3. Insert molded hearing aid chassis
This part begins as gold plated stamping, still on the strip. NN Inc.’s PEP Group then runs the parts through a reel-to-reel molding operation where a small amount of plastic is added to the component. Again, this is fragile, says Rapp. “The fragile fingers of the stamped part need to remain in place, or the part is no good. We have to control the dimensions and put the fingers in a very specific spot. Then we have to make sure the plastic injection process isn’t moving them out of position.”