Glass Mold 10 Years TCO LEAN Manufacturing Analysis. Step D.

Intro and guidelines:

Operational Benchmarks & Market Trends. .

Energy Cost: Rising trend (Global market).

Labor Cost: Rising trend (Calculated at $40/h: $20 wage + $20 ancillaries).

Chemical Operations: Rising costs due to environmental regulations.

These factors are exogenous: industrial planning must account for them as constants.

TCO Long-Term 10 Years Projection (Cumulative Costs).

Volume: 10,000 Molds/Year | Labor: $40/h | Energy: $0.08/kWh.

Data Source: Field-collected data. Investment vs. Operation over 120 months.

Technology	Year 0 (CAPEX)	3 Years (TCO)	5 Years (TCO)	10 Years (TCO)
Wheel Blasting	$200,000	$285,611	$342,685	$485,370
Automatic Air Blasting	$220,000	$451,045	$605,075	$990,150
Laser Cleaning	$450,000	$596,730	$694,550	$939,100
Automated Chemical	$150,000	$415,053	$591,755	$1,033,510
Manual Air Blasting	$25,000	$407,308	$662,180	$1,299,360
Manual Chemical	$30,000	$654,126	$1,070,210	$2,110,420

The TCO analysis confirms that Wheel Blasting efficiency far outperforms all other technologies. The volume of 10,000 molds/year was selected as a benchmark because it is easily scalable to other plant sizes. As highlighted in Step B, for a plant with €100M revenue, even a small deviation in mold cleaning efficiency can impact up to 10% of the total EBITDA.

LEAN manufacturing principles dictate selecting the most cost-effective solution that allows for standardization. As demonstrated in Step C, this is achievable. Furthermore, Wheel Blasting allows corporate management to standardize the cleaning process across multiple plants. By using the same media specification for common molds, you establish a reliable KPI: any deviation from the expected media consumption immediately flags a process drift.

FAT: New process acceptance test on client's glass molds.

Again, data is field-sourced for a general overview. If you need a complete analysis based on your real numbers, you can contact me here. Full technical analysis is below. 👇

Napkin Math.

Technical Analysis: Cost per Batch (6 Molds).

Note: The choice of the batch of six is related to the capacity of the most common equipment size utilized for mold cleaning.

Cleaning Technology	Cycle Time (Min)	Labor	Energy	Media	Maint.	Total OPEX
Wheel Blasting	15	$10.00	$0.32	$0.80	$6.00 [2]	$23.12
Laser Cleaning	200	$13.33	$1.01	$0.00	$15.00	$29.34
Auto Air Blasting	30	$20.00	$7.20 [1]	$4.00	$15.00 [1]	$46.20
Auto Chemical	180	$30.00	$2.00	$15.00	$6.00	$53.00
Manual Air Blasting	100	$66.60	$2.80	$5.00	$2.00	$76.40
Manual Chemical	150	$100.00	$0.80	$20.00	$4.00	$124.80

Annual Operating Costs (10,000 Molds/Year).

Labor: $40/h | Energy: $0.08/kWh

Cleaning Technology	Total Hours/Year	Total Labor	Total Energy	Media & Consum.	Total Maint.	Total Annual OPEX
Manual Air Blasting	2,778 h	$111,100	$4,667	$8,335	$3,334	$127,436
Auto Air Blasting	833 h	$33,340	$12,002 [2]	$6,668	$25,005 [2]	$77,015
Wheel Blasting	417 h	$16,670	$533	$1,334	$10,000 [3]	$28,537
Manual Chemical	4,167 h	$166,700	$1,334	$33,340	$6,668	$208,042
Auto Chemical	5,001 h	$50,010	$3,334	$25,005	$10,002	$88,351
Laser Cleaning	5,556 h	$22,221	$1,684	$0	$25,005	$48,910

Technical Analysis: Annual OPEX & CAPEX (10,000 Molds/Year).

Labor: $40/h | Energy: $0.08/kWh.

Cleaning Technology	Total Hours/Year	Annual OPEX	CAPEX (Est.)
Manual Air Blasting	2,778 h	$127,436	$25,000
Automatic Air Blasting	833 h	$77,015 [1]	$220,000 [2]
Wheel Blasting	417 h	$28,537	$200,000
Manual Chemical	4,167 h	$208,042	$30,000
Automated Chemical	5,001 h	$88,351	$150,000
Laser Cleaning	5,556 h	$48,910	$450,000 [3]

Quality. Standard. Lean.

• Manual air blasting - no quality so impossible to standard.

• Automated air blasting - about quality, impossible to standard due to high wear.

• Wheel blasting - quality consistent and so standardizable.

• Chemical - quality possible in a single plant, impossible in more than one due to Regulatory Liability.

• Laser - quality consistent and so standardizable.

Lean - the cheapest by TCO and OPEx is the only solution possible, the wheel blaster.

While standardization impacts in terms of guidelines in every aspect of these big corporations, the mold shop remains a hidden corner where each plant does on its own. Settling properly the process allows to control the cleaning OPEx, to land where TCO is predictable and consistent. Also, standardization as scalable corporation lead to real savings if arranged wisely for example with media getting benefit of better pricing due to quantities and indeed quality guaranteed.

Conclusions.

Molds (or moulds) are the real Asset of the glass container industry; treating them properly is a responsibility that always pays back. Many plants are already equipped with older wheel blasting units. A technical verification on-site by a skilled technician can be surprisingly beneficial to correct process deviations and get back on track. You can start here. If you need help evaluating options according to the LEAN approach: You can start here.

Thank You for reading all.

Summary of the analysis:

• Step A: molds as primary asset of a glassmaker.

  Clarifying importance of molds for glassmakers. Target: all people involved in glass industry from mold shop to corporate management.

• Step B: Molds impact on EBITDA.

  How cleaning of the molds impact on the P&L of a glass plant. Target: plant Managers and corporate management.

• Step C: Professional standard inside the mold shop.

  Technologies available and Lean manufacturing analysis. Target: mold shop Managers and Supervisors, plant Managers.

• Step D: financial analysis of the options available. this post.

  Summarizing all the results under Lean manufacturing. Target: plant and corporate management.

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