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Cycle time

Injection Molding Cycle Time: How It Drives Piece Price

Cycle time is the clock that runs on every shot. Tooling pays once; cycle time pays on every part.

Piece price clock

Cycle time is not tooling lead time

Injection molding cycle time searches belong in production economics, not in the tool build calendar.

NetProto does not publish cycle seconds on marketing pages. Cycle time is part specific and appears in production quotes after tooling and process are fixed.

Drivers

What influences cycle time offline

DriverTooling roleProduction role
Cooling layoutBuilt into steelSets wait time each shot
Wall thicknessDFM decisionAffects fill and cool
MaterialSteel compatibilitySets process window

Quotes

Tooling quote versus production quote

Tooling quote

  • Steel, cavities, cooling channels
  • Paid once
  • 10 business day build on qualified programs

Production quote

  • Resin, cycle, labor, packaging
  • Paid every order
  • Not published as site wide seconds

Design for shorter cycles

  • Uniform wall thickness where possible.

  • Draft and rib design per DFM review.

  • Gate location planned with cosmetics.

DFM link

Geometry drives both tooling and cycle

  • Design guide hub
  • DFM article
Molding machine cycle with part ejection

Related

FAQ

Cycle time questions

Can you publish cycle time?

No. It is part specific; use production quote.

Next step

Quote production after tooling

Upload CAD for the full program picture. NetProto manufacturing is ISO 9001 certified.