MIM process is widely adopted in many industries. These industries are essentially in the high-volume, fast-moving, design-oriented and performance-focused sectors. They have exploited the MIM process to their advantage for performance, cost reduction and differentiation.

Electronic

The Electronic sector was the first to exploit the mass production capability of MIM in the mid 90s. With almost 30 million units of MIM latches produced for hard disk drives in a year in the mid 90s, MIM showed its commercialization viability and started the modern MIM era. Today, MIM applications were found in mobile phone stainless steel hinges, laptop hinges, liquid-cooled and passive heatsinks, miniaturized components of motors and micro-motors, etc. MIM production volume is capable of more than 5 million units per month and is still easily scalable.

Medical Device

The Medical Device industry was quick to exploit the MIM’s 3-dimensional and miniaturization capability. It was in the early 90s that orthodontic brackets were MIMed using stainless steel and ceramic materials. Designers of the endoscopic devices then moved into MIM jaws. Today, many consumables and one-off usage items in the medical industry are switching to MIM for its simplicity in molding complex geometry and shape.