Home Customer Service Engineering Human Resources Careers Manufacturing Quality Products Contact Engineering   Lakeside Engineering Mission: "To exceed our Customers' expectations and maximize sales growth. We achieve this by: Working as an extension of each Customer's Engineering Department Managing Program & Projects to exceed all milestone events and anticipated outcome Providing all levels of Engineering service in a manner that results in increased sales        Tooling Management Lakeside Plastics prides itself on supplying quality parts to all of its Customers. The first and foremost way to provide quality parts is to start with quality tooling. Lakeside tooling is manufactured only by top ISO 9000 registered Companies. Tooling suppliers go through a precise supplier evaluation process before they are accepted onto our Preferred Supplier List. Requests for quotations to our tooling suppliers are based on a highly developed set of tooling standards. Tooling sources are chosen based on a combination of cost, timing, and reliability along with their individual expertise in specific areas. Our Team reviews all tool drawings with the tooling source from concept to final prints before molds construction begins. All tool builds are tracked by time lines and are incorporated into our master program time line. This time line is updated weekly and sent to our Customers' facilities. Our Program Manager follows each tool from first design concept until parts and molds are retired. All molds have regular maintenance between 25,000 and 30,000 cycles. All maintenance is logged in each individual program file. In addition to new programs, Lakeside has extensive experience with take over business and production ready tooling. Before we run any mold in our new production environment, it goes through rigorous scrutiny by our Mold Maintenance Department. Each mold is disassembled and every component is inspected. All the findings in this procedure are documented and any special component or issue is photographed and categorized for future reference or maintenance consideration. Each Customer will receive a report on the current mold status and any recommendations that will preserve or extend the expected tool life. Lakeside gives tooling its highest priority because we believe precise parts can only be produced with precise tooling. Along with managing quality built molds, our Tooling Engineers have another important role in the product assembly process. Lakeside has many product lines that require secondary operations that ultrasonically weld, heat stake, or otherwise assemble components. This on-line assembly is done with fully automated assembly machines. Our Tooling Department is up-to-date on the latest technology in robotics, pneumatics and hydraulics. This knowledge, along with years of experience in assembly equipment, insures each product is manufactured with the best possible combination of time and labour. As with our molds, all secondary fixtures and equipment are built to detailed tooling standards, supplied to all our vendors on initial conceptual meetings.    Product Design We are not just a molder of plastic parts. The Product Design function allows us to work with our customers as a full-service supplier, capable of the design and development of functional assemblies and mechanisms. Our design team has a wide range of experience in Automotive and Industrial products including stampings, casting, fastener, springs and other componentry. Using the power and sophistication of Unigraphics as our primary design tool we produce 3D assemblies, solid models and surface models suitable for Rapid Prototyping, Structural Analysis and Virtual Mockup. Designs are optimized for moldability using Moldflow Analysis to find and correct molding issues before they become expensive tool changes. The Moldflow analysis predicts the location of sink, knit lines, air traps and fill characteristics. As part of the complete development process, designs are evaluated using Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DFM/A) techniques and Design Failure Mode Effects Analysis (DFMEA) prior to tool build ensuring that the design is manufacturable and robust. Using these techniques ensures a successful product launch with potential issues recognized and addressed early in development. The ability to handle data in various formats such as IGES, Parasolids, STEP, VRML, STL, DXF, DWG, PRT and others gives us the flexibility to communicate with a multitude of CAD platforms.   Program Management As a result of our high-quality standards, we are a supplier to OEM accounts and major Tier 1s. Our successful team management consists of Program Managers who are involved in taking projects from conception through design, programming, detailing, and manufacturing. Successful team management involves internal and external customer engineering relations, tracking open issues, tool follow up, engineering change feasibility, quoting and PPAP participation. Engineering works closely with other departments to ensure we develop the best processes and products we can. We at Lakeside pride ourselves on excellent organizational skills and the ability to beat tight schedules and budgets. Our courteous and experienced people are committed to total customer satisfaction. Cost Estimating: Dedicated professionals in the Cost Estimating Department are brought together by a common commitment to providing our customers with the best value propositions. Our team has backgrounds in Mechanical Engineering, Mold Design, and Molding. Working closely with the Sales Team, Tooling Manager and Quality Department, the Cost Estimating Department provides quotes on future work, and re-quotes current jobs for engineering changes. For each Customer Request for Quote, the Team addresses the part requirements, tooling, design, components, material, part delivery, tooling capacity and packaging, providing accurate costs in a timely manner. The Lakeside Cost Estimating Team is committed to providing our Customers with prompt, competitive quotation responses.