Expanding and uniting minds across the organization with scientific molding training courses 

As a cornerstone of Nolato’s business, molding is an area in which continuous development, innovation and strong know-how are crucial to maintaining the company’s leading position in the design and manufacture of molding solutions. Since 2022, Nolato has invited its employees to undertake scientific molding programs to strengthen the organization as a whole and the individual employee’s competences. An initiative that has proven successful and with prospects of being further developed and even offered outside the Nolato Group. 

The scientific molding training courses are developed and taught by Swedish Fredrik Ullman from the Technical Design Center (TDC), the support function at the Nolato Group, where he supports scientific molding operations at various Nolato sites in Europe. 

Fredrik Ullman has extensive experience in injection molding techniques, having worked in the plastics industry for over 25 years, including in product development. 

Currently, Fredrik Ullman teaches the scientific molding courses across Nolato’s companies in Europe, but also in the USA, Nolato colleague and molding specialist Chris Alibozek from TDC Nolato teaches the scientific molding programs, and in the USA these courses are also offered to Nolato customers.  

Defining and understanding the discipline of scientific molding

According to Fredrik Ullman, scientific molding is more of a mindset or approach rather than the traditional molding technique. In conventional molding, the focus is primarily on the parameters set in the machine during the production of plastic parts. However, scientific molding emphasizes understanding and analyzing the results of those machine settings. Thus, the focus shifts from input parameters to output results, understanding the processing of material from a molecular perspective. Fredrik Ullman defines as follows:

• Scientific molding deals with the actual plastic that enters the mold during the molding operation at the molding machine. Scientific molding is understanding the science behind molding. 

Ullman advocates that everyone in the organization can benefit from this training regardless of their level of knowledge or experience and interface with injection molding.

• Understanding injection molding from a scientific perspective sets a strong foundation for doing a good and meaningful work regardless of your role at Nolato. Whether you work in product development, design, sales or production, having a clear and profound understanding of the injection molding process itself, polymer materials and the making of the very molds is invaluable. Mastering the fundamentals equips you to craft a vision for the final product with precision and intention.  

Since Fredrik Ullman started teaching the courses three years ago, over 300 employees across Nolato have participated in his scientific molding classes. Notably, about half of these participants do not work in production, highlighting the great span of attendees, which also covers individuals from management, finance department, sales and tool shop.

• I particularly enjoy teaching our introductory classes. I always tailor the content as needed to suit the audience, and questions are highly encouraged during my classes.
  

About the courses 

The scientific molding courses offered in Nolato include five courses taught in English and three in Swedish reflecting different levels of scientific molding. 

For the more advanced training, Nolato has adopted and applied the teachings and principles of RJG, a leading education company in injection molding, well-known for expertise in molding in the medical industry. In USA, Chris Alibozek has long worked with RJG training materials, and since 2024 Fredrik Ullman has also been a qualified trainer for the RJG education program.  

Creating a common language across the Nolato functions

In addition to elevating the knowledge and skills of the program participants, having internal scientific molding programs bring along many benefits to the organization. Among these is improving and fostering the internal alignment as employees gain a shared and broad understanding of injection molding – the very core business in Nolato, even for those who don’t work directly with it. In this way, internal training courses effectively promote mutual understanding and collaboration among employees. 

Furthermore, undertaking a scientific molding course enhances employees’ communication skills by unifying their professional language and providing a shared injection molding vocabulary. This not only facilitates smoother internal communication among employees but also improves interaction with customers. When salespeople or product designers use accurate definitions and designations, they demonstrate proficient capability, fostering stronger and trustful customer relationships.

Overall, this translates to enhanced competitiveness for Nolato by equipping employees with greater knowledge, improved communication skills, and the expertise of several high-level certified scientific molding specialists. Thereby, Nolato demonstrates to existing and potential customers that the company takes the utmost care and seriousness maintaining a wide and skilled workforce, staying at the forefront of the latest technological advancements in scientific molding.

Welcoming reception and continued development of the programs

The courses have gotten off to a good start, and moving forward Fredrik Ullman will remain busy and actively continue to develop and adapt the courses for different audiences. Feedback from participants in the scientific molding courses has been overwhelmingly positive, with many expressing a wish that they had received this training earlier.

For the future, Ullman looks forward to further solidifying Nolato Academy by expanding courses across the Group and eventually towards customers in Europe. Furthermore, the courses will be developed in-depth by introducing several advanced RJG classes, thus further fine-tuning and unifying internal knowledge and expertise at Nolato.