A system of manufacturing equipment including molds for a direct injection production of footwear. The system includes a design facility that provides a design. A mold manufacturing facility manufactures a mold for the design for molding a sole of the footwear. A last manufacturing facility manufactures a last of the design. A footwear manufacturing facility manufactures footwear according to the design. The last corresponds to the footwear design and the mold corresponds to the footwear design. The mold is a basic direct injection mold and at least partly channels injection material to a mold cavity and further accommodates direct injection mold inserts. Mold descriptive data of the mold inserts is communicated to the footwear manufacturing facility to manufacture the mold inserts, or the mold inserts are manufactured at the mold manufacturing facility based on the mold descriptive data and transported to the footwear manufacturing facility.

A process for fabricating shoes having an outer cork sole insert includes processing raw cork into sheets of predetermined thickness, adhering a thin fabric sheet to one side of the intermediate cork sheets, cutting out cork/fabric sole inserts and placing them into an injection mold, and cycling the plastic injection mold so as to form a cork insert into the plastic sole.

An apparatus for molding articles includes a first mold carrier configured to angularly displace relative to a fixed structure from a first molding position to first accessing position and a second mold carrier traveling with the first mold carrier and configured to angularly displace relative to the first mold carrier from a second molding position to a second accessing position. The first mold carrier may be pivotably coupled to the fixed structure; the second mold carrier may be slidably and rotatably coupled to the first mold carrier. A third mold carrier may be provided, and the second mold carrier may be located between the first and third mold carriers. An articulation mechanism may be provided to control relative motion of the second mold carrier relative to the first mold carrier as the first mold carrier pivots relative to the fixed structure. A method for molding articles is also provided.

A system of manufacturing equipment including molds for a direct injection production of footwear. The system includes a design facility that provides a design. A mold manufacturing facility manufactures a mold for the design for molding a sole of the footwear. A last manufacturing facility manufactures a last of the design. A footwear manufacturing facility manufactures footwear according to the design. The last corresponds to the footwear design and the mold corresponds to the footwear design. The mold is a basic direct injection mold and at least partly channels injection material to a mold cavity and further accommodates direct injection mold inserts. Mold descriptive data of the mold inserts is communicated to the footwear manufacturing facility to manufacture the mold inserts, or the mold inserts are manufactured at the mold manufacturing facility based on the mold descriptive data and transported to the footwear manufacturing facility.

A molding process according to one embodiment of the present disclosure includes injecting a first molding material into a mold cavity of a mold, the mold cavity formed by at least a mold cavity portion of a first platen and a second platen when the first platen is in contact with the second platen; opening the mold by separating the first and second platens; placing a second molding material at the first molding material while the first molding material remains with the first platen or the second platen; sealing a space between the first and second platens; removing a gas from the space while the space is sealed; and closing the mold while the space is sealed.

A mold system, mold opening apparatus, and method. The mold opening apparatus can include a mold carrier member, a vertical movement mechanism, a rotational movement mechanism, and one or more mold engagement mechanisms.

A molding system for direct injection manufacturing of footwear. The molding system includes a mold cavity for receiving injection material for molding a sole part of the footwear. The system further includes a plurality of basic direct injection molds, each of which is attachable to injection molding equipment, and a plurality of sets of direct injection mold inserts, each set of direct injection mold inserts being configured to define at least part of an inner surface of the mold cavity when inserted in one of the plurality of basic direct injection molds. At least two of the plurality of basic direct injection molds differ from each other in size, corresponding to different ranges of sole part sizes.

A system including an injector, a press, and a robotic conveyance is used to form a physically foamed article of footwear component from a single-phase solution of a polymeric composition and a supercritical fluid. The parameters and features of the system are configured for the formation of the footwear component in an automated manner with enhanced throughput by the system.

Tooling and components of an injection-molding system may be used to mold a foam article. The tooling and components may include features that control parameters of the injection-molding and foaming process, such as temperature, pressure, shot size, shot placement, and the like.