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What was started in 1987 by a “molecule bender” as a smaller, two-press molding shop has emerged as a force in injection molding with a gamut of capabilities that include metal injection molding, polymer molding, advanced moldmaking and additive manufacturing.

It’s the story of , Clifton, N.J. It’s a story of humble beginnings, risk-taking and seizing opportunities. It’s a story that starts with Melvyn Goldenberg, who passed away in 2015. Part craftsman, part scientist, Goldenberg was trained as an organic chemist, earning his master’s degree from Princeton. It was there that one of his professors dubbed him the next great molecule bender. He served a stint at GE Plastics, during a time when new polymers were being introduced on a steady basis.

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Goldenberg started his career at Mattel in the 1960s, a time when molding toys was big ����ý. In the 1970s, he joined Proll Molding Corp. in Bloomfield, New Jersey, where he became chief of engineering. While there, he began consulting on the side. As he was quoted in Plastics Technology’s April 2012 cover story, he tasked himself with “helping people who were using the wrong material or not processing it right, because we understood things they didn’t, like stress analysis and birefringence.”

Proll molded toys too. But Melvyn Goldenberg knew what was coming down the pike as a result. His knew that high-end opportunities molding parts from engineering resins beckoned in aerospace, medical and defense industries. He negotiated a deal with the owners of Proll to extend his responsibilities to ����ý development, where he would receive a commission on every new project. He was so successful in bringing non-toy projects to Proll — “he blew through all his goals,” notes Neal Goldenberg, the founder’s son and the current company president — that the company couldn’t pay his commission. So, the elder Goldenberg took two old Van Dorn presses as payment and launched what was initially named PTI Technology.

PTI Tech President Neal Goldenberg is positioning his family-owned custom molding company as a one-stop shop for customers looking for metal and polymer molding solutions. Source: Plastics Technology

The initial focus was on metal injection molding (MIM). After relocating to a 40,000-square-foot facility in Clifton, PTI ​in 1999 partnered with AlliedSignal/Honeywell in developing MIM feedstocks for large components. A year later it purchased the entirety of Honeywell’s MIM technology. In short order, the government took notice. In 2002, PTI was awarded a $5 million research grant from the National Institute of Standards and Technology Advanced Technology Program to expand commercial development of MIM technology. That same year, PTI designed and manufactured the largest MIM component to date: an Inconel 718 aerospace airflow regulating body.

Neal Goldenberg was paying attention. The founder’s son majored in finance at University of Massachusetes at Amherst and later earned an MBA in entrepreneurship and operations management from New York University . His dad wanted him to earn experience outside the family ����ý, so he went to work in finance in Boston. But Neal Goldenberg had hands-on experience in manufacturing and molding by virtue of the time he spent at dad’s plant as a teenager during summers and spring breaks.

In that 2012 article in Plastics Technology, he said, “My friends were in Cancun, and I was here measuring little end-cap parts.” Neal joined PTI officially in 1997 as vice president of marketing and became president in 2008. Neal is still hands-on when necessary: To this day, he says, he can hang a mold. About two years ago, in fact, he did just that, owning up his mistake on a purchase order that resulted in a production run coming up short on parts.

“We excel in tough material applications. We excel in guiding the customer through the material selection process.”

Today PTI operates out of a 100,000-square-foot facility in Clifton. It runs a 24/5 operation and employees 90. It has 20 presses, mostly from Arburg but a few from Engel as well, in tonnages ranging from 38 to 440. These include several all-electric Arburg Allrounders. These are supported by blenders from Maguire Products, dryers from Conair and Matsui, and Mokon chillers and temperature control units. Goldenberg says most of its molding capacity can shift between metal and polymer molding, though the former generally requires higher-wear screws, barrel and molds.

In its first foray into diversification, PTI purchased New Jersey moldmaker Polmold in 2012. Today, under the direction of General Manager Chad Milliman, Polmold operates dozens of pieces of equipment, including this new CNC machine, to make most of the molds PTI uses.
Source: Plastics Technology

Some 90-95% of the parts that PTI Tech makes are produced on molds built in-house. That was made possible by PTI’s 2012 purchase of Polmold Tooling Inc. Polmold was started by Henry Marzec — “an old-school craftsman,” in Neal Goldenberg’s words — and his wife in 1989. That operation, which also serves molders and OEMs beyond PTI, occupies 12,000 square feet in the PTI building and is now run by Chad Milliman, general manager. Milliman sits on the board of directors of Lincoln Technical School and was the driving force in establishing PTI’s moldmaking apprentice program.

For its polymer ����ý, PTI runs molds from 4 to 8 cavities, while MIM tools generally are of the single- or two-cavity variety. The molder is a moderate user of hot-runner technology; on the polymer side, it’s found that its use of glass-filled materials tends to wear out nozzle tips.

The mold shop is furnished with GF Machining Solutions’ wire and sinker EDMs, four CNC machining centers, a CNC grinder, and over a dozen other machines. The firm also uses Surf CAM, AutoCAD, and SolidWorks software tools.

The Polmold purchase is part of Neal Goldenberg’s strategy to vertically integrate and diversify. This strategy is also evident on the molding side. Over the years, MIM has accounted for roughly 50% of PTI’s ����ý. It does quite a bit of work for the Department of Defense, the particulars of which are not for public consumption. In one project, though, PTI created a MIM header used as a part of an electronic missile housing. But PTI’s MIM part has also found a place in electronics, munitions and medical applications. In the latter, it molds a high-precision nut that’s laser-welded to a stamped component used in the DaVinci robot for minimally invasive surgery.

PTI now has additive manufacturing technology, with an range of technology options at its disposal, for protyping, small-run production and tooling. Source: Plastics Technology

This year, Goldenberg expects its polymer molding ����ý to exceed 50% of PTI’s ����ý. MIM molding has above-average profit margins, he says, but these days Goldenberg believes diversity is a better strategy. Says the PTI president, “MIM has been a great ����ý for us, and we expect it continue that way. But defense and aerospace budgets can fluctuate, and it’s better for our long-term growth if we tap into all of our expertise.

Walk around the molder’s plant and you’ll encounter 55-pound bags or even a gaylord or two of PP, PS, PE, PET, HDPE and LDPE. But PTI’s expertise is processing parts from engineering resins such as PEEK, PEI, PPSU acetal, PPA, PPS, PEKEEK, PLA, PMMA, PVOH, PVA, POM, PES, PMP and PBT. It also runs PC, ABS, PC-ABS, PVDF, EVA, CPVC, ethylene-tetrafluoroethylene, TPE and nylon. If an off-the-shelf material is not up to task, PTI will formulate and compound it on a Leistritz twin-screw extruder. Says Goldenberg, “We excel in tough material applications. We excel in guiding the customer through the material selection process. If there’s a material out there, no matter how difficult, we’ve probably molded it. It’s an even better situation for us and the customer if we are brought in early in the process.”

This seven-component smoke grenade required PTI to conduct mold-flow analysis to minimize shrinkage and identify the optimal tooling configuration. This evaluation included gating, venting, parting line and process capability studies for each component and its respective tool. Source: PTI Tech

One particularly interesting part is a seven-component smoke-grenade. PTI performed a mold-flow analysis to minimize shrinkage and identify the optimal tooling configuration. This evaluation included gating, venting, parting line and process capability studies for each component and its respective tool. The result was precision high-volume manufacturing tooling which met all stringent assembly requirements and was able to support the assembly of a fully functioning finished system.

Other high-tech applications molded at PTI Tech include a carbon-filled PPSU propulsion component for an aerial drone, and a box for an oil field sensor made of nylon with metal-coated glass fibers for electromagnetic shielding. PTI has also worked with Picatinny Arsenal on a number of projects over the years. In one, it converted the M249 ammunition drum from HDPE to a plastic with sound-absorbing properties to reduce the noise of cartridges rattling around in the magazine.

In this molding cell, Don Horn, PTI Tech’s injection molding supervisor, controls an in-house automation solution that deflashes molded parts. Source: Plastics Technology

PTI also makes plastic components for chaff and flare missile-decoy countermeasure systems for aircraft. While the exact material grade and dimensions of the tightly toleranced components weren’t divulged, the cartridges and end caps are made from a highly glass filled hydrophobic engineered resin, and the pistons from a clear engineering grade of polyester. For performance purposes, the glass-filled cartridge material must be doped with a special acrylic-modified rubber which makes the molding of the approximate 8-10 inch length and approximate 40-50 mil thickness all the more challenging.

PTI Tech works with leading medical OEMs as well. One came to the firm for a mold for tray assemblies used to hold test tubes to be put in an autoclave. PTI scored the moldmaking bid and the molding as well.

Automation abounds on the production floor. PTI is an advocate of cobots, owing to the ease in which they can be moved from press to press. It will also design automation systems on its own. In one molding cell, for example, PTI utilized a cobot from Universal Robots that fed molded parts to a specially design machined, where they were deflashed.

PTI Tech’s most recent addition was in additive manufacturing. A 3D-printing lab off the production floor not only can quickly prototype and iterate designs but provide short-run manufacturing without the need for tooling. It uses state-of-the-art machines made by MarkForged, Form Labs and HP utilizing polymer FDM with continuous fiber, metal FDM, SLA and SLS. The most recent addition, a MarkForged FX20, prints high-temperature engineering resins such a Ultem and PAEK (both with continuous fiber, if needed). PTI also uses AM technology to fabricate tooling components as well as end-of-arm tooling.