Mechanical and Electrical Design

Proplas have over 50 years experience of project management, which includes the specification, design, procurement, installation and commissioning of a wide range of projects. From small modifications to complete turnkey projects.

To enable you to understand our scope, please see below a few examples of our work;

• Project - New bespoke textile machine
  • Request; A client has in production several machines that were designed and manufactured 20 years ago. Whilst these machines are still able to produce at acceptable levels, the customer required an additional two machines to cater for an increase in production demand.  
  • Study; Proplas were contacted initially to copy the existing machines and arrange manufacture/installation. We observed the functions of the existing machines and suggested that we could design an alternative unit using alternative up to date equipment.  Proplas produced a draft proposal with full costing. (Mechanical speed matching to be replaced with closed loop drive control, mechanically redesigned to improve the ergonomics, motor positions located to easier accessible positions etc... ) 
  • Result;  A faster production machine installed using modern available components, meeting the latest safety standards. All at a similar cost to producing a copy of the old machines. 

• Project - Improve factory layout  
  • Request; A components factory required more production shopfloor area for the installation of a new packaging machine. Without layouts they were finding it difficult to agree on a plan of action. 
  • Study; Proplas created a scaled workshop layout, with several suggested proposals for the installation.  The customer selected one that re-located an existing machine and re-sited the production offices.
  • Result; This proposal not only enabled the installation of the new packaging machine, but improved the production flow through the factory.    

• Project - SCADA system to capture machine performance 
  • Request; A container manufacturer required to capture the performance of its machines, i.e.. Downtime, Cycle time, MTTR, MTBF, etc....    The customer had enquired into purchasing "Stand alone" monitoring units linked one per machine. The cost was found to high and it would mean a person collecting the data manually. 
  • Study; Proplas were asked to design and install a central SCADA system linked into the existing computer network.
  • Result; Performance available to management in real time.      Can be enhanced at minimal cost. Justifiable project as the cost was 50% of the stand-alone solution.   

• Project; Compound guard system for new production line
  • Problem -  A packaging company re-located a production line from another plant, the safety access system and guards no longer complied with current safety standards.
  • Study - Proplas designed a compound guard around the machine with access gates interlocked into the machine controls, we arranged the manufacture/installation of the complete system.
  • Result - Production line able to start up on schedule.                    Safety regulations satisfied.                                              Proplas also supplied a full risk assessment and documentation.

• Project; Safety laser scanner
  • Problem - A plastic components manufacturer requested Proplas to investigate if we could improve the production access into the working area of a machine, the objective being to improve a door system and improve the cycle time.
  • Study - Proplas installed a safety laser scanner that replaced the gates.
  • Result - The machine is in production meeting all safety standards, whilst the time to enter the working area has been significantly reduced.

• Project; Motor AC Drive control
  • Problem - A packaging company were experiencing problems with a palletising unit, the plastic bags being stacked kept falling off each other. The problem being caused by the machines severe movements.
  • Study - Proplas installed AC variable speed drives to the three motors that moved the bags, this enabled us to control the movements and smooth out the actions of the machine.
  • Result - The elimination of the sudden movements resulted in the bags remaining stable, and therefore the stacking was much neater.