Games Workshop and Plastic Waste, Part 3 - Solution+

Before going on, some backstory  Prior to my last post I sent a letter to Games Workshop (a speculative job application, actually, CV and all). In that letter I told them there are two principle solutions to plastic waste. Before, there had only been one - recycling, as everyone, except GW it seems, knows about. Last time I described the second. 

I also want to say something about why I am keep mentioning Games Workshop in particular. Simple. They are pretty much a ubiquitous presence across the UK - a bit like Costa - whether it's their own stores or official independent stockists - and that makes them by far the biggest player in the hobby sector. And the biggest source of hobby plastic waste. 

OK. Now the Bonus Solution: re-design the cross-sectional profile of the sprue frame network. That's it. For the designers and engineers at GW, this will not be hard to do, but the outcomes can be far-reaching and will provide ideal complement to surface textures. 

Now a diagram, or rather my original sketches from a project book, since a picture tells a thousand words...

Lines of paired rivets would be really useful for scratch building industrial stuff, but they would be better combined with a thinner cross section - the current trapezoid is a bit chunky. A profile something like a 'T', or an 'L-bow' (like at the top the image), would be a lot handier for scratch building. Obviously,  every design profile has to accommodate release from the mold. I could go on but this is quite sufficient for today. Part 4 will round up, with some additional material.

To the management at Games Workshop, the guys whose main goal is to drive profit, it seems almost certain that their psychology is aligned with 'Time is Money'. In other words, if there is any extra time involved in producing something, it will result in a loss of money. 

How much profit would be lost if it took an extra, say, 20 minutes, to go once around a mold drilling little divots that will translate into rivets?  (Spoiler - none whatsoever)

Now, production pipelines are complicated for a large operation. GW is obviously large. But lets do a thought experiment about what would happen for a limited run product if it takes longer to mill the injection molds. 

After the designs are finished and signed off, the molds are milled, everything else is prepped for printing. With my suggested modifications in mind, lets say it takes an extra hour to mill an A5 sized sprue. Lots of sprues in an Indomitus box, big ones A4 sized, and I forget how many were in it. Lets say 6 x A4, so 12 x A5. And what does the extra time come to? 12 hours. Half a-fucking-day. Where, exactly, will the 'Time is Money' tenet manifest from that extra time? 

There is quite literally NO EXCUSE for not implementing waste reducing adaptations - nay, INNOVATIONS! - into mold making. 

~Jay

P.S. Seriously, I will be posting painting content soon.