Investigation of problematic issues of mould design and manufacture for plastic-based industry in Sri Lanka

Abstract

At present the demand for high precision, high quality dies and moulds in Sri Lanka is around Rs. 1500 million. However, local supply is around Rs.300 millions. The gap of supply and demand is also increasing day by day. The problematic issues associated with die & mould industry is the core reason for this situation. The primary objective of this research study was to find out the key problematic issues of mould designing and manufacturing for plastic based industry in Sri Lanka and to develop a mechanism to address identified issues. A questionnaire based survey method was used for the research study. The questionnaire was structured in order to investigate and rank critical problematic issues faced by die and mould manufactures for plastic based industry in Sri, Lanka. Further, there were several rounds of semi-structured interviews with managers, plant engineers and technicians involved in mould design and manufacture for gathering relevant information. The collected information was used to identify critical issues of Sri Lankan die & mould industry. According to the survey results, high cost of moulds and unavailability of trained workforce were identified as most critical issues. A thorough investigation has been carried out to find the causes for each identified issue. A probable mechanism to address the identified issues has been developed by taking strength and weaknesses of the industry into consideration. This mechanism consists of a short term status improvement plan and a long term development plan. Since SME sector is the main contributor of the local die & mould supply, more attention has been paid to introduce development plan to Sri Lankan SME sector