【正文】 acy, and quality characteristics of products, thisstep defines the product with its geometricalcharacteristics, such as width, height, projectionarea, and weight.Step 2. Manufacturing facility analysis: Based on theinformation from Step 1, the most suitable injectionmolding machine is determined by checkingspecifications such as clamping force, shot volume,range of mold thickness, and daylight.Step 3. Modular design of injection molds: Through thedivision of mold function into several functionalmodules, the injection mold of a specific container can be rapidly and easily developed by modulestacking. Modules to be designed include malemold module, female mold module, hotrunnermodule, and others.Step 4. Product and unit coding: Each structural unit isassigned a ponent code, which is thenintegrated with the product characteristics to yielda product plex identification code. Consequently, mutually exchangeable units are availablein the product development stage. Furthermore, No. Title Code Specifications Materials Amount Auxiliary1 Cupshaped male mold base 62N L450 H450 T60 S55C 1 Heat treatment2 Cupshaped female mold base 192N L450 H450 T130 S55C 1 Heat treatment3 Clamping plate 32N L450 T50 ψ120 S55C 1 4 Manifold 42N L330 H90 T43 SKD61 1 5 Hot tip 21N ψ14 L90 Beryllium Copper46 Hottip bushings 23N ψ20 L60 FDAC 4 7 Cupshaped male mold insert 191N ψ150 H130 SUS420 4 8 Cooling unit of male mold 192T ψ90 H130 SDK11 4 Heat treatment9 Cupshaped base female mold insert 191N ψ150 H110 SUS420 4 10 Cupshaped female mold insert 192N ψ130 H20 SKD11 4 Heat treatment11 Leader pin 6115 ψ40 L260 SK3 4 12 Leader pin bushing 6121 ψ55 L100 SK3 4 Fig. 8 BOM of a cupshapedinjection moldInt J Adv Manuf Technol (2020) 53:1–10 7the code system simplifies mold maintenance andproduct management.Step 5. List of modular objects: According to thestructural specifications from Step 3, all ponents of an injection mold are listed in BOM. Forinstance, the BOM of a cupshaped injectionmold as an example is illustrated in Fig. 8. Thisstep facilitates ease of handling during thesubsequent quotation and production schedulingprocess.Step 6. Component drawing: Since dimensions of structural units are for semiproducts, the BOMinformation listed in Step 5 simply is the initialstage of mold design. Thereby, all structural unitsof an injection mold designed for customerrequirement and specification have to be drawnin the format of engineering drawing for engineering purposes.Step 7. Structural unit manufacturing: Following theinformation of BOM and ponent drawinggenerated in Steps 5 and 6, respectively, this stepenables the factory floor to further manufacturethe injection mold.Step 8. Mold assembly and inspection: This step inspectseach unit manufactured in Step 7 to assure moldquality. Based on the assembly drawing of a mold,the location of related modules and structural unitsis accurately assembled. For instance, Fig. 9presents the assembly drawing of a coffeecupinjection mold, which is used to confirm therelationship of each ponent.Step 9. Mold testing and mass production: After pleting the above eight steps, this final step isperformed to test the mold on the injectionmolding machine and implement mass production.5 Verification and discussionThis study employs a cupshaped beverage container toexperimentally assess the performance of the modulardesign approach. Since the specification of structural unitsenables preprocessing of the initial unit shape and onlyrequires local preprocessing to obtain precise dimensionsduring mold development, the total mold development timewill be significantly reduced. Table 1 lists mold development for a cupshaped container and reveals that the molddevelopment time employing a modular design is some36% less than with the conventional process. Whereas thestandardization of ponent specifications enabling batchpurchasing of materials which are bined with efficientmanufacturing and design, can reduce total manufacturingcosts. Table 2 lists mold development for a cupshapedcontainer and reveals that mold manufacturing costs whenemploying a modular design are reduced by 19～23%pared with the conventional process. In addition,employing modular design has other advantages such as:1. Increased diversity of customeroriented design: Modular design of beveragecontainer injection moldsinvolves dividing a mold into five key functionalmodules and 14 subfunctional structural units. Amutually patible interface among units is createdvia the specification and standardization of individualstructural units. Moreover, product families with variousfunction structures containing different types of coolingeffects in mold insert cooling unit and different types ofejecting effects in the injection unit are defined. Eachunit type is substitutable, facilitating product assemblyand disassembly, enhancing design flexibility, increasingproducer ability to adapt to market variation, andfulfilling various types of customer demand.Fig. 9 The assembly drawings of a coffeecup injection mold: a moldinsert, b female mold base8 Int J Adv Manuf Technol (2020) 53:1–102. Information provision to facilitate rapid product development: The use of coding system for standardfunctional modules and structural units enables theconstruction of a standard product development procedure. This procedure enables designers to quicklyfollow correct design steps and to further pletedetailed injection mold design.3.