The strategic objective of the Des-MOLD project is to reduce the cost of injection-moulding production by developing and validating a set of knowledge-based tools specifically oriented to mould makers and plastic injection companies, which will reduce the need for mock-ups of moulds, and several try-and-error trials to calibrate process control variables. The production of plastic parts has moved from highly standardized molds, to a more customized demand with small batch production.

This has generated an increasing demand of molds and a new scenario: each injector company has the same volume requirements but much higher diversity of plastic pieces, and therefore, more different molds to handle. Des-MOLD leitmotiv is to build up a new generation of intelligent knowledge-based engineering systems for added-value injection molding and process control optimization at the design time, directly transferable and usable by the European Tool Makers community and thermoplastic injection companies, and considering as a whole the entire industrialization and production process.

Des-MOLD will uses as a main source, past empirical industrial experiences and simulation data to optimize, at the design time, the geometries of the pieces and moulds according to the desired features, material properties, and to the expected process control variables; modeling this domain and supporting reasoning about features. Artificial intelligence techniques such as case-based reasoning and computational argumentation will permit both the inference of quantitative and qualitative information based on a large variety of empirical data and the justification of each decision.

The proper use of Des-MOLD system will imply the reduction of set up time in at least 25%, reduction of scraps with a rejection ratio cut by a factor 2, and an overall increase of productivity of at least 15%. These factors will have a strategic effect on the sustainability of the European plastics industry competitiveness.