Construction, design,
moulding and production of interior and exterior composite-systems for the mass transportation industry
– railway, metro, tram and bus – on the basis of fire retartant glassfiber reinforced laminate (GRP).
Company history
Plastform was founded in 1982
(from 1982 as a Limited) and now is owned by 4 Hungarian private person. The company is located 10 Km from Budapest in Fót, at a 11.000 m2 terrain with 3000 m2 production capacity. About 25 workers are included in the production and another 7 are in the management and the technical background. Plastform has always considered technical knowledge and flexibility as a key of success, which has made the company able to compete well at the industries of glass-fibre and carbon-fibre reinforced plastic systems.
Activities
Plastform Ltd has two main activity fields:
Composite systems for the mass transportation industry
Our main activity field is targeting the mass transportation industry – railway coaches, autobuses and coaches, undergrounds, trams – by manufacturing reinforced plastic composite elements, especially fire-retardant products with low smoke emission. Public transport becomes more and more important in our civilized life not only in West-Europe but in East- and Middle-Europe as well.
Our most important applications are: interior and exterior elements (sidewall coverings, ceilings, rigid seats, etc.), and complete GRP railway WC-cabins for production and refurbishment of railway coaches, as well as autobus exterior and interior systems. Fire-retardant laminates with low smoke density are the basis materials of all transportation parts. Our manufacturing technologies – vacuum-infusion, RTM, LRTM, silicon-bag-infusion – are environmentally friendly, and also provide permanent good quality.
Generally our activity is a supplying and background work for greater vehicle manufacturing and re-furbishing companies. More and more of these products become exported directly or indirectly. In the last 10-15 years our company has become an essential GRP railway element manufacturer in Middle-Europe. We have produced for the MÁV-INTERCITY refurbishment project the complete GRP interior linings and the WC-cabins.
GRP-elements for work-machines, handicapped-cars and health care appliances are also in our portfolio and references. As our technologies are proper for several kinds of elements, where the characteristics of the composite material mean advantages, there is a great range of possibilities we are able to realize
Design
Designing activity is performed by our designers, which is based on the customer needs and expectations. Through this process we form the customer ideas into artistic view.
Development & Construction
The design is finalized at a product plan by making the development, construction modifications and perfections, in order to assure the outstanding quality and productivity. Plastform continuously solves technical challenges: find the proper technology to provide the best solutions to our partners, and we find new solutions to meet their expectations. With Pro ENGINEER CAD/CAM system we construct complete preassembled systems on the basis of fire-retardant GRP laminates (with low smoke emission) and metallic fittings.
Prototyping & Modelling
We assure to meet the vision of our customers by creating prototypes and making 3D models.
Mould making
Moulds are manufactured at our own workshop, because this activity is the base of the later quick and good-quality production
Production
We adjust our production system to the product and quantity requirements. Prototypes and small series of GRP parts are produced with hand lay-up, for medium and great series closed-mould technologies are applied (RTM, LRTM, vacuum-infusion, silicon-bag-infusion).
Preassembly
Consolidation of different GRP and metallic elements by structural or flexible adhesive system.
Painting
We use modern, water based, two-component painting (with approval of national railway companies). Gloss: bright, semi matt and matt surface with anti-graffiti protection. Big parts (front line) are also possible with different colours and surface quality.
Control-process
Our control-process is ISO: 9001 Quality management System, which is independent from the production-system. (Detailed at Quality Management System).
Package
We adjust our production system to the product and quantity requirements. Prototypes and small series of GRP parts are produced with hand lay-up, for medium and great series closed-mould technologies are applied (RTM, LRTM, vacuum-infusion, silicon-bag-infusion).
Quality and Environment
ISO 9001 certificate
The ISO: 9001 Quality Management System is absolutely independent from the production system. The certificate is proved each year, which keeps the quality-control always up-to-date. We use also a barcode system for the identification, traceability, monitoring and measurement of products, which is an important element of our QMS.
Environment-policy
Our environment strategy has two main pillars:
• Our production is the cleanest possible in the industry.
• Our products are environmentally-friend as their weight is quite low but the structure and surface is really strong and massive, and highly vandalism-proof comparing to the alternative materials used in the public-transport. Moreover our composite elements are safe as they are fire-retardant and have low smoke-emission.