The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) is expected to gear up the manufacturing industry a little faster as the Die and Mold Solution Center (DMSC) – a one-stop solution for die and mold design and fabrication – starts running within the year.

DMSC is one of the featured DOST programs and projects during the “Agham na Ramdam”, a series of media briefings which highlights the Science Department’s program milestones and updates.  “Agham na Ramdam” is organized by the DOST-Science and Technology Information Institute

The facility, housed inside DOST’s Metals Industry Research and Development Center, is a project under the  Makinarya at Teknolohiya Para sa Bayan or MakiBayan Program.  It is a one-stop center for die and mold fabrication, allowing for a shorter production turnaround time at a relatively lower cost, thus avoiding the previous costly practice of sending die and mold designs overseas for fabrication. The center hopes to create a significant impact on the local metals and allied industries as well as in the manufacturing sector.

Die and mold fabrication is a key element in the manufacturing industry but a major capability gap among the local metals industry.

“Every product starts with the die and molds,” says Philip Ang, president of the Philippine Die and Mold Association, emphasizing the importance of the die and mold sector.

This sector of the metals and allied industry takes care of the cutting and shaping of parts that are put into a press to enable the mass production of the final product.

Manufacturers usually send out die and mold designs abroad for fabrication as this service was not previously available in the country. This resulted in costly and longer manufacturing process as fabricated die and molds take much time to be shipped back.

Consequently, this gap marred the growth of the metals and allied industries in the country. The manufacturing industry in the past three decades was dramatically on the decline due to weak infrastructure support, and research and development. Also, the global free trade has hit the local industry hard in the latter part of 1990.  

However, with the government’s revitalized vision supported by a pool of local experts, DOST looks forward to DMSC helping the local manufacturing industry accelerate in the global manufacturing supply chain. (S&T Media Service)