Lighthouse Systems rings in the changes for Plastibell's production operations

Challenges

Plastibell plants operate a large number of injection moulding machines that make hundreds of different types of parts for various medical devices, each part requiring a different moulding tool.

To guarantee consistent levels of quality and ensure compliance with CFR 21 Part 11 standards, whilst reducing costs, Plastibell Group needed to improve its tools management and the production of Certificates of Analysis.

Shopfloor-Online^TM MOM Software

Number of manufacturing plants installed: 3

Streamlining Production

Shopfloor-Online MES system communicates with Plastibell's ERP from the moment a work order is downloaded and allocated to a machine.

The system's Tool Management module tracks when a job on a machine changes and ensures that the correct tools are used at all times.

Tool Tracking

Shopfloor-Online MES software manages the injection moulding tools and cavities; tool performance is tracked and a full audit trail of all actions for each cavity is created.

Quality Management

Quality checks of parts produced are carried out with CMMs and automatically recorded in the MES software; improving both traceability and efficiency.

Users are alerted to “out of specification" product.

Certificates of Analysis are automatically produced on completion of jobs.

Reporting

Shopfloor-Online MES takes the data it receives from various sources to provide regular, accurate reports on progress. Plastibell benefits from greatly reduced manual data capture and consistent measurement and quality checks.

Key Benefits

Tools management and quality management via Shopfloor-Online MES has resulted in:

• Increased efficiency: fewer manual operations and accurate traceability of parts produced
• Increased customer confidence: automated Certificates of Analysis guarantee accuracy and meet the Medical Devices’ industry standards

About Plastibell Group / DTP

Plastibell Group / DTP is a manufacturer of medical devices for leading health and pharmaceutical brands, from co-development, to prototyping and mass production (plastic moulding and injection moulding).