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Dordan is happy to report it got a new water cooling tower! 

What is a water cooling tower?

In thermoforming, heated plastic sheet is shaped over and into an aluminum mold by vacuum and pressure. Once formed, the material must cool quickly to lock in dimensional accuracy. Cooling towers make this possible by supplying chilled process water that circulates through channels in the mold, pulling heat out of the plastic and stabilizing temperatures for consistent parts.

The water absorbs heat as it moves through the mold and then returns to the cooling tower, where the energy is released into the atmosphere through evaporative cooling. The cooled water is recirculated in a closed loop, ready for the next cycle. Because water is reused rather than discharged, cooling towers provide a more efficient and sustainable way to manage heat in manufacturing.

Dordan pairs central cooling towers with chillers to maintain precise temperature control. This is critical for industries such as medical and automotive packaging, where repeatability and tight tolerances are required. By managing the thermal environment of the molds, cooling towers help thermoformers balance quality, efficiency, and reliability in production.

🎥 Check out our video on the installation of our new cooling tower and learn how it helps better manage the water consumption associated with thermoforming!

Dordan Manufacturing has been producing custom thermoformed packaging since 1962. As a fourth-generation, family-owned company based in Woodstock, Illinois, we combine decades of experience with risk-based engineering and ISO-certified quality assurance to deliver reliable packaging solutions across multiple industries.

Dordan Manufacturing has 14 thermoforming lines, including two with robotics for high volume items. These robots strip plastic parts from the web after being thermoformed and die cut, allowing for consistent and efficient handling before the parts enter inspection and packaging. Dordan's engineers develop custom end-of-arm tooling for robotics in house, which integrates with the thermoform tooling, also produced in house.

Dordan celebrates its golden birthday today, turning 62 and custom thermoforming since 1962. 

Dordan's progress in medical packaging was featured in the latest edition of Plastics News. 

As a custom thermoformer, all pricing is based on specific project requirements. However, there are shared pricing indicators in all thermoformed packaging quotes. These include package size, material type and thickness, order quantity, tooling, quality requirements, and production environment.

Dordan's CEO and President, Daniel Slavin, brings nearly 50-years of experience in custom thermoforming to this interview with Plastics Today.

All engineers understand that designing a package is one thing, and manufacturing it is another. By enlisting a thermoformer that has in house packaging engineers, product manufacturers can share, or completely outsource, the responsibility of developing the thermoform package to those highly-skilled in design-for-manufacturing methodologies. In doing so, timelines are condensed and unforeseen costs mitigated, because thermoforming engineers are able integrate the challenges and opportunities inherent in the manufacturing process into the packaging developmental process.

COVID halted business travel, including trade shows and conventions. Dordan has not exhibited since 2019, but looks forward to showing off its new medical packaging at MD&M West (Anaheim, CA, August 10-12, 2021).

In the meantime, visit Dordan's digital booth, in this product photo gallery.

McHenry Country web series, Stronger Together, interviews governmental leaders, business owners, community champions and more about life during COVID-19. In sharing these stories of hope, Stronger Together works to create a digital space of unity for the community.