In-mold decorating enables Motorola to provide consumers with a durable 'hard key feel' and indestructible graphics. The award-winning series of StarTAC phones is not only the highest quality line of cellular phones available from Motorola, but also among the lightest in the world today. The miniaturization movement is the driving force behind Motorola's mission to build smaller, thinner, lighter phones with advanced features such as its built-in answering machine. Joe Luniak, mechanical engineer for Motorola's European Cellular Subscriber Group, Libertyville, Illinois, said, 'Consumer preference was one of the key factors that dictated the design of our StarTAC wearable phones.
Consumers find smaller, lighter phones less obtrusive and easier to carry and wear.
Serigraph engineers worked with Motorola to develop the tools and technology needed to meet the program's objectives. Hard keys with a strong tactile feel are preferred by consumers and we found they also provide increased durability. Traditionally, Motorola's portable phone keypads are made of silicon rubber which is pad-print decorated in multiple colors. While this can be a cost-effective decorating option, the heavier silicon keypads could pose design and printing limitations. Because in-mold combines decorating and part production into one step during the injection molding process, the decorated insert's surface is bonded to the molding resin and forms a single finished part.