Mold transfers: which records go with the tool when a customer moves it

What has to go with the mold, and what can stay?#

A mold transfer moves the physical tool and the documents the customer paid for or needs to prove ownership, while the molder keeps records that describe its own methods. The hard part is the middle group: records the molder created while running the tool that the customer or the next molder would like to have.

The table shows the usual position for each record type. Treat it as a starting point, because your tooling agreement, PO terms and any quality agreement can move a record from one group to another.

Start with the tooling agreement and PO terms#

The tooling agreement is the first document to pull, because it usually says who owns the tool, how it was paid for and what happens when the customer moves it. Tooling paid outright, tooling amortized into the piece price and tooling built under a separate quote can each carry different return terms.

Read the customer's PO terms and conditions too, since many include tooling and confidentiality clauses that override the quote. Some states have lien laws for molders and toolmakers that can affect release when invoices are open, and the rules differ, so ask counsel before refusing or conditioning a release.

• 1Ownership and title: who owns the steel, inserts and any purchased design files.
• 2Payment status: whether tooling was paid in full or amortized and still has a balance.
• 3Return or relinquishment: notice period, last-time build and who arranges freight.
• 4Condition on return: what counts as normal wear versus damage.
• 5Documentation: whether process sheets, maintenance logs or monitoring data must be provided.
• 6Confidentiality: return-or-destroy obligations for drawings and specifications.

Process sheets: negotiable, and worth protecting#

Process sheets are usually created by the molder on its own presses, so they are negotiable unless the contract says the customer owns them. They capture barrel temperatures, injection profiles, hold pressures and cooling times that took your process engineers real work to settle, and a competitor receiving them saves that effort.

Treat them as confidential if you want to protect them. Under the Defend Trade Secrets Act, information is a trade secret only if its owner takes reasonable measures to keep it secret, and DOJ guidance cites examples such as limiting access on a need-to-know basis and requiring confidentiality agreements. Sending full process sheets to every departing customer without terms may work against that position.

Common middle grounds are a one-page starting process with key parameters, a handover under NDA, or a paid transition service where your engineer supports the first runs at the new molder. Whatever you choose, record what was shared and with whom.

Maintenance history and shot counts#

Maintenance history is the record the customer and the receiving molder most often need, because it shows the tool's real condition. Preventive maintenance logs, repair tickets, steel welds, insert replacements, engineering changes cut into the steel and cycle counter readings tell the next shop what to expect.

A summary usually serves the purpose better than raw logs. List the dates and nature of repairs, the current counter reading, open issues such as flash on one cavity, and any steel-safe changes. Keep your internal labor hours, technician notes about other tools and repair costs out of the package unless the agreement requires them.

Approvals tied to your presses usually do not travel. The receiving molder typically has to requalify the tool on its own equipment, through first article inspection, a capability study or a PPAP resubmission depending on the customer's requirements, so tell the customer early which of your approvals will not carry over.

Document the mold's condition before it leaves#

A departure condition report protects both sides from later disputes about wear, damage or missing components. Prepare it with the customer's representative present or watching on a call, and get it signed before the mold is loaded.

• 1Run last-shot samples from every cavity and label them by cavity number.
• 2Photograph the parting line, cavities, cores, ejector side and water fittings.
• 3Record the cycle counter reading and attach the maintenance summary.
• 4Test water lines for flow and leaks, and check hot runner zones and thermocouples.
• 5Inventory spare inserts, electrodes and components shipping with the tool.
• 6Note known issues and the last approved revision run in the tool.
• 7Confirm rigging, crating and freight responsibility in writing.

Illustrative: a molder releases an appliance housing tool#

Illustrative: a fictional custom molder making appliance housings receives notice that a customer is moving a four-cavity tool to another molder. The quality manager pulls the tooling quote, which shows the customer bought the tool and its design files, and the PO terms, which require return of drawings but say nothing about process data.

The molder ships the mold, the customer's drawings, the purchased design files and a maintenance summary with the counter reading. It offers a one-page starting process under NDA and declines to share its cavity pressure archive and cycle studies. Last-shot samples and photos go into a signed condition report, and when the new molder later reports flash on one cavity, the report shows the issue was already noted at departure.

What stays behind, and how SourceX looks at it#

After the mold leaves, your records about how you ran it stay with you: maintenance logs, downtime, scrap, NCRs and process monitoring history. With customer drawings, part numbers and identifying details removed, those records describe your own operating expertise across many tools and years.

SourceX reviews that kind of history through the SourceX five-step transaction of Supply, Rights, Preparation, Approval and Delivery. The Rights step checks tooling agreements, PO terms and NDAs before anything is scoped, Preparation removes customer-owned designs and identifiers, and the SourceX Evidence Packet records what was licensed and who approved it.