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You are severely underestimating the expertise and complexity in tool and die making. Cutting the metal is the simple part. The core difficulty wasn't producing the part nor mold; it was finding a guy who knew how.

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My team has produced multiple molds for plastic injection moulding in the past. Yes, it took the CAD guy a month of training to get a feeling for draft angles and how well certain shapes will eject. And yes, you will spend some days waiting for CNC milling. But it’s neither particularly expensive nor particularly difficult.

You found a really great CAD guy, pay them well. Others struggle to find people to hire with the right knowledge, or struggle to train up the knowledge without existing in-house expertise.

Parts also vary in complexity; throwing a CAD guy without CNC knowledge in front of a 5 axis CNC and telling them to make a injection mold, doesn't feel too far off from giving a soldering iron to a software guy and asking them to design a circuit-board. It may work out if it's simple, but be prepared to invest a-lot of time letting them fail and build up a skill-set if you need something complex.

I have heard from an acquaintance that once you have a good mold, there is no reason to not just injection-mold nationally.

So, you have to hire a new employee? OK.

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