Taking The Technological Initiative

In one of its customer presentations, Plastiques du Val de Loire, betterknown as Groupe Plastivaloire (PVL), shows a chart titled, "Our Targets."The first of five goals listed is "To grow with our customers."It should say "To continue to grow with our customers," becausehaving followed that principle through 10 years of rapid growth has madePVL one of the largest independent moulders in France. Another item onthat page is "To pursue worldwide expansion," and that one, too,is already well under way. The company has opened an injection mouldingplant in Poland and is actively working on expansion there and in othermarkets.

Ten years ago, turnover for the company was a respectable Fr 96 million(US$ 16+ million); this year's result will be about Fr 650 million (US$110+ million). That growth was very intentional. Plastivaloire was foundedin 1963 by Charles Findeling, who is currently the head of PVL's supervisorycouncil. He quickly found success moulding a variety of small parts, suchas key chain fobs, and a number of products for the dairy industry, anindustry that is very prominent around the company's headquarters and largestmanufacturing plant in Langeais near Tours. The company's cheese formsoffer users so many advantages that wood and metal forms have all but disappeared.They were in production during IMI's recent visit; however, they now accountfor only 1 percent of PVL's business.

Going Where the Markets Are

Patrick Findeling, son of the founder and president of Groupe Plastivaloire,began developing the subcontracting aspect of the business in the mid-seventies.He proved that sourcing completed subassemblies incorporating PVL-producedmouldings to finished product manufacturers would be another path to successand more growth. Supplying complete subassemblies has since become a prominentpractice, but PVL was definitely in the avant-garde. Today, the companyconsiders itself at least as much a subcontractor as a moulder, and hasautomated assembly lines in most of its plants. Along the way, it has madethe investments in moulding technology, quality control, and product andmould design to support that position, and is now intensifying its effortsto provide clients with new solutions through a Multi-Technological Center.

Plastivaloire's major markets include TV/audio, especially cabinets andcovers; automotive parts; computer housings and other parts; tools; appliances;telephony, including thin-wall housings for cellular phones; electronics;and electrical parts. Several of its assembly lines are designed to producefinished electronic assemblies.

Many of PVL's nine current locations, eight in France and one in Poland,have complete enclosed systems for automated or semi-automated painting,including dry electrostatic painting of moulded appearance parts. The paintlines at Langeais would do credit to any high-volume finished goods manufacturer.During our visit, the paint lines were being expanded and the technologyupgraded for higher yields. Almost all PVL locations do sophisticated markingand decorating using hot stamping and/or screen and pad printing, and areequipped with a range of sonic and vibration welding and joining systems.

Multi-Technological Center

Plastivaloire's industrial and commercial director FrançoisLandry says the company's design and production technology has been upgradedconstantly to meet customer demands, but that strategy is changing. PVL'srecently established Multi-Technological Center takes the technologicalinitiative with clients, as opposed to reacting to client requests. Staffedwith experienced engineers and designers, the MTC investigates and recommendsnew technology to clients very often without the client asking. By makingthis investment, says Landry, PVL gives added value, suggesting new solutionsfor existing or new products, lowering costs, increasing quality, boostingperformance, saving time, or all of those. Since many manufacturers havegreatly reduced or virtually eliminated their design groups in favour ofgiving that role to the supplier, this initiative has quickly become popularwith customers.

PVL seeks to add value in all sectors of its business, partly to separateitself from those companies known as "moulders only," and partlyto assure the company's profitability. These value-added services benefitclients by filling multiple needs simultaneously and in one place. It alsostrengthens client relationships, another strategy that has worked wellfor PVL. Among PVL's clients are Philips, Thomson, Moulinex, Sony, firsttier auto suppliers Valéo and CFEC, Lexmark, Alcatel, and others.Most have been clients for a long time.

Flexible, Automated Production

Plastivaloire has more than 360 injection machines, 85 percent of themrobot-equipped, excluding primarily small and older machines. New machinesare invariably robot-equipped. The majority of those are from Engel, PVL'sprimary supplier, although thanks to the acquisitions, there are also machinesfrom Billion, Sandretto, and others. PVL has added a number of multicomponent,multicolour machines. One plant specializes in bimaterial overmouldingof parts with various inserts. There are machines, generally larger ones,at many locations equipped with Engel gas-assist units.

The use of gas, says Landry, is an area where PVL has been bringing newtechnical solutions to clients. Originally, gas was seen as a way to mouldthick-sectioned parts that would otherwise be prone to warpage, sink marks,and other surface defects. Very quickly after it had begun using the technology,PVL saw other ways the process could benefit clients. It is now used onparts with thinner wall sections to provide uniform mould packing, andto reduce client costs through use of lower clamp forces, as well as improveappearance and save material. The plant in Poland was equipped with gas-assisttechnology from the outset.

Using Engel's tiebarless machines provides similar customer advantages.A mould that might otherwise, because of its size, be put on a machinewith more clamp force than needed, can now go on a lower tonnage machine,thereby lowering production cost. The average age of all Plastivaloire'smachines is about 3.5 years, and as a machine ages, there are regular inspectionsto assure it is holding specifications. Thanks to the company's multiplelocations, an older machine can be moved to a plant where it can continueto produce.

At the Langeais plant, which is still PVL's largest, the improvements madeover the last few years to streamline production range from building constructionto downstream automated parts handling. Work flow, from raw material tofinished product or subassembly, moves continuously forward in a logical,linear way. Incoming material is quality checked and loaded into one ofthree large silos, or one of 13 smaller bins. A centralized materials handlingsystem from Colortronic coordinates 11 dryers, including a large one formaterial coming in from the silos.

The system has allowed high-speed, accurate mixing of masterbatch withnatural material, and automates very precise additions of reground productionscrap to virgin material. The 80 machines in this plant are arranged infive zones by machine type and size, allowing production personnel to workon multiple machines efficiently. In several locations, there are overheadconveying systems to take moulded parts to another machine for overmoulding,to an assembly area, or into finished goods packaging. This allows tighterspacing between machines than if lift trucks were moving through regularly,and it speeds up parts handling.

When a Plan Works . . .

Plastivaloire has found a winning formula, and clearly intends to stickwith it. A vital part of the formula is continually adding value for itsclients, such as with the Multi-Technological Center. The company has ISO9002 certification and is moving toward 9001 and is certified accordingto Valéo's demanding 1000 Quality Standards for its automobile products.Most of the plants use a full-facility computer management system, andthose that don't soon will.

Will expansion continue? Well, acquisition of an existing production plantand opening of another new one are imminent, although locations were confidential.PVL sees more potential in the awakening markets of Eastern Europe, particularlyPoland. One partnership venture is working in China and the company isinvestigating more growth there, and looking at South America, too.

Contact Information:

Groupe Plastivaloire
Mr. François Landry,
Industrial and Commercial Director
P.O. Box 4
F-37130 Langeais, France
Tel: +33 (47) 96 15 15
Fax: +33 (47) 96 62 60