Tooling & Mold · In-House Since 2024
The Tools
Behind The Harness.
In One Building.
Injection-mold tooling, overmold tooling, and progressive stamping dies — built in-house, integrated with our harness and box-build floors so revisions don't cost you a six-week supplier wait. This shop also operates as a node of the parent group's tooling library at xudong-group.com.
30-35 d
New tool
≤ 7 d
Tool revision
$3-12K
Typical NRE
5-10K
Amortization units
Three Disciplines · One Door
P20 / H13
Tool steel grades
Standard mold-base inventory
≤±0.025
Cavity tolerance (mm)
Mahr 3D CMM verified
1M+
Cycles validated
Production tool minimum
9 m
From mold to harness floor
Single-roof advantage
Why In-House Tooling Matters
The Tool That Makes The Part Should Live Next To The Part.
For most contract manufacturers, “tooling” is the part of the program where things go quiet for six weeks, then a sample arrives, then the customer says “the strain relief is wrong” and another four weeks disappear. We integrated the tooling shop into the Cavite plant in 2024 to kill that loop. The mold designer, the overmold operator, and the harness fixture-board engineer sit in the same building. When the strain relief is wrong, the fix is cut into the tool inside seven working days, not six weeks.
Our tool work splits into three buckets. First, plastic injection molds for enclosure parts and panel-mount accessories — bezels, gaskets, retaining brackets. Second, overmold tools that make the strain reliefs and connector boots that go on our overmolded harnesses. Third, progressive stamping dies for terminals and brackets where buying off the catalog adds $0.40+ per unit at production volume.
The Cavite shop is also a node of the parent XUDONG group's tooling library — for jobs that need large multi-cavity or tight-tolerance work beyond the local shop's ceiling, we route them to the China facility under a unified PO and timeline. You see one quote, one delivery date, one accountable party.
Discipline 01
Injection Mold Tooling.
Single-cavity prototypes, multi-cavity production tools, and family molds for related parts. Tool steel default is P20 (pre-hardened, 30 HRC) for runs ≤ 250K shots; H13 (hardened, 50 HRC) for runs ≥ 1M shots or for glass-filled resins. We design in NX and Moldflow simulation runs in-house before the first chip cuts.
P20 / H13
Tool steel
1 / 4 / 8 / 16
Cavity counts
≤ ±0.025
Cavity tol (mm)
30-35 d
Lead time new
DFM & Mold Flow
Moldflow Insight 2024 simulation: gate placement, fill pattern, weld lines, warpage map. Customer gets the simulation deck before cavity steel orders.
Multi-Cavity Layout
1, 4, 8 or 16 cavity standard. Hot-runner systems (Husky, Mold-Masters) on volume tools to eliminate runner waste and improve cycle by 18-25%.
First-Article Verification
Mahr MarSurf XR20 + Carl Zeiss Contura CMM. Cavity dimensional report with ballooned drawing on every new tool, ±0.025 mm verification.
Material Library
PC, PC/ABS, ABS, PA66 (glass-filled 30/50), PBT, POM, PP, TPE, TPU. UL 94 V-0 grades for enclosure work; FDA-grade resins for medical.
Revisions ≤ 7 Days
Insert pulls, cavity polish, ejection refit usually done inside seven working days because the tool sits in our building, not a sub-contractor's three time zones away.
Approval & PPAP
T1 sample → DFM-corrected T2 → customer signoff → production tool. PPAP Level 3 documentation generated as part of standard workflow.
Discipline 02
Overmold Tooling.
This is where the tooling shop and the harness floor really earn their keep. Overmold geometries are the second-most-common reason a harness program slips, after connector availability. We design, cut, and qualify overmold tools for the strain reliefs and connector boots that ride on our overmolded harnesses. Single-cavity prototype tools cost $800-$2,000 and are refunded against the first PO ≥ 500 units.
TPE/PVC/TPU
Materials
65 Shore-A
Default durometer
50K+
Flex cycles
$800-2K
Prototype tool
Strain Relief Geometry
Bend-radius enforcement designed into the tool. Default rule: ≥ 6× cable OD straight-relief, ≥ 8× OD radius-relief on shielded cables. Validated against IEC 60068-2-31 flex-cycle test to 50K cycles.
Material Compatibility
TPE-S (general), TPE-V (oil-resistant for automotive), TPU (high-cycle for robotics), PVC (cost-down for consumer), liquid silicone rubber (medical USP Class VI on demand).
Single & Double Shot
Single-shot for one-color/durometer; double-shot rotary tools for two-tone or rigid-soft combos. Insert injection of pre-terminated harness ends is the dominant pattern.
Tool Cost Bands
Prototype single-cavity: $800-$2,000 (refunded on PO ≥ 500). Production multi-cavity: $3,000-$12,000 amortized over the first 5,000-10,000 units. Volume programs cut amortization by half.
Cycle Times
25-45 seconds typical depending on shot mass and durometer. Cycle time + cavity count drives unit cost more than materials do, so we optimize the tool layout for your annual volume.
Validation & PPAP
Pull-test (≥ 60 N for AWG 22 vs 40 N IPC-A-620 minimum), salt-fog 96 h, thermal shock -40 / +85 °C × 100 cycles. All on first article before production release.
Discipline 03
Progressive Stamping Dies.
For terminals, brackets, and grounding straps where catalog parts add $0.40+ per unit at production volume, we cut progressive stamping dies. Tool steel grades D2 (62 HRC) and SKD11 for runs ≥ 5M hits. Materials run from C26000 brass through C72500 nickel-silver, mil-spec copper alloys, and pre-plated tin/silver/gold strips for high-current contacts.
D2 / SKD11
Die steel
5M+
Hits validated
0.2-3.0
Strip thick (mm)
8-25 d
Lead time
Progressive Layouts
Up to 12 stations on a single die. Pierce, blank, form, coin, embed, and cut-off in one strip. Strip layout optimized in NX with material utilization targets ≥ 78%.
Common Outputs
Quick-disconnect terminals (1.5 mm to 9.5 mm tabs), ring lugs, butt splices, ground straps, brackets for harness clamping, panel-mount blanks.
Plating Strip Compatibility
Pre-plated strips: tin (Sn-100), tin-lead (Sn63/Pb37 for legacy MIL), silver, gold-flash. Selective plating supported via post-stamp masking.
Press Capacity
Schuler 80-ton and Aida 160-ton presses with servo-feed coil lines. Strip widths 12-200 mm. Closed-loop tonnage monitoring catches die wear before parts go out of spec.
Tooling Costs
Single-station prototype: $1,500-$4,000. Multi-station production: $8,000-$45,000 amortized over the first 100K-500K units. Tool maintenance and re-grind is included for the first year.
Cpk ≥ 1.33
Capability study on every new die: critical dimensions held to Cpk ≥ 1.33, plated thickness ±10%, edge-burr ≤ 10% of strip thickness per IPC-A-620 §15.
Tooling Workflow
From Drawing To T1 Sample.
DFM & Quote
Drawing review, mold-flow / strip-layout sim, cavity count math against your annual volume. Quote inside 48 h.
Tool Design
NX 3D tool design, customer review at 2D drawing + 3D model stage. Sign-off freezes the design.
Steel Cut & Heat Treat
P20/H13/D2 mold-base cut on Makino EDM + Mazak 5-axis CNC. Heat-treat to spec hardness.
Tool Try-Out (T1)
First sample shots / hits, dimensional verification on Mahr CMM, customer T1 sample shipped.
Revisions (T2)
DFM corrections cut into the tool. Most programs go T1 → T2 → production. ≤ 7 working days per rev.
Production Release
Tool moves to harness/box-build floor, capability study run, PPAP submitted. Tool maintenance schedule starts.
Applications
What We Tool Today.
EV Charging Strain Reliefs
TPE-V single-shot, 65 Shore-A, validated to 50K bend cycles per IEC 60068-2-31 for handle flex.
Medical Connector Boots
USP Class VI silicone overmold for patient-monitor cables. ISO 13485 cleanroom-compatible run.
Automotive Sensor Brackets
Glass-filled PA66 30%, snap-fit retention, automotive-grade UV stable, IATF 16949 PPAP-ready.
Robotics Drag-Chain Boots
TPU 92 Shore-A, validated to 10M bend cycles. Outboard strain relief for igus-style chain runs.
Custom Quick-Disconnect Terminals
Brass C26000 progressive stamp, selective tin plating, faster-than-catalog at $0.04 per unit at 100K volume.
Panel-Mount Bezels
PC/ABS injection mold for industrial control panels. UL 94 V-0, paintable, multi-cavity tooling for 4-up.
Founder Note
“The day we moved tooling in-house was the day customer-revision-cycle stopped costing us weeks. Now when an engineer says ‘the boot needs to be 0.4 mm thicker,’ the answer is Tuesday, not next month.”
— Mr. Fei Bo Hu · President · Xudong Group
Tooling FAQ
Six Questions Tool Buyers Ask.
Do I own the tool you build for me?
+
What's the difference between prototype tooling and production tooling?
+
How fast can you do a tool revision?
+
Can I bring an existing tool from another supplier?
+
What press tonnages do you have on the floor?
+
Do you do mold-flow simulation as standard?
+
Related Services
Where Our Tooling Plugs In.
Industries
Where In-House Tooling Wins.
Tooling Process · Cavite Mold Shop
Nine Process Stations On The Floor.
Every mold built in Cavite passes through these nine in-house process stations — from CNC roughing to final assembly and CMM verification. Captions inside each image describe the step in detail.
CNC Machining
EDM
Wire Cut
Grinding
Polishing
Laser Marking
Laser Welding
CMM / VMM Inspection
Mold Assembly
Equipment Inventory · Cavite Mold Shop
What Sits Inside The Mold Shop.
A snapshot of the active equipment fleet on the Cavite mold shop floor (parent-group sister site capability available on call for envelopes beyond the Cavite spec). Brands include Sodick, Makino, Yasda, Hexagon, Okamoto, and Kuroda.
EDM + CNC machining centers
Sodick AG60L · Wintop WP-50 · Makino V56i / V33i · large-bed CNC
Wire-cut + milling cells
Sodick AG400L / AG600L + China HF320M / HF400M wire EDM · Sodick K1C small-hole · Makino KSA-55 / KSJP-55 manual mill · Makino AVN-C74 NC mill
Grinding + tapping family
L5G-618S Seedtie grinder · Kuroda GS-8M2L / GS-8M3 surface grinder · Okamoto PGG9SX · Kent KGS-618M · Chi-Keung 6577 mill grinder · Tapping machine
Welding + metrology
Jing-Xuan TIG-300PD-II TIG welder · Hexagon SVM 30201 2D measuring · Hexagon CROMA8106 3D coordinate measuring machine
Real Project Snapshot · US · marine · 2026-Q1
A Build We Already Shipped In This Lane.
Scenario
A US high-end boat manufacturer needed to move from design validation to physical prototypes for custom audio and harness systems.
Challenge
The customer needed prototypes quickly to validate the design before committing to mass production, but tooling development typically delays this process.
Outcome
Customer confidently placed the tooling PO, accelerating the transition from a 9-month evaluation phase to a confirmed prototype and pre-mass-production stage.
Anonymized customer detail. Concrete numbers preserved verbatim.
Next Step
Tooling Built Where The Harness Lives.
Send us the part drawing or sample. We'll quote the tool, the unit price, and the timeline as one number. Quote returned within 12 hours. NDA on file. No obligation.