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Case Studies
PPS Software Ups Production
Transparency for Mould Maker
Implementing Segoni.Futur enables a company to achieve its organizational goal,
which was to integrate its mould design and construction processes.
Pfletschinger & Gauch, a German
precision mould design
and construction company, produces
multicavity and multiplecomponent
moulds for medical
and pharmaceutical technology
companies, among others. The
third-generation family company
depends on Segoni.Futur production
planning software (PPS)
from Segoni AG for its business
organization and management.
The new PPS software supports Pfletschinger & Gauch’s
storage system of boxes and shelves in keeping work plans
in clear order.
“We used to have several systems
running parallel to each
other,” explains the mould maker’s
managing director Michael
Gauch. “These included a selfmade
tool for precalculations and
an industry solution for order
management and final calculations.
This setup wasn’t working,
owing to a lack of transparency
and redundant data recording. In
particular, comparing and analyzing
pre- and postcalculations
from the various
systems was very timeconsuming.”
“Thus,” Gauch says,
“our goal was clearly
to integrate our mould
design and construction
processes with one continuous
system.” As the
company envisioned it,
data entered once should
be accessible to the sales,
administration and production
departments and
be able to serve as a basis
for comparison and project
calculations.
After looking at various
software solutions,
reports Pfletschinger &
Gauch technical director
Roland Pfletschinger,
the company found itself
identifying with Segoni’s
production philosophy.
“What won us over was
that, unlike other PPS
systems, this solution
was based on one concept
for production organization,”
he explains.
Starting Up
The project got under way with
a one-day workshop in which
machine and staff hourly labour
rates were determined. Subsequently,
the company’s executives
talked about future trends
in mould design and construction
processes and discussed a variety
of process options in order
to establish a uniform method of
approach and process plan.
The Segoni project manager at
Pfletschinger & Gauch, Theodor
Neumaier, offers some insight into
the process.
“We use our rough cost calculation
when we get an inquiry,” he
explains. “We use the so-called fine
calculation, in which a work plan
is created, only when a customer
actually places an order. As soon as
we have the final design, it is the
work-planning department’s task
to plan and organize the project
according to its parts list position.
This means that the mould designer
creates a component-specific
work plan for every parts list position,
which will guide each mould
component on its individual journey
through production and also
serves for identification and documentation.
Our system of shelves
and boxes, which was created at
the company here in Plochingen,
creates additional transparency.”
Basic training in the PPS software
from Segoni lasted three days.
During the training, cost calculations,
bids, and especially work
plans for each component were
created in Segoni.PPMS and sent
on to production.
European Tool & Mould Making | May 2011 | www.etmm-online.com