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CAD Automation at Mold-Masters

Software & Automation · Industry · 2023–Now

I work as an Automation Developer at Mold-Masters, where I build tools that automate CAD-heavy engineering workflows for hot runner and injection molding systems. I joined as a PEY intern, continued part-time through my final year, and now work full-time expanding internal automation tools used in real design and manufacturing workflows.

  • Role: Automation Developer (PEY intern to part-time to full-time)
  • Focus: CAD automation, workflow tooling, and internal engineering tools
  • Tech: JavaScript, HTML, VB.NET, Creo, SQL, and internal automation frameworks
  • Impact: reduced repetitive design work, improved consistency, and helped modernize legacy automation workflows

Context & role

Mold-Masters designs highly configurable hot runner systems, which means engineers often deal with many recurring modeling, drawing, and documentation tasks across similar product variants. A lot of that work was historically manual, making it time-consuming, repetitive, and more prone to inconsistency.

My role has been to turn those repeated engineering processes into reliable automation. I build parameter-driven tools that generate models, drawings, and related outputs from structured inputs, reducing manual effort while making the workflow faster and more consistent.

Over time, I also became involved in modernizing parts of the automation stack, helping move older CPS VB.NET logic toward newer JavaScript-based tooling. That work involved understanding legacy behavior, preserving expected outputs, and making the codebase easier to maintain and extend.

What I built

My work sits at the intersection of CAD, software, and implementation. Some of the tools and systems I have worked on include:

  • Parametric model generators: tools that create component and assembly variants directly from a small set of design inputs, reducing the need to rebuild similar geometry from scratch.
  • Drawing and BOM automation: scripts that populate title blocks, dimensions, and bill-of-material information more consistently, while reducing repetitive manual work and release errors.
  • Migration and modernization: tools that help move legacy CPS VB.NET automation toward newer JavaScript-based workflows, improving maintainability while keeping existing behavior consistent.
  • Data and reporting tools: internal scripts and small applications that query SQL data and generate reports for engineering and management, helping teams better understand usage, part variation, and workflow activity.

Collaboration & impact

A big part of making these tools successful was working closely with the people who actually use them. I spent time with design engineers, drafters, and manufacturing stakeholders to understand where the real bottlenecks were, how current workflows operated, and what would make automation useful rather than disruptive.

That meant iterating not just on backend logic, but also on the usability of the tools themselves, including input structure, default behaviors, validation, and error handling. This helped improve adoption, because the tools fit into existing engineering workflows instead of forcing users to work around the software.

The result was meaningful time savings on recurring tasks, improved consistency across generated outputs, and less manual rework in day-to-day design processes. It also gave me hands-on experience building technical solutions that had to be practical, maintainable, and trusted by real users.

What I learned

This role showed me how much leverage good automation can create inside an engineering organization. A well-designed internal tool can save large amounts of time, reduce error, and quietly improve the reliability of systems that feed directly into production.

It also strengthened my ability to work across software and engineering contexts at once. I became better at understanding complex design logic, translating workflow requirements into maintainable code, and building tools that are not just technically correct, but actually usable and valuable for the teams depending on them.

Tech & tools

  • VB.NET and JavaScript for automation tooling
  • Creo for parametric CAD workflows
  • SQL for reporting and engineering data queries
  • Internal CPS automation framework
  • Version-controlled shared scripts
  • Collaboration with design and manufacturing teams