End-to-end custom plastic injection molding from prototype to production using in-house presses, automated handling and process control. Thunderbird Molding supports thermoplastic and engineered-resin parts with multi-cavity tooling, insert- and over-molding, and scalable runs from short batches to high-volume production. Emphasis on repeatable tolerances, material expertise and automated inspection for consistent part quality and supply‑chain consolidation.

High-pressure injection of molten thermoplastic into precision-machined molds to produce net-shape parts with tight dimensional control and cosmetic finishes. Supports multi-cavity hot-runner tooling, engineered resins, over-molding and automated part handling for medium- to high-volume production.

Plastic Injection Molding

A plastic injection molding process where preformed components (usually metal) are placed into molds before molten plastic is injected, securely encapsulating the inserts within the finished part.

Insert Molding

A plastic molding process where an initial molded part or substrate is further encapsulated with another plastic layer, enhancing durability, ergonomics, or aesthetics.

Overmolding

High-precision injection molding targeting shot weights below 0.1 g and feature sizes down to 50 µm. Uses micro-screw or plunger systems, extremely high injection speeds, and advanced cavity-pressure control to reproduce intricate micro-scale geometries in thermoplastics or bio-polymers.

Micro Molding

Automated Robotic Part Removal integrates robotic arms and vision systems to de-mold and transfer parts directly from the press to downstream processes.

Automated Robotic Part Removal

Custom Injection Molding

In-house mold design, precision tool fabrication and full mold-building services for production and prototype tooling. Thunderbird provides CNC machining, EDM detailing, mold try-out and validation plus preventive maintenance and refurbishment to support ongoing production and tooling transfers. Focused on delivering production-ready molds optimized for cycle time, longevity and part performance.

Precision machining, EDM and surface finishing of steel or aluminum molds and transfer pots for rubber molding applications, delivered fully spotted, vacuum-tested and ready for press qualification.

Mold Fabrication (Tool & Die)

Custom Injection Mold Building delivers end-to-end mold fabrication services, including design translation, precision CNC machining of mold blocks, EDM detailing for fine features, heat-treatment, and assembly of steel, aluminum, and beryllium copper molds for thermoplastic injection molding.

Custom Injection Mold Building

Mold Try-Out & Validation involves test runs of new molds on injection presses to verify part quality, cycle times, and dimensional accuracy before full production.

Mold Try-Out & Validation

Schedules preventive cleaning, vent repair, cavity re-polishing and dimensional restoration of rubber molds between production runs. Internal capability reduces downtime, extends tool life and maintains flash-free performance.

In-House Mold Maintenance & Refurbishment (Rubber)

Utilizes additive manufacturing technologies to quickly fabricate tooling components, significantly accelerating prototyping, testing, and initial production phases.

Rapid 3D-Printed Tooling

Mold Design & Tooling

Design-for-manufacturability (DFM), prototyping and product development services that reduce cycle time and cost while improving producibility. Services include rapid prototyping (additive and soft tooling), formal DFM reviews, prototype development sprints and material/compound consulting to validate part form, fit and function prior to production tooling release.

Design-for-manufacturability and design-for-assembly consulting evaluates product designs for optimal manufacturability, assembly cost reduction and quality control. Experts deliver actionable reports on feature simplification, material selection, draft angles and assembly gauge strategies to reduce cycle times and scrap rates.

DFM / DFA Consulting

Rapid, multidisciplinary build of functional prototypes that bridge industrial design and engineering validation. Combines additive manufacturing, CNC machining, soft tooling, electronics integration, and functional testing in tight sprint cycles to prove form-fit-function and gather user feedback before production tooling.

Prototype Development (Concept-to-Function)

Accelerated fabrication of proof-of-concept or fit-check parts using additive manufacturing technologies such as FDM, SLA, SLS or PolyJet, delivered within 24–72 hours from CAD data upload.

Rapid Prototyping (Additive)

Material & Compound Consulting is a specialized technical service that assists manufacturers in selecting or formulating optimal elastomer or polymer compounds for specific application requirements. It involves evaluating performance criteria such as chemical resistance, temperature range, hardness, durometer, compression set, and dynamic behavior, and advising on suitable base polymers, fillers, plasticizers, curing agents, and reinforcements to meet regulatory and operational standards.

Material & Compound Consulting

Formal manufacturability review with cost-driver scoring, tolerance stack-ups and redesign suggestions.

DFM Analysis

Engineering, Prototyping & DFM

Comprehensive inspection, metrology and quality systems ensuring parts meet drawing, regulatory and customer requirements. Thunderbird Molding’s quality capability covers incoming, in‑process and final inspection, coordinate metrology, automated vision, PPAP/FAI documentation and certified QMS processes (ISO‑9001 and automotive/aerospace submission readiness) to support regulated industries and high-reliability applications.

Inspection & Quality Control (IQC) comprises the metrology, verification, and documentation activities that ensure parts conform to drawing/CAD requirements, customer specifications, and regulatory standards. IQC spans incoming, in-process, and final inspection and leverages coordinate metrology (CMMs and portable arms), laser/structured-light scanning, optical comparators and vision systems, surface-form metrology (profilometers, roundness/contour testers), nondestructive testing (NDT), and statistical process control (SPC). Results are captured in traceable reports (e.g., AS9102 FAIR, PPAP) tied to calibrated gauges and controlled environmental conditions.

Inspection & Quality Control

Preparation and submission of Production Part Approval Process packages (Levels 1-5) including control plans, FMEAs, dimensional results, material certs and capability studies to satisfy IATF 16949 requirements.

PPAP Documentation & Submission

3D Coordinate Measurement uses coordinate measuring machines (CMMs) or other 3D metrology tools to capture precise data points on a part’s surface, essential for verifying complex geometries and alignment.

3D Coordinate Measurement

Turnkey vision systems for measurement, presence/absence, OCR/OCV, code verification, and defect detection. Includes optics/lighting selection, enclosure design, trigger/encoder integration, results logging, and PLC/MES connectivity.

Machine Vision Inspection Systems

Implementation and maintenance of a certified QMS that meets ISO 9001:2015 and AS9100D requirements, providing full lot-level traceability of materials, processes and inspection data across the manufacturing lifecycle.

Quality-Management Certification & Traceability

Quality Assurance & Inspection

In-house secondary operations and finishing services to deliver ready-to-ship parts and assemblies. Thunderbird provides deburring, surface finishing, painting, printing/marking, assembly, hardware insertion and custom packaging—enabling supply‑chain consolidation and reducing downstream handling while maintaining lot traceability and cosmetic or functional finish requirements.

Secondary operations & value-added services encompass in-line or post-process tasks—deburring, tapping, assembly, labeling, special cleaning or final customization—that manufacturers perform in-house but typically do not sell as stand-alone services. This catch-all pillar groups low-visibility steps so buyers understand a supplier’s complete in-house capabilities without cluttering the primary taxonomy.

Secondary Operations & Value-Added Services

Surface treatment & finishing encompasses chemical, mechanical and thermal operations—tumbling, vibratory deburr, abrasive blasting, electropolishing, anodizing, chromate conversion, hard-chrome or nickel plating, powder coating, wet painting and ceramic or PVD/CVD overlays—that modify a part’s surface for appearance, corrosion resistance, wear protection or adhesion. Processes routinely achieve ≤ 8 µin Ra finishes, controlled coating thickness from 0.0001 in to 0.010 in and salt-spray performance exceeding 1 000 h to ASTM B117.

Surface Treatment & Finishing

Polishing / Grinding encompasses abrasive stock-removal and surface-refinement operations applied after rough machining or heat treat. Grinding with bonded-abrasive wheels (Al₂O₃, SiC, CBN, diamond) brings parts to final size, geometry, and flatness, routinely holding ±0.002 mm and roundness < 0.001 mm on hardened steels > 60 HRC. Subsequent polishing stages—belt, buff, super-finishing, micro-finishing, or lapping—reduce surface roughness to Ra 0.05 µm–0.20 µm, produce plateau finishes for bearing surfaces, or achieve mirror cosmetics before coating or plating. Coolant-flooded machines, automatic size-control gauging, and filtered oil or water emulsions ensure thermal stability and contamination-free finishes for aerospace, medical, mould-and-die, and precision fluid-power components.

Polishing / Grinding

Deposits protective clear coats—ranging from ultra-matte < 5 GU to high-gloss > 90 GU—using 2K polyurethane, acrylic, or UV-clear chemistries. Controls DOI, orange-peel, and hardness for scratch-resistant Class-A surfaces.

Clear / Gloss / Matte Top-Coat Finishing

Designs and fabricates custom nests, vacuum chucks, and rotary mandrels that orient complex 3-D parts for repeatable pad-printing contact angles while maintaining datum alignment.

3-D Part Pad-Printing Fixturing

Specialty production capabilities including additive manufacturing and controlled-environment molding/assembly. Thunderbird offers rapid additive prototyping and low-volume additive production, plus clean-room manufacturing options and validated processes for medical, aerospace and tight‑tolerance assemblies to support contamination-sensitive or complex applications.

Additive manufacturing produces parts directly from CAD data by selectively depositing, curing or sintering material layer-by-layer. Core modalities include FDM, SLA, SLS, MJF, DMLS and EBM. The process excels at rapid prototypes, topology-optimised lattices and low-volume production of plastics, elastomers and reactive metal powders, all while eliminating hard tooling, shortening lead-times and minimising material waste.

3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing

ISO Class 7–5 clean-room production integrates laminar-flow benches, ESD flooring, HEPA filtration (≥ 99.97 % @ 0.3 µm) and micro-particle monitoring to assemble, package and inspect medical, semiconductor and opto-electronic products. Processes comply with ISO 13485, IPC-A-610G Class 3 and EU GMP Annex 1 for bioburden and particulate control.

Clean-Room Manufacturing & Assembly

Manufacturing conducted within certified cleanroom environments to minimize airborne contaminants, ensuring compliance with strict ISO 14644 particulate standards. Critical for industries such as semiconductor, medical-device, and precision electronics manufacturing.

Cleanroom Manufacturing

Specialty Production & Additive Manufacturing

A global standard for quality management systems focusing on continuous improvement and customer satisfaction.

ISO 9001:2015

ISO 13485:2016 specifies requirements for a quality management system for medical device manufacturers, emphasizing regulatory compliance, product safety, risk management, and traceability throughout the lifecycle of medical devices.

ISO 13485:2016

Registration under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), 22 CFR §122, with the U.S. Department of State’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC). It authorizes a U.S. person or entity to manufacture, export, or broker defense articles, defense services, or related technical data listed on the United States Munitions List (USML), and is prerequisite to obtaining ITAR export licenses or Technical Assistance Agreements.

ITAR Registration

U.S. FDA clearance confirming that an additive used in food-contact packaging or processing equipment is safe under intended conditions of use, as demonstrated through a Food Contact Substance Notification (FCN) or applicable 21 CFR indirect additive regulation.

FDA Food Contact Substance (FCS) Clearance

The UL Listing Mark signifies that a representative sample of a product has been evaluated by UL to nationally recognized safety standards and found to be compliant. The mark covers a wide range of categories including electrical, fire-safety, and mechanical equipment, with ongoing factory surveillance to maintain listing status.

UL Listing Mark (General Product Safety Certification)

Evidence that an organization follows the AIAG Production Part Approval Process, ensuring that new or revised automotive parts and their associated production processes meet all customer engineering design and specification requirements before volume production begins.

Production Part Approval Process (PPAP) Compliance

The design, manufacturing, and assembly of components and systems for passenger cars, commercial and off-highway vehicles, rail rolling stock, and emerging electric/Autonomous mobility platforms. High-volume production, IATF 16949 compliance, JIT supply chains, and continuous innovation ensure reliable powertrains, safety-critical systems, and cost-efficient delivery across a broad transportation landscape.

Automotive & Transportation

Thunderbird Molding manufactures tight‑tolerance, high‑volume injection‑molded plastic components and assemblies — such as instrument panel bezels, interior trim, shifter knobs, keyless-entry housings, and conductive‑plastic parts — using large presses, robotic automation, and mold‑transfer services for automotive OEM, Tier‑1, and Tier‑2 applications.

The development, manufacturing, and supply of precision-engineered medical systems, devices, and critical components, including diagnostic equipment, surgical instruments, implantable devices, laboratory systems, and precision medical components. Emphasizes adherence to ISO 13485 and FDA QSR standards, traceability requirements, sterile processing, rigorous validation, and use of biocompatible materials such as titanium, stainless steel, and medical-grade polymers to ensure patient safety and clinical effectiveness across global healthcare settings.

Medical Devices & Healthcare Equipment

Thunderbird Molding produces precision, clean‑room capable injection‑molded medical components and assemblies — including small diagnostic device parts, insert‑molded subassemblies, and biocompatible polymer housings — leveraging tight‑tolerance molding, in‑house tooling, and validated finishing services for healthcare equipment and medical device use‑cases.

The design, manufacturing, and integration of high‐precision components, systems, and subsystems for commercial aircraft and military platforms, with emphasis on meeting stringent certifications such as AS9100, ITAR, and MIL‐STD. Priorities include advanced materials, rigorous quality assurance, and robust engineering to ensure reliability in mission‐critical applications.

Aerospace & Defense

Thunderbird Molding supplies precision injection‑molded parts and assemblies for aerospace and defense platforms — such as interior aircraft components, specialized polymer housings, and mission‑critical molded subassemblies — produced with rigorous quality controls, large‑press capability, and automation to meet aerospace/defense performance requirements.

Involves the fabrication and assembly of electronic components, semiconductor devices, printed circuit boards, and advanced microelectronics, as well as the manufacture of supporting mechanical components such as casings, enclosures, and structural parts. Cleanroom processes, ESD controls, precision machining, and adherence to industry standards (e.g., IPC, JEDEC) are critical for achieving high-density, high-performance products in mass-market, specialized, and ancillary applications.

Electronics & Semiconductors

Thunderbird Molding fabricates injection‑molded enclosures, precision housings, and over‑molded assemblies for electronics and technology applications — including PCB housings, connectors, and tight‑tolerance mechanical supports — using ESD‑aware processes, insert‑molding, and automated handling to support high‑volume electronics manufacturing.

High-volume manufacturing of household appliances, personal care devices, and durable consumer products. UL / CE safety, energy-efficiency targets, and cost-optimized injection molding and assembly lines meet global retail quality expectations.

Consumer Goods & Appliances

Thunderbird Molding produces consumer‑facing injection‑molded parts and subassemblies — such as appliance bezels, durable retail components, and finish‑critical plastic goods — utilizing design‑for‑manufacture, automated molding cells, and finishing services to deliver reliable, retail‑ready consumer products.

Thunderbird Molding is a U.S.-based custom plastic injection molding company operating multiple state-of-the-art facilities across the United States. We supply precision injection-molded parts and assemblies for medical, automotive, aerospace, military/defense, industrial, technology, and consumer markets. Certifications and compliance listed on the site include ISO 9001:2015, ISO 13485:2016, ITAR registration, FDA registration for an ISO 7 clean room, UL QMMY2 listing, and PPAP/SPI compliance. Capabilities documented include tight-tolerance molding, large-press molding up to 1,500 tons, clean-room molding and assembly, in-house mold design and repair, two-shot and overmolding, extensive materials expertise, automation and assembly, and metrology and quality systems (IQ/OQ/PQ, FMEA, multi-sensor metrology).

Corporate mailing and contact address listed for Thunderbird Manufacturing/Thunderbird Molding. The website lists this Oak Brook address (900 Commerce Drive, Suite 150) as the corporate mailing/contact address for the Thunderbird group.

Thunderbird Corporate Office

U.S. custom plastic injection molder serving medical, automotive, aerospace, defense, industrial and consumer markets with clean-room and large-press capabilities.

Thunderbird Molding

Precision Plastic Injection Molding

Custom Injection Molding

Processes & Services

Business Entity

Locations & Facilities

Technical Capabilities

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