Hasco, Arburg, and Polar-Form win tool and mold making category with Domino 2K injection molding project
Hardware
Originally reported by polyformnext.de
Hasco, Arburg, and Polar-Form have won first place in the tool and mold making category of the "Products of the Year 2026" reader poll for their collaborative Domino project. The core innovation is a new tool concept for in-situ two-component (2K) injection molding that replaces traditional cube tools or rotary plates with a 3D-printed hot runner system integrated into a compact family mold. According to Sebastian Hohenauer, R&D Manager at Hasco, and Dieter Göppert, Managing Director of Polar-Form, the approach enables shorter cycle times, smaller machine footprints, reduced space requirements, and more economical production overall. The project was presented as a cross-industry impulse initiative demonstrating how cooperation and additive manufacturing can strengthen competitiveness in modern mold making.
This win is significant for the industrial tooling segment because it validates a practical, production-ready application of polymer AM - specifically, additively manufactured hot runner systems - within the conservative and precision-driven mold making industry. Rather than pushing for higher throughput or larger build volumes, the Domino project focuses on process integration and cost reduction, addressing the core economic pain points of tool and mold making: cycle time, machine size, and capital efficiency. The collaboration between a standard parts supplier (Hasco), a machine builder (Arburg), and a mold maker (Polar-Form) mirrors the value-chain cooperation that is increasingly necessary to move AM from prototyping into serial tooling applications. The project also highlights how 3D-printed hot runners can enable more compact family mold designs, a frontier that has seen limited commercial deployment compared to conformal cooling channels.
From a practical standpoint, the Domino project shows that 3D-printed hot runner systems are moving beyond lab demonstrations into validated, award-winning production concepts. For mold makers evaluating AM adoption, this provides a concrete reference point for cycle time and cost improvements in multi-material injection molding. The key execution challenge for Hasco and Polar-Form will be translating this single-project success into repeatable, commercially available solutions that can be adopted by other tool shops without extensive custom engineering. The award signals industry recognition, but the real test will be whether the concept scales beyond the domino-shaped demonstrator part into broader production environments.
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