There are companies that provide services on design and build tooling and patterns for molding processes. These processes include blow molding, compression molding, die casting, die forging, extrusion, injection molding, investment casting, lost foam casting, permanent mold casting, powder metal molding, rotational molding, sand casting, thermoforming, and transfer molding. Mold making processes for metals include permanent mold casting, die casting, and die forging. Mold making processes for rubber and plastics include injection molding, extrusion, and thermoforming.

Mold making services provide CAD/CAM support, design assistance, model making, model texturing, production facilities, and rapid prototyping. Computer aided design or drafting (CAD) is used to design products quickly and accurately. Computer aided manufacturing (CAM) is used to fabricate products directly from CAD outputs. Mold making services that provide design assistance can help with concepts, manufacturing costs, manufacturing techniques and material considerations such as sourcing. They may also be able to assist with upgrading, redesigning, reevaluating or modernizing existing products to increase performance and/or reduce manufacturing costs. Some mold making services create models of finished products before investing in hard tooling. Others can add textures for functional or cosmetic purposes. Mold making services may also offer on-site manufacturing of production quantities, or produce prototypes for visual or tryout inspection.

Mold making services provide several types of certifications. ISO 9001:2000 establishes requirements for company quality management systems and covers standards ranging from manufacturing to services such as design, development, production, and installation. AS 9000 is a set of quality guidelines and requirements published by the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) in cooperation with major aerospace manufacturers. AS9000 is based on ISO 9001 but maintains a particular focus on the aerospace industry. QS 9000 is a quality standard for suppliers of DaimlerChrysler Corporation, Ford Motor Company, and General Motors Corporation. QS-9000 is based on the 1994 edition of ISO 9001, but contains additional requirements that are particular to the automotive industry. Specifically, QS 9000 applies to suppliers of production materials, production and service parts, heat-treating, painting and plating and other finishing services.

Mold making services also provide tooling to a range of industries that includes aerospace, automotive, food processing, optical, medical, and pharmaceutical companies. Mold making services also manufacture products for companies that provide electric and electronic components and semiconductors.