Skip to content 
TK Capabilities at a Glance
Every capability below has its own page with the details, the TK examples and a planning tool. Pick the one that matches your program, or use the mold program planner further down to get pointed to the right ones.
Industries TK Tools For
From RFQ to Start Up: How a TK Mold Program Runs
Most of the risk in an offshore mold is in the handoffs: between your engineers and the toolmaker, between design and the steel, and between the trial in China and the start up in your plant. TK runs the program in one sequence with one project manager, and TK’s project managers average 15 years with the company.
Built to Demanding North American and European Standards
TK machines molding inserts to 0.002 mm in temperature and humidity controlled workshops, so parts are held to the machining data and inserts go together without hand matching or flying the mold. That is what makes cavities interchangeable on a 128 cavity mold and what keeps a spare insert a drop in replacement years later.
TK Group Mold Making Equipment
| Machine | Qty |
|---|---|
| CNC milling machines | 125 |
| 5 axis CNC milling machines | 21 |
| EDM machines | 62 |
| Wire EDM | 22 |
| Grinding machines and CNC jig grinders | 59 + 5 |
| High precision hard turning and lathes | 3 + 7 |
| CMM | 21 |
| Trial presses, 2K included | 18 (6 are 2K) |
| Flexible automatic production lines | 8 |
From TK Holdings’ 2026 presentation. Machine brands in TK’s shops include Röders, Yasda, Makino, Agie Charmilles, Hauser and Studer.
Steel, Components and Hot Runners
- Tool steel from ASSAB, GMH Gruppe and Schmolz+Bickenbach, checked on arrival by spectral analysis and hardness testing.
- Standard components from HASCO, DME and Meusburger, the same catalog parts North American mold shops already stock.
- Hot runners from Synventive, HRS, Incoe and Milacron, matched to the resin and the gate.
- Mold base and plate work on machines with up to 3.2 m by 3.0 m by 0.8 m of travel in TK’s automotive tool shop.
See the custom injection mold tooling page for steels, mold classes and build options.
Conformal Cooling with 3D Metal Printing, and RHCM
Straight drilled water lines cannot follow a deep core or a curved wall, so the steel runs hot where the line cannot reach and the cycle waits for it. TK prints cooling inserts in house with channels that follow the part, and uses rapid heat cycle molding where the surface has to come out of the mold finished.
Conformal Cooling at TK
- In house printing on a 3D Systems DMP 350 in maraging steel 1.2709, 33 to 37 HRC as built and 50 to 56 HRC age hardened, polished to SPI A2.
- Up to 35% shorter cycles, with less warpage from even cooling.
- Documented: a 12+12 two shot flip top cap mold went from 21 s to 17 s.
- Print size up to 275 by 275 by 420 mm per insert, and diffusion welded inserts as a second route.
More on the conformal cooling page, with a savings calculator.
2K and 3K Multi Shot, LSR, Insert Molding and IMSE
Molding two materials in one mold removes a bonding or assembly step and puts the soft grip, seal or second color exactly where the design wants it. TK builds the molds and runs them: 60 of TK’s molding presses are 2K, 3 are 3K and 32 run liquid silicone rubber.
- 2K and 3K: hard and soft bonding for grips and seals, and two color parts, with multi shot molds run on TK’s own 2K presses. More on the multi shot page.
- LSR overmolding onto engineering plastic, metal or glass.
- Insert molding of metal, glass, ceramic and circuit board inserts, sealed to IP68 with air leakage control up to 7 bar.
- Injection compression to lower internal stress and even out wall thickness.
- IML and IMD for dead front panels, graphics, waterproof windows and conductive circuits.
In Mold Structural Electronics (IMSE)
With IMSE, developed with TactoTek, circuits and components are printed and mounted on a film, the film is formed, and plastic is molded around it. TK’s IMSE example compares a conventional electronics assembly with the molded part:
Molding, Secondary Processes and Production Bases
TK does not hand the mold off and walk away. The same group molds, decorates and assembles parts on 503 presses, most of them high speed and electric machines from Europe and Japan, and runs 7,000 tons of resin a year through them. For large automotive molds TK tries out on presses up to 2,800 T.
Molding presses by clamp force, 503 in total. By type: 343 horizontal, 40 vertical, 60 two shot, 3 three shot, 32 LSR and 25 high speed.
| Base | Work | People | Floor space |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shenzhen, China | Mold making (2,000+ molds a year), molding, spray painting, secondary processes | 3,600 | 180,000 m² |
| Huizhou, China | Molding, LSR molding, spray painting | 550 | 38,000 m² |
| Suzhou, China | Mold making, molding, secondary processes | 400 | 23,000 m² |
| Vietnam, near Hanoi | Molding, tool repair, secondary processes | 200 | 10,000 m² |
Quality, Labs and Certifications
TK inspects 100% of critical dimensions on CMM with a pass rate of 99.8% or better, and has held CPK above 1.67 on 200+ control dimensions of precision molds. The lab covers dimensional, electrical, appearance, reliability and material testing, including CMM, CT, white light interferometry, salt spray, thermal shock and drop testing.
What TK’s Lab Tests
- Dimensional: CMM, OMM, CT, profile scanner, white light interferometer, roughness and coating thickness.
- Electrical: vector network analyzer, resistance scanner, battery testing and DC low resistance.
- Appearance: CCD inspection, color, gloss and lens transmittance.
- Reliability: xenon arc, UV aging, thermal shock, temperature and humidity, salt spray, drop and vibration.
- Mechanical and material: push pull, torque, ball impact, abrasion, hardness, melt flow index, moisture, XRF and infrared spectroscopy.
TK publishes an ESG report each year, holds ISO 14064 carbon verification, was rated B in the CDP 2025 climate assessment and is in the top 35% of companies rated by EcoVadis. Full details on the quality and certifications page.
Interactive Mold Program Planner
Enter your annual volume, the cycle time you expect and how many hours the mold will run. The planner works out how many cavities you need, picks a practical cavity layout, shows the spare capacity it leaves, and points you to the TK capabilities that fit your part. Open “Show the math” to check every step.
Show the math
A first estimate for planning. The cavity layouts are common practice, not a TK quote. Cycle time, the right cavitation and the mold type are set in DFM with Moldflow, and depend on part size, wall thickness, resin and the press. Default numbers are an example only.
Technical Sourcing FAQ: TK Capabilities
Request an Upfront Engineering and DFM Review
Send your 3D CAD model, resin and annual volume to Brandon Henderson, Technical Sales Support Manager for the Americas. He will review draft, gating, cooling and cavitation with TK’s engineers and come back with a mold plan.