Editing Moldmaker (section)

== Injection molding ==
The term moldmaker may also refer to workers employed in fabricating dies and metal moulds for use in [[injection molding]] and [[Die (manufacturing)|die-casting]], such as in the [[plastics]], rubber or [[ceramics]] industries, in which case it is sometimes regarded as a branch of the trade of [[toolmaker]].<ref>{{Citation |last=Bryce |first=Douglas M. |title=Plastic injection molding: material selection and product design fundamentals |page=145 |publisher=SME |year=1997 |volume=2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zY-REaKzPGUC&pg=PA145 | isbn=978-0-87263-488-6}}.</ref> The process of manufacturing molds is often highly automated.

Although many of the machining processes involved in mold making use computer-controlled equipment for the manufacturing of molds (particularly plastic and rubber injection and transfer), moldmaking remains a highly skilled trade, requiring expertise in manual machining, CNC machining, CNC wire EDM, CNC Ram EDM, surface grinding, hand polishing and more. Because of the skill and intense labor involved, a lot of mold making in the US has been outsourced to low-wage countries.{{cn|date=December 2023}} The majority of plastic and rubber parts are made using injection or transfer molds, requiring a mold to be manufactured by a moldmaker.