Software for Quality in the Plastics Industry

Thermoplastics, thermosetting polymers, elastomers or thermoplastic elastomers in all shapes and sizes and colours of the rainbow: the plastics industry creates objects without which our everyday life would most probably be unthinkable. It uses a variety of different polymerization processes to create plastics for applications ranging from simple packaging material to high-tech medical devices.

One System for All Production Processes

The plastics industry applies techniques such as extrusion or injection moulding in order to shape synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solids into any form imaginable and thereby fulfil varying criteria regarding plasticity, hardness, elasticity, or durability. When dealing with such an incredibly flexible material, one rock-solid factor must never be underestimated: quality.

Standard-Compliant Flexibility

Whether IATF 16949, ISO 13485, ISO 9001, or the variety of ISO-standards that derive from ISO/TC 61: whereas on the one hand there appear to be no limits with respect to creativity, shape, and colour in the plastics industry, the process and quality restrictions in this industry on the other hand are governed by strict rules and regulations with regard to aspects of quality. The modular management solution CAQ.Net^® gives you everything you need to adhere to these rules as it provides you with a sophisticated set of quality assurance tools that is most probably second to none.

Nest Management and Batch Tracking

The integrated traceability functions allow you to seamlessly retrace all relevant product data. This comprehensive traceability down to the individual component and nest facilitates a perfect overview over your entire production process. Far reaching batch, serial number, nest, and horde tracking functions in CAQ.Net^® ensure that no measurement value and no decision is lost. The comprehensive traceability throughout all levels of production and quality assurance thus allows you to fulfil the traceability obligations contained in applicable standards and guidelines.

Strong Partners

Our great number of customers from within the plastics industry appreciate the flexible design of our solutions, our trendsetting innovations, and our first rate service. The close ties with companies such as ARBURG are further evidence of the strong relationship that CAQ AG and the plastics industry enjoy. These types of cooperation, for instance, facilitated the development of direct interfaces to ARBURG ALS, which enable the direct exchange of all process parameters from the electrical, hybrid, and hydraulic injection moulding machines with the CAQ system.

ERP-Integration

Within today’s information technology, there are few aspects that are as important as the effective and efficient interaction between different systems: the bidirectional exchange of information is an absolute necessity in order to be able to conduct successful data management. CAQ.Net^® is a management system that fluently communicates with other IT-systems and facilitates the mutual transfer of data. Hence, with CAQ.Net^®, the idea of data transparency does not stop at the CAQ-system, as the CAQ-system is also connected directly to the ERP-system. A standard interface transfers master and dynamic data between the two systems. This means that all article master data is synchronized and that incoming goods inspections are automatically logged on in the CAQ-system as soon as new incoming goods are registered by the ERP-system. The direct communication between the two systems thereby greatly increases the overall process efficiency in the company.

Decades of Experience

CAQ AG has over thirty years of experience in the field of computer aided quality assurance and quality management. Our first customers included a variety of manufacturers from within the plastics industry. Over the decades we have continued to support said customers in the implementation and maintenance of our standard-compliant software solution and many of these customer relationships have since developed into knowledge sharing partnerships. These partnerships allow us to continuously improve our product and rapidly adapt to changing industry demands.

The resulting target/actual comparison between CAQ.Net^® and the most current requirements by manufacturers in this sector, means that our customers are always in command of a cutting-edge software solution that allows professional, efficient, and standard-compliant quality management.

A Holistic Management Solution

Successful quality assurance and management in the plastics industry requires an all-inclusive management solution that covers all quality-related facets from product design to complaint management and safeguards consistent compliance and traceability. This solution must incorporate all aspects of quality management and facilitate the adherence to valid standards and guidelines. This solution is CAQ.Net^®: your all-inclusive management solution for the plastics industry.

Highlights

• Compliance with standards such as ISO 9001, IATF 16949, ISO 13485, DIN EN 9100, ISO 22000, ...
• Integrated batch, nest, and order management
• Bidirectional integration into a vast variety of IT-systems
• Interfaces to ARBURG ALS etc.
• Graphic evaluation planning with statistic and analysis functions
• CAD inspection planning with automatic stamping of drawing characteristics
• Traceability down to the individual measurement value
• Inspection plans for incoming goods, SPC, and outgoing goods
• System-wide functions for the predictive/preventative maintenance of facilities
• Consistent implementation of PDCA and Kaizen in a cross-modular cycle of control
• Integrated supplier management and web-based supplier evaluation functions
• Qualification matrix for monitoring employee training measures
• Sample plans in accordance with e.g. ISO 2859/3951 or Skip-Lot
• SPC with machine and process capabilities (Pm/Pmk, Pp/Ppk, Cp/Cpk)
• Change management with cross-departmental change workflows
• Multi-language-capability for master and dynamic data
• Form generator for designing customized forms
• Escalation management for action and due-date tracking
• Workflow-management and assessment of action effectiveness
• Online/offline audit and checklist management
• Cross-modular linkage of articles, article groups, processes, documents, inspection plans, etc.
• Optimized for usage on touchscreens
• And much more