Producing 90 million parts each year, Celoplás – Plásticos para a Indústria, S.A. is a leading Portuguese company in the plastic injection molding market. It specializes in the manufacture of precision parts and assemblies weighing between 0.05 and 300 grams, for a wide range of applications at its factory in Barcelos. 95% of its products are exported, and are used in many industries including automotive, electronic, and optical. Quality standards are high and it has ISO 9001:2000 and TS 16949 accreditation.

<< MyWorkPLAN lets me separate all the costs, and run a report which shows me exactly where they have been allocated >>
Bruno Correia, Celoplás

In 1992, the company expanded its activities and added a tool room. Initially this was to make molds for its own use, but this has now been extended to offer toolmaking facilities to other molding companies. The tools it manufactures are for molding thermoplastics, thermosetting and silicone materials and can include some complex features such as collapsible cores, micro hot runners and molded-in pins.

To help control the production of these molds, Celoplás chose to install Sescoi’s MyWorkPLAN job management software, which tracks the mold from quotation right through to delivery, providing up to date status and reporting through an easy to use interface. MyWorkPLAN has been designed to be simple to implement. For Celoplás, Sescoi’s training and technical support was 100% online. Bruno Correia of the company commented, “This method worked very well for us. It allowed us to first practice and then solve our open issues in short sessions of 1 to 2 hours, which were really efficient”.

Starting with MyWorkPLAN’s Estimator, he uses the software to calculate each quotation for a mold or mold modification. “My WorkPLAN Analyser allows us to compare and filter completed jobs with similar characteristics so that we can quickly arrive at a cost for a new tool. This will include the type of mold, details of work to be carried out and, of course, the associated costs.”

MyWorkPLAN also helps the company to keep control of the documentation for each job. Bruno Correia continued, “There are many files which define each tool, including 3D STEP files, lists of the mold components, traceability records for the material used, and details of heat treatment operations.” Having this information collated and readily available helps the company to achieve compliance with its high quality standards, provides historical information ready for future mold modification and repair, and invaluable information for refining future quotations.

Once a quotation has been accepted, the software converts it to a works order, extracting all the information from the quotation to eliminate duplicate data entry. Jobs can include new tools, mold modifications and repairs. Bruno Correia added, “MyWorkPLAN lets me separate all the costs, and run a report which shows me exactly where they have been allocated.” Reports available in the software can show summaries such as hours worked on each job, subcontracting events, materials used, and the delivery status of each part. Having this information available allows users to compare the actual situation with the plan and makes it possible for managers to take appropriate action, where required, before the job is delivered.

Job planning with MyWorkPLAN enables the company to see the load on its resources. This is particularly important for Celoplás, as its extensive injection molding shop necessarily creates a significant quantity of mold maintenance. Bruno Correia explained, “By scheduling the manufacture of new molds in MyWorkPLAN, I can ensure that we still have sufficient time available to complete the maintenance required to keep our molding machines running efficiently.” To keep track of operations on the shop floor, Celoplás uses MyWorkPLAN’s MyTimeManagement. Bruno Correia concluded, “We have found that the recorded working hours are significantly more accurate with this system. This is important to us as it gives us reliable information about the status of jobs and ensures that any alarm concerning a late operation reflects what is actually happening in the workshop.”