"Molding cycle" is an index for evaluating the production capacity of injection molding.
A molding cycle is the unit of time from starting one injection molding operation until it is ended.

In more concrete terms, a molding cycle consists of the following.

Molding cycle (seconds / shot)　＝　Mold closing time
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　＋Filling time
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　＋Holding (packing) time
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　＋Cooling time (including the charging time)
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　＋Mold opening time
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　＋Product taking out time

As the molding cycle becomes shorter, it becomes possible to increase the quantity of production of the molded product per unit time.

Example:

Consider that there is a mold whose molding cycle at present is 10 seconds. By modifying the cooling circuit of the mold, the cooling efficiency was increased, the cooling time was reduced, and as a result, it was possible to make the molding cycle 9 seconds.
What kinds of factors are involved in this case?

Example Answer:

Since the molding cycle was reduced from 10 seconds to 9 seconds, it became shorter by 1 second.
Although it is merely 1 second, if we think of it as a rate of change, it becomes -

Rate of change＝（10−9）seconds / 10 seconds ×100
　　　　　＝10％

And hence the productivity is improved by 10%.

If a large number of pieces are obtained from a mold such as 12 or 24 pieces per shot, and if there are many similar molds, the productivity of the entire factory will be improved by 10%, and when converted into money in terms of the production cost, it can become a very large amount.
In other words, evaluating the molding cycle directly results in strengthening the profitability of the factory, and not merely reducing by 1 second but leading to an extremely large good effect.
Therefore, in the design of a mold, it is very important to consider at all times by how much the molding cycle can be shortened.
In addition, it is also very important that the mold designer estimates the target molding cycle.
An excellent mold designer always estimates the target molding cycle.