Keith Jenkins, director of Sabre, said: “We are thrilled to be part of the Hi-Tech Group and are looking forward to the opportunities and added services this will bring to Sabre and its customers.”

The Series C funding round was led by Schooner Capital, a Boston-based private investment firm, joined by its largest existing investors, including Fine Structure Ventures, Foundation Capital, Corazon Capital, 11.2 Capital, and Build Collective.

Sabre is a manufacturer of technical injection mouldings and assemblies. Their moulding machines are all processor controlled and range in clamp size from 7 to 380 tonnes, with the ability to mould components weighing just fractions of a gram up to 1,500 grams. They have been operating since 1995 from their facility in Letchworth, Hertfordshire.

"Mantle is poised to revolutionize the global tooling industry," said Alexandra Manick, principal of Schooner Capital. "The company’s advanced manufacturing platform, TrueShape, is proven to deliver significant cost savings and, more importantly, unprecedented speed for its customers. This paradigm-shifting solution is readily adoptable and sorely needed to address persistent skilled labor shortages and accelerate product development timelines for industrial toolmakers and OEMs worldwide,” said Manick.

Tooling made via Mantle’s TrueShape technology have produced millions of parts while reducing both tooling lead time and cost. Image courtesy of Businesswire.

While job creation numbers grow, employers are scrambling to find skilled workers to fill those positions, and it’s only getting worse. More than two million manufacturing jobs could go unfilled by 2030, according to a study by Deloitte and the Manufacturing Institute.

Sabre Plastics Tooling will continue to operate independently under the ownership and leadership of Robin Stimson and the two businesses will cooperate and work closely together providing solutions to the customers of Sabre and Hi-Tech.

Neil Sibley, CEO of Hi-Tech, said: “I am delighted with the acquisition of Sabre, they have some innovative solutions, a complimentary range of customers and products, and are a really good fit with Hi-Tech.”

Heyco Products, a US-based manufacturer of wire protection products and electrical components, deployed Mantle technology for in-house molding and toolmaking.

Continued reshoring of manufacturing coupled with the skilled labor shortage in the United States has created a uniquely attractive business opportunity for Mantle’s TrueShape technology.

Investors are bullish on Mantle’s metal 3D-printing system that reportedly can slash tooling costs by more than 65% and development cycles by as much as 90%.

Business, not surprisingly, is booming: Last year saw double-digit growth in shipments, according to San Francisco-based Mantle.

Hi-Tech also has a strong presence in similar markets, served from its existing facilities in Waterlooville, Hampshire and Kosice, Slovakia. The addition of Sabre to the Group is anticipated to bring further benefits for customers and employees of both Sabre and Hi-Tech.

By focusing on printing tools for mass production rather than the parts themselves, Mantle said it has tackled the longstanding issues of high costs and lengthy production times associated with tool creation for mass production. This strategic shift has resulted in cost reductions for customers exceeding 65% and accelerated manufacturers' development cycles by up to 90%, it claims.

Mantle, an innovator in applying metal 3D-printing technology to the fabrication of precision tooling, reports that it has reached a significant milestone by securing $20 million in Series C funding. This raises the company’s total funding to more than $61.5 million and marks a crucial step toward widespread adoption of its precision metal manufacturing technology, the company said in the announcement.

Hi-Tech is part of Buckland Group and offers services from design and prototyping through to tooling, manufacturing of engineered plastic injection mouldings and logistics.

General Pattern, a fourth-generation, woman-owned low- to medium-volume plastics processor, adopted Mantle’s technology to enhance flexibility in building production tools at prototype lead times and minimize the need to build entire tools by toolmakers. Cost, lead time, and labor were significantly reduced: Using Mantle’s technology, the company was able to shave off 3.5 weeks of lead time in tooling fabrication and required just four active hours of a toolmaker’s time.

Beyond the sheer numbers, some of those jobs require a specific skillset and command commensurate compensation. Moldmaking is in that cohort, which is why Mantle’s technology is attractive to investors and customers alike. The TrueShape system reportedly delivers the accuracy, surface finish, and tool steel properties required for demanding tooling applications, while reducing tooling lead times and costs. Mantle has gathered some testimonials to back up that claim.

Editor in chief of PlasticsToday since 2015, Norbert Sparrow has more than 30 years of editorial experience in business-to-business media. He studied journalism at the Centre Universitaire d'Etudes du Journalisme in Strasbourg, France, where he earned a master's degree.

US government incentives and policies, such as the Inflation Reduction Act, along with geopolitical risks in various parts of the world that threaten global supply chains have buoyed near- and reshoring as well as foreign direct investment (FDI), according to a recent report from the Reshoring Initiative. The organization said that 2023 was the second highest year on record in terms of job creation linked to reshoring and FDI, adding 287,000 jobs based on its record keeping.

“We purchased a Mantle system for two reasons — to reduce time-to-market for our products and to make our toolroom more efficient while attracting next-generation talent to Heyco,” commented Vice President of Operations Danny Anthony. “By using Mantle to print mold tooling, we have already brought a new product to market two months faster than we would have otherwise. We also increased the throughput in our toolroom by giving our toolmakers access to the latest technology that makes them significantly more productive.”

Sabre will remain in its existing facility in Letchworth, and the current director, Keith Jenkins will remain with the business to enable a smooth transition.