njection molding is a manufacturing process commonly used to fabricate items such as plastic trays, automotive parts, and most other plastic products available today. Here are the basic steps involved in injection molding:

1. Clamping: The first step involves clamping the two halves of the mold together in the injection molding machine.
2. Injection: Plastic material, usually in the form of granules, is fed into a heating chamber through a hopper. The material is then heated to form a plastic liquid. This heated liquid gets injected into the mold quite fast (this speed helps to fill the detailed shapes within the mold properly).
3. Cooling and Solidification: Once the mold is filled, the plastic is allowed to cool for a specific time period and solidify.
4. Ejection: After cooling, the mold halves are opened by the machine and the solid plastic part is ejected by using ejecting rods / pins.
5. Trimming: Any excess plastic (from the gate, runners etc.) is trimmed off the final product, normally through the use of cutters. This excess plastic is often recycled back into the injection molding process.