COMPANY HISTORY

 

Metal Mould Plant FORMET S.A. can pride itself on having over 45 years of tradition in the injection mould manufacture. Since its very beginning, the Company has been constantly improving its machine facilities, so that experience and innovation go hand in hand.

The production of tools began way back at the beginning of the 1960s in the Bydgoszcz Tool Plant “BEFANA”. In the summer of 1971, the Company, being a part of “Ponar-Plaso” conglomerate of machine tools for plastic processing, commenced the construction of a new modern tool-shop. The engineering documentation was prepared by Biprom, headquartered in Zabrz, whereas the project implementation was managed by Pomorze enterprise. Mr. H. Pawłowski acted as the Chief Designer of the new plant.

The new plant, situated on Dabrowa Street in Bydgoszcz, was built in record, as far those days, time of 17 months. The complex included a workshop of 11.2 thousand square meters and an administrative office building. At the end of the final building phase, the installation of modern Maho milling machines began.

Since the very beginning of the plant construction, the management has put a huge emphasis on owning modern machines, which gave it an enormous advantage over the local and foreign competition. This strategy has made FORMET one of the biggest and most modern tool-shops in Europe.

The manufacture of moulds and special tools in the new plant began in 1973. Since the beginning of its existence, Befana – later FORMET – specialized in the production of moulds for plastics, glass, ceramics, powders, metal and rubber. At the end of 1973, Befana reached the intended production value of PLN 185 million.

 

On October 1, 1973, according to the decision of the Minister, “Ponar-Plaso” conglomerate of machine tools for plastic processing – Bydgoszcz Tool Plant changed its name into “Ponar-Plaso” conglomerate of machine tools for plastic processing – Metal Mould Plant. At that time the abbreviation FORMET was first used.

For economic and technical reasons, since the very beginning of the plant’s existence, the Company was concerned with enhancing the quality of the produced goods and lowering the production costs.

The evidence of such strategy was provided on January 2, 1975 (not long after the plant was established), by the creation of the Club of Technology and Rationalization.

It was no longer than in the first half of its existence that the work of the Technology and Production Division employees in the club brought PLN 59 million savings for the plant.

 

 

 

Recruiting highly qualified employees has always been considered a priority for the Company.
The management and the employees of FORMET have been taking active part in the process of educating new employees, both production and engineering. In September 1976, in recognition of such activity and

the outstanding accomplishments in shaping social help for schools, the Central Board of Trade Unions awarded FORMET with distinction “A friend of Schools”.

 

 

The year 1977 brought another change in the plant’s name, which was altered
at that time into: Automatic Press Plant - "Ponar Plasomat" Work-shop
No. 4 "FORMET". Subsequent implementation of quality management system
was considered a significant moment in FORMET’s development. On July 18, 1996,
 FFM FORMET SA was granted with the ISO 9001 quality certification, issued
 by the British accredited certification body ISOQAR.
Another change of the Company’s name took place in 1980, when the state-owned
enterprise was created under the name Metal Mould Plant “Ponar-Formet" PP.
The Company’s name was changed for the last time in 1986, prior to its
transformation into a joint stock company, into current
Metal Mould Plant “FORMET” PP. It was on May 1, 2000 that FORMET
was finally transformed into a state-owned enterprise under the name
Metal Mould Plant “FORMET” S.A. Between 2004 and 2005,
FFM Formet S.A. invested in equipment through the acquisition of seven
 new machine tools:

- two graphite milling-machines HWT CNC,
- EXERON 313 and EXERON 314 drilling machines, as well as
- DMC 75 V , DMU 100 P and DMF 250 L machining centers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to such investment, FORMET became more competitive and the Company could consider

the increase in production capacity and the production cycle time reduction. The pace of performing

grinding processing was increased as well due to the implementation of five-axis machiningcenter system.

Owing to the creation of a new machine center for electrode processing the quality of drilling processing was

increased, and two new Exeron machines were added to the old drilling machines workshop.

 

 

People

 

Staff

Metal Mould Plant “FORMET” S.A. has over 45 years of experience and operates through a group of

highly qualified staff. Most of the employees have been working in the plant for over 20-30 years.

Thanks to its stable staff and regularly renewed  tool-park, FORMET has the ability to carry out

even most complex orders.

 

The Sales Department

The production process always starts with an order that our sales team receives. The work in the team

is divided between project managers, who coordinate the whole process of mould production, working

directly with the customer. They supervise each phase and are in constant touch with the client to

jointly clear possible ambiguities. At the end of the production process, together with a representative

of a client, project managers participate in the trials of a newly created mould.

The Design Department

 

The Design Department is the heart and soul of the Company. This is where the latest software and

various computer techniques are used to design injection moulds and the tools necessary to produce

them. From the early stage of drawing up conceptual designs, the modeling is undertaken in three dimensions, so that the essence of injection mould performance can be thoroughly examined.

On the basis of completed documentation a group of programmers creates software of abstractly programmed commands encoded on storage medium for the modern computer numerical control

(CNC) of machine tools. Staff responsible for the production process has several years of experience

in the creation of production machine software. In the process of product development and

enhancement, centered around equipping the tool-shop with the latest machine facilities, such

aspects as essential professional trainings for machining center operators are never disregarded.

 

The Production Department

The Production Department, which is engaged in the direct manufacture of injection mould elements,

is a place where rich experience and group work are vivid. Starting from machine tool operators to locksmithing works, where the workers install injection moulds and make all the necessary corrections,

the work goes smoothly, without any obstacles, and any problems are overcomes on a daily basis.

All the workers are fully engaged in the efficient functioning of the plant.
Apart from daily business tasks, the whole staff of FORMET takes part in the integration events that

have been organized for the last couple of years. Among the most popular and widely attended events

are football matches, in which our staff competes with football players from various local companies. Anniversaries and special achievements have also been a good cause for celebration.

 

Scope of activity

 

Metal Mould Plant “FORMET” S.A. is engaged in the manufacture of highly specialized machines for the production of goods made of plastic, glass, powders, metal and rubber. The Company’s business is

focused on a single unit production, and can be regarded as predominantly prototypical. The special

character of the business makes the production tasks carried out by the staff complex and non-standard.

It is only thanks to state-of-the art technology and both experienced and qualified workforce that

FORMET’s production process can be efficient. Apart from the manufacture of injection moulds, FORMET

deals with the conservation and regeneration of used injection moulds. The rich experience and know-how

in this area gives the Company the ability to carry out even most complex repairs.

Each and every project is handled individually, and each single client is fully satisfied with the services provided by FORMET. The professional approach presented by the Company allows it to stay among leading toolmakers in Poland and abroad.

 

Geographical presence

We are active in exporting our products around the world to such countries as Lithuania, Austria,

Spain, Italy, Russia, Germany, Belgium, Sweden, and others.

 

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