In February 2024, K.D. Feddersen Holding GmbH, parent company of the internationally active Feddersen Group with a focus on the trade and production of engineering plastics, concluded a cooperation agreement with Toolplace GmbH. Toolplace offers digital solutions for the procurement of injection moulding tools that complement the Feddersen Group's portfolio.

The input screen is clearly organised, allowing the user to get results quickly (© Toolplace)

Toolplace GmbH, based in Sandhausen, Baden-Wuerttemberg, develops and operates a digital platform that connects injection moulding companies and toolmakers. According to the company, the enquiry software developed specifically for injection moulding tools enables project enquiries to be processed quickly and efficiently with existing suppliers, as well as providing access to additional suppliers from the toolmaker pool. Mouldmakers who are registered on the platform are put in touch with new customers without having to do any sales work in advance.

Christian Goetze, founder and CEO of Toolplace GmbH (© Toolplace)

"The digital procurement solution frees up capacity for our customers' employees so that they can focus on other projects. At the same time, the use of our supplier pool provides a broad insight into the market in terms of prices, delivery times and technical solutions, thus increasing the opportunity for injection moulding companies to win new projects," explains Christian Goetze, founder and CEO of Toolplace.

According to him, all suppliers are visited and technologically audited by the company's specialists, so that the right mouldmaker can be identified quickly and specifically for the relevant project, without the need for an own and usually very time-consuming strategic supplier search.

The Toolplace supplier pool includes mouldmakers for all sectors: Automotive, consumer, industry, white goods, medical or furniture. The portfolio ranges from micro injection moulding to mould sizes of 60 tonnes, from 1K injection moulding and injection compression moulding to cube moulds with complex sliding technology.

The cooperation between Toolplace and the Feddersen Group came about through the Group's own Corporate Innovation Lab "port F".

Silke Hamm, New Business Development Manager at port F (© K.D. Feddersen Holding)

Silke Hamm, New Business Development Manager at port F, explains: "Our colleagues from the group will be able to offer the Toolplace software to our customers in future, providing them with an innovative way to identify mouldmakers across regions, purchase tools digitally and save time and money during the tool procurement process. We are convinced that the European plastics industry of tomorrow will require smart and digital solutions in order to remain competitive. We are also happy to build on collaborations with external innovation drivers such as Toolplace."

The relatively young company Toolplace, which was founded in 2022, hopes that its collaboration with the Feddersen Group, particularly at a European level, will also help injection moulding companies outside of German-speaking countries with solutions that will enable them to better position themselves in international competition.

"In the Feddersen Group, we have found a partner who, like us, thinks innovatively, is intensively involved in digitalisation and wants to advance the plastics industry," says Christian Goetze.