The Unrecognized Wonders of Plastic Overmolding

There's an episode in the second season of the NBC series, The Office, where salesma
Dwight Schrute sustains a concussion in a car accident and, at least for one day, is not his usual neurotic self.

In fact, at least for the course of one workday, Dwight is positively nice, a ray of sunshine around the show's fictional Scranton, Pennsylvania-based paper company Dunder Mifflin, the first and last time at least for the life of the series that Dwight functions in a playful, or anything other than domineering, eccentric role. It's a fun episode to watch, as so many episodes of The Office have been over the past seven years.

At one point in the episode, receptionist Pam Beasley is showing off a new iPod-like music player given to her for Christmas by her boyfriend. Dwight demonstrates the indestructibility of the player by throwing it to the ground, jokingly telling Pam after that her device is broken before presenting it to her in pristine condition. It's about the least Dwight moment ever who, it should be noted, breaks no less than two cell phones through the remainder of the series.

The thing that keeps Pam's music player from shattering into a myriad of different pieces when Dwight hurls it down? It's something known as overmolding.

Ever wonder what makes some plastic device indestructible? It's overmolding, the rubbery shield that wraps around the edge of some devices, be it CD players, iPhones, or any number of different music players. It's the equivalent of cheap insurance for a several hundred, if not multi-thousand dollar gadget, only an insurance policy that doesn't require filing a mountain of paperwork policy claims or meetings with sleazy brokers with multiple names and back alley offices. That alone ought to make overmolding more than worth its cost.

Uses for overmolding go well beyond the recreational techno-sphere, of course. The stuff has become a go-to item in the healthcare community with medical injection molding known to offer a range of benefits for those who rely on it. Among other things, medical overmolding cuts waste, boosts quality, increases throughput, and decreases overall production cost for many different medical devices. This is due, in part, to overmolding increasing the viability and lifespan of the devices that it protects.

Overmolding functions in the same way a lug nut can guard against the engine of a $60,000 sports car from burning up. It's like that coat of weather stripping on expensive, dual pane windows. It's the anti-theft device surreptitiously pinned to a pair of designer jeans Overmolding is like so many other items, really, that offer simple protection for premium items.

Medical practitioners trying to keep a clean treatment area need not worry about overmolding conflicting with this. The plastic coating is clean, sterile, and non-toxic, nothing that will compromise a patient's care. If anything, overmolding will enhance that care.

Overall, whether helping a fictional salesman make new friends or a doctor perform urgent care, overmolding probably doesn't get all the credit it deserves.