Micro injection molding, as the name suggests, is a molding process which requires a specific molding machine with high injection pressure and speed, precise shot control, and ultra fine resolution for molding small sized tools and parts. This technique is used for the development of small or micro products that require precise specifications. Micro injection molding is usually done for the parts that are designed with weight less than a milligram and size less than 1mm. Use of this technique is not limited to only small parts but may be used for large products which require micro sized features such as thickness, diameter hole, etc.

Silicone is the major raw material used for micro molding, owing to its physical and chemical properties. However, silicone is costly and impacts the profitability of molders. In order to reduce manufacturing cost, polymers came into existence in the 90s. Polymer based micro molded products find applications in almost all of the application areas where silicones are being used. Polymers are further classified as thermosets, thermoplastics and elastomers out of which thermoplastics are majorly used for various applications in end-use industries.

In the medical industry, micro injection molding is conducted to manufacture parts such as sensors, implants, tubes, catheter tips, micro optics and others. Molded products are slowly replacing machined components that have been used traditionally in the industry. The growing trend of small devices coupled with increasing number of minimally invasive surgeries per day has been boosting the demand for micro sized parts from medical device manufacturers. The key advantage of micro injection molding over micromachining is cost savings. Micro injection molding takes a fraction of time to mold the components and utilizes low cost raw materials compared to machining and results in high cost savings.

Medical and healthcare applications dominated thermoplastics micro molding market and accounted for 35% of the total market in 2012. The rapid development of micro fluidics technology mainly in North America and Europe is expected to drive the market for micro molding in medical and healthcare over the forecast period. Micro molding is used for manufacturing micro connectors in telecom fiber optics. Telecom fiber optics application is expected to exceed USD 95 million by 2019. Micro molding is used for manufacturing micro switches, connectors and airbag sensors in the automotive industry. It is expected to grow at an estimated CAGR of nearly 14% from 2013 to 2019. Global thermoplastic micro molding demand from drive systems and control is expected to reach over USD 89 million by 2019.

North America has been leading the polymer micro molding market and is expected to grow at a CAGR of approximately 14.5% between 2013 and 2019. The region is expected to experience high growth in minimally invasive surgeries during the forecast period hence leading to high components demand from the medical industry. Europe emerged as second largest polymer micro molding market and is expected to account for nearly 36% of the total market in 2019. Most of the developing countries such as India and China have been utilizing machined parts and conventional injection molding products. Since the awareness of micro molding technology is low in Asia Pacific, the end-use industries are still using machined products. Asia Pacific is expected to grow at an estimated CAGR of 14.6% from 2013 to 2019.

The global polymer micro molding injection market is highly fragmented with large number of small manufacturers. The market is mainly concentrated in the Western region such as North America and Europe. The key industry participants include Accumold, ALC Precision, Micromold Inc, American Precision Products, Makuta Technics, Micromolding Solutions, Micro Precision Products, Precimold Inc, Rolla AG, Rapidwerks, Stack Plastics, Stamm and Sovrin Plastics among others.