PlastikCity on Tour: Inside JC Moulding’s Design-Led Approach to Low-Cost Injection Moulding

PlastikCity’s Will Clarke and Dan Russell recently visited JC Moulding in South Wales, to meet Technical Director Chris Fall and to learn more about the company’s distinctive approach to injection moulding, in-house tooling and flexible production.

Located in Brynmawr (translated as big hill, in Welsh), the area is often cited as the highest in Wales and is situated at the head of the South Wales Valleys, surrounded by picturesque green hills with a strong industrial history. 

The visit was hosted by Chris Fall, Technical Director at JC Moulding, and Nick Williams, Senior Marketing Executive for Peter Jones, JC’s parent company. During the visit, Will and Dan were given a tour of the moulding shop, toolroom, design facilities and wider site, gaining a closer look at how JC Moulding supports customers from early-stage product ideas through to production moulding, assembly and logistics.

JC Moulding’s roots date back to 1991, when the original business began trading from modest beginnings with a single milling machine and access to an injection moulding machine during evenings. The company grew steadily, moving through several premises before settling at its current site in 2001.

The business entered a new chapter in 2015 when the original founder retired. Peter Jones, a leading supplier of accessories for the emergency services, security and worker safety sectors, located in nearby Abergavenny, was JC Moulding’s largest customer at the time. A deal was agreed in 2015 for Peter Jones to acquire the business and continue production. Since then, JC Moulding has operated as part of the wider Peter Jones group structure, with shared ownership and continued investment helping to drive the business forward, and more recently, has sought to expand and promote its manufacturing offerings.

Today, JC Moulding operates from a two-acre site with more than 50 staff, 21 injection moulding machines, including two vertical machines, and a moulding machinery range from 25 to 250 tonnes. The business supports sectors including industrial, agriculture, construction, furniture, emergency services, security, hospitality, retail, leisure and product design, with a business model quite different to a traditional trade injection moulder.

A moulding business built around joined-up project control

What stood out during the visit was how closely JC Moulding links design, tooling and production within its own process.

The company designs, manufactures, repairs and maintains tooling on site, using its CNC toolroom and a modular insert-based tooling system developed to support faster, more cost-effective routes into injection moulding. Design support, tooling manufacture, sampling, validation, moulding, assembly, parts kitting, storage and logistics are all managed through the same business, giving customers a clear route from early concept through to repeat production.

For customers, the benefit is simplicity. Lower upfront tooling costs, shorter sample lead times and a single project team make injection moulding more accessible, particularly for companies that need production-quality moulded parts but may not be ready for the cost or commitment of a traditional tooling route.

Low-cost tooling, practical volumes and real production parts

JC Moulding’s tooling model is central to its offer. Rather than manufacturing a full traditional steel tool for every project, JC Moulding uses quick-change tooling inserts in a range of sizes. Tool layouts and cavity numbers are then optimised around the component, material, volume and customer requirement.

This approach can significantly reduce the initial outlay for a customer. Tooling can start from the low thousands of pounds, depending on the component, compared with the larger upfront investments often associated with traditional high-volume tooling routes.

The model is particularly suited to practical low-volume requirements, from hundreds of components upwards, as well as projects that may grow over time. For example, a customer may initially require 500 or 1,000 parts, then scale to 10,000 or 100,000 more once the product is established.

Because the tool is designed, built and maintained in-house, JC Moulding can also support design iterations and project changes without the complications of dealing with multiple suppliers. If a part needs to be reviewed, adjusted, sampled or validated, the relevant teams are already working together on the same site.

From product idea to moulded component

During the tour, Will and Dan saw a wide range of moulded parts and projects, including components for major supermarkets, interior design companies, Peter Jones safety products, electrical applications, wearable security products and overmoulded webbing strap components.

The variety of work reflects one of JC Moulding’s key strengths. The business is not set up for large, repetitive moulding programmes. Instead, it is designed to manage a varied mix of projects, often across many different sectors at once.

Chris explained that the company can have around 40 projects moving through design, sign-off or tooling at any given time. That project mix keeps the design and tooling teams close to the practical requirements of production, while giving customers access to a broad base of moulding experience.

The company’s process is especially relevant for customers who may not yet know the best route to manufacture. Some parts may be 3D printed, fabricated, pressed or made through another process, but once volumes increase or repeatability becomes more important, injection moulding may become the better option. Especially with JC Moulding’s model lowering tooling costs, which can be a large inhibitor to some manufacturing projects.

Investment in machinery, people and process

The visit also highlighted JC Moulding’s ongoing investment in machinery and people.

Chris explained that the moulding shop has changed significantly in recent years, with older machinery replaced by a more modern, energy-efficient fleet. The business now operates 21 moulding machines, including two vertical machines, and continues to review future machinery investments as customer demand develops.

The toolroom and design team have also grown. Chris described how JC Moulding has built a young, technically capable team by investing in people from the ground up, including apprentices, graduates and engineers with varied technical backgrounds.

The toolroom has seen particular investment in recent years – Chris Fall pictured with a HAAS VF Super-Speed vertical machining centre, a workhorse of the toolroom.

This approach is particularly important because JC Moulding does things differently from many traditional moulders. Rather than simply hiring people with decades of conventional moulding or toolmaking experience, the business looks for people with the right attitude, technical grounding and willingness to learn the JC Moulding way, and this different way of thinking brings benefits to its customers.

The result is a design-led manufacturing culture where engineers, designers and toolmakers work closely together. A design decision is not treated as separate from machining or moulding. From the first sketch, the team is already thinking about wall thickness, gating, surface finish, machining strategy, mould performance and production reliability.

That joined-up approach is one of the reasons JC Moulding can move quickly. For suitable fast-track projects, the company can take a concept through design, overnight machining, tool assembly and moulding in a very short timeframe.

Q&A with JC Moulding

Following the tour, Will spoke with Chris Fall and Nick Williams to learn more about JC Moulding’s history, tooling model and plans for the future.

Can you give us a brief overview of JC Moulding and how the company has developed?

Chris Fall: JC Moulding’s roots go back to 1991, although the business as it operates today really took shape in 2015 when Peter Jones acquired the company following the founder’s retirement.

That was a turning point for the business. There was more willingness to invest, modernise and look at where we could take the company next. Historically, JC Moulding was very much an industrial moulder, producing back-of-house components and not really putting itself out there. We didn’t even do a trade show until 2022.

That has changed. We now understand our niche much better, and we are more confident about the type of work that suits us. We are not trying to be everything to everybody. We know our tooling capability, we know our moulding capability, and we know where we can provide real value.

What type of work suits JC Moulding best?

Chris Fall: We are at our best when we can get involved early and influence the design, tooling and production process.

In theory, most moulders can say they can mould anything, but there is always a cost involved, and not every project suits every business. We look at a component and ask whether we can simplify it, whether it suits our tooling model, and whether we can make the overall process more efficient for the customer.

The ideal work for us is often in that middle ground. It might not justify a large traditional steel tool, but it still needs proper moulded parts, repeatability and a route into production. We are very comfortable with lower-volume and repeat production work, especially where the product may grow over time.

How does your tooling approach differ from a more traditional route?

Chris Fall: The big difference is that we do as much as possible in-house, and we use a tooling system that is designed around reducing cost, time and risk.

Rather than building a complete steel tool for every single project, we use quick-change inserts in different sizes. We then optimise the layout and cavity numbers based on the component and the expected volume.

For the customer, that means a lower initial outlay and a faster route to real moulded parts. You can get a real material, real production-style component in your hand without having to commit to a steel mould tool  from day one.

Tooling costs can start from the low thousands, depending on the part. That changes the conversation for a lot of customers because injection moulding suddenly becomes viable at volumes where they may have assumed it was out of reach.

What are the benefits of keeping design, tooling and moulding under one roof?

Chris Fall: It gives us control, and it makes the process simpler for the customer. The same internal team is focused on getting that part from concept through design and to a validated tool and approved mouldings.

Everyone is working towards the same goal: getting the part right first time and on time. The designer can speak directly to the toolmaker. The toolmaker understands how the part will be moulded. The moulding team is not receiving a tool from somewhere else and trying to make it work after the event.

That is where a lot of our value comes from. It is not just the tooling system on its own. It is the management of the whole chain, from design, to tooling, to sampling, to production, to assembly and support.

Can JC Moulding support customers who are currently using 3D printing or other low-volume production methods?

Chris Fall: Yes, and that is an area we are looking at more closely.

There are plenty of simple components being 3D printed because people assume they are only making 200, 500 or 1,000 a year, so they cannot justify injection moulding. In some cases, 3D printing is the right route. In other cases, particularly when parts need better repeatability, material properties, finish or production efficiency, moulding may make more sense.

Our model can help bridge that gap. It is not about replacing every 3D printed part, but it is about opening people’s eyes to what is possible when traditional tooling costs are reduced.

We are also looking at parts that may not have traditionally been moulded. Sometimes the opportunity is not just “can we mould this part?” It is “can we develop this component in a better way?”

How quickly can you move on suitable projects?

Chris Fall: It depends on the project, but because we control design, tooling and moulding internally, we can move very quickly when required.

For a suitable fast-track job, we can design in one day, machine overnight, assemble the tool the next day and mould parts. That is not the standard route for every project, and we still need to manage expectations properly, but it shows what is possible with the right process and the right team in place.

Most importantly, we can be flexible. If a customer has a specific deadline, we can look at the project and see which levers we can pull to speed things up. So we’re talking days, not weeks or months, to get up and running.

What role does investment play in JC Moulding’s growth?

Chris Fall: Investment has been a major part of the last few years.

When I joined, we still had a lot of older machines. We have since moved to a much more modern fleet, which has improved consistency, reliability and energy efficiency. That makes a huge difference to running costs but also to the quality and repeatability of the parts we produce.

We are also investing in the toolroom, the design team and our processes. We are looking at areas such as CAD automation, CAM efficiency, CNC capacity and how we can get more from the equipment we already have.

The site gives us room to grow as well. We have already expanded the facility, and there is further potential on the site for future development.

The company has also refreshed its branding recently. What was the thinking behind that?

Nick Williams: The rebrand was about presenting JC Moulding in a way that better reflects the business today.

The company has changed significantly, especially in terms of investment, capability and the confidence it now has in its own offer. The new branding and website give us a clearer platform to explain that message, particularly around low-cost tooling, in-house control and making injection moulding more accessible.

It also helps as JC Moulding becomes more active at exhibitions and in the wider market. The capability was already here, but the branding now gives the company a stronger and clearer identity.

What are the plans for the next stage of growth?

Chris Fall: The focus is on going after the work we know we are well suited to.

There is still capacity in the moulding shop, and we are continuing to look at where further machinery investment makes sense. We are also reviewing the CNC side, including whether a five-axis machine could add value in the future.

From a commercial point of view, we want to be clearer about the types of projects we can support. That includes customers looking for low-cost tooling, lower-volume moulded parts, design-led component development and a more joined-up route from concept to production.

We will also be exhibiting at Interplas and TCT, which gives us a good opportunity to speak to companies that may not realise injection moulding is a viable option for their volumes.

A different route into injection moulding

The visit gave us a clear view of a business that has developed a practical and commercially relevant alternative to conventional injection moulding routes.

JC Moulding is offering a complete in-house pathway for customers who need support with design, tooling, production and ongoing supply, without the traditional cost barriers often associated with injection mould tooling.

For companies producing components in the hundreds, thousands or beyond, JC Moulding’s model offers a compelling route to real moulded parts, lower upfront tooling costs and long-term production support from a single UK supplier.

Manufacturers looking for injection moulding support, low-cost tooling or help moving from prototype to production can find out more information, or reach out to JC Moulding via the company’s recently upgraded website: https://www.jcmoulding.com/ 

Look out for the next edition of ‘PlastikCity on Tour‘ to learn more about our excellent UK-based partners.

There are now well over 260 active partners represented on the PlastikCity site, many of which offer highly specialised products or services to our sector.

During our everyday course of business, we’ll be making a point of visiting as many of these partners as we can and using the time to better understand what they offer the market. We’ll then showcase them through this ongoing series of articles. Maybe you can benefit from their services!

Read more news from JC Moulding here.

JC Moulding Ltd
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