At Dordan Manufacturing, we engineer and build all custom thermoform tooling in-house. As a fully integrated thermoformed packaging manufacturer, we maintain complete control over the design, prototyping, CNC machining, and assembly of all tools—ensuring faster lead times, tighter tolerances, and superior product consistency.
Thermoform tooling refers to the custom-built molds and components used to form heated plastic sheets into precise, repeatable shapes during the thermoforming process. High-quality tooling is essential for producing consistent, dimensionally accurate packaging—whether for medical devices, industrial components, or retail products.
At Dordan, we design and manufacture all thermoform tooling in-house to ensure:
Speed and Accuracy – CNC-machined aluminum molds and components deliver tight tolerances and repeatable results
Customization – Each tool is engineered for the specific part geometry, material, and forming method
Scalability – From prototype molds to multi-cavity production tools, our tooling supports projects of all volumes
Efficiency and Reliability – Features like temperature-controlled tooling, plug assists, and cutting dies are optimized for forming performance and cycle time
Because we control the tooling process from design to build, Dordan offers faster lead times, greater flexibility, and complete quality oversight—ensuring your packaging performs exactly as intended.
Our state-of-the-art tool shop allows us to design, machine, and assemble all prototype and production thermoform tooling under one roof. Unlike outsourced tooling models, Dordan’s packaging engineering department is fully responsible for developing both the thermoformed part design and the corresponding CNC-machined tooling. This direct integration results in a smarter, more controlled, and highly repeatable thermoforming process.
Dordan uses NX CAM programming and CNC machining centers to produce both 1-up prototype tools and multi-cavity production tooling. During the prototyping stage, our engineers develop and test the tool paths that will later be used for production tooling—eliminating translation errors and improving process consistency.
By replicating validated tool paths (step-and-repeat) from prototype to production, we reduce variation and improve quality assurance across the full production lifecycle.
We design and build all ancillary tooling components in-house, including:
Assist plugs
Pressure boxes
Water plates
Die build-ups
Trim headers
Locators
Movable undercut mechanisms
End-of-arm-tooling for robotic pick and place operations
These components are machined using the same NX CAM and CNC platforms as the form tools, ensuring compatibility and control throughout every phase of production.
Dordan specializes in the design and manufacture of cleanroom-specific thermoform tooling to support medical device packaging produced in our ISO Class 8 cleanroom. Cleanroom tooling is engineered with precision components and specialized features to ensure compliance with stringent regulatory and performance requirements.
Our cleanroom tooling capabilities include:
Tight-tolerance CNC-machined aluminum molds are designed for consistent forming of sterile barrier systems and other medical packaging.
Syntactic foam plug assists enhances material distribution and clarity for deep-draw or thin-gauge parts.
Heated steel rule cutting dies ensure clean, accurate cuts within the cleanroom forming environment
Tool designs optimized for sterilization compatibility supports downstream EtO, gamma, or steam sterilization processes.
Dedicated cleanroom tooling validation protocols that evaluate dimensional accuracy, repeatability, and cleanliness before production.
By integrating cleanroom tooling with our in-house design, forming, and quality control, Dordan ensures seamless, compliant production of thermoformed medical trays, blisters, and clamshells for critical healthcare applications.
All thermoform tooling is measured, verified, and quality-checked by the same team that developed the thermoform part design. Our process ensures:
Consistent part geometry
Calculated material shrinkage
Optimized form-to-cut alignment
Controlled material distribution and draw ratios
Our ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 13485:2016 certified quality management system governs all stages of tooling development, ensuring strict compliance, document control, and traceability.
All production tooling is customer-owned and stored in our temperature-controlled warehouse for ongoing maintenance, re-runs, and inventory tracking. We maintain and protect every tool as if it were our own — because we know consistent tooling equals consistent packaging.
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