; in Qinglong's supporting landscape project for the Ningbo International Conference Center, component textures were simplified, reducing mold costs by 25%. Unify specifications and dimensions: use components of unified specifications as much as possible to reduce the number of molds; in a Qinglong residential landscape project, 5 component specifications were unified into 2, reducing the number of molds by 60%.

3. Material and Batch Optimization: Choosing Economical Solutions

Mold material selection and batch consolidation further reduce costs. Mold material selection: small and medium-sized projects have small order volumes, so GRP molds should be prioritized (cost is 1/3-1/2 of steel molds), with a service life of ≥30 uses, meeting the needs of small and medium-sized projects; Qinglong prioritizes GRP material for small and medium-sized project molds, reducing costs by 40%. Avoid excessive pursuit of precision: mold precision for non-critical parts can be appropriately relaxed (e.g., dimensional deviation ≤±1.5mm) to reduce processing costs; Qinglong adjusts mold precision for small and medium-sized projects according to actual needs, without blindly pursuing high precision. Batch consolidation: negotiate with the manufacturer to incorporate orders into similar large-volume production plans to apportion mold costs; Qinglong has opened a batch consolidation channel for small and medium-sized projects, reducing mold costs by 20-30%. Project case: the Xinjiang River Ecological Restoration Project in Yiyang County (about 500 ㎡) reduced mold costs by 45% through “standard molds + shape simplification + GRP material,” meeting project requirements while controlling costs.