In the midst of the current business downturn, the Swedish company ToBe Teknik is expanding its plastics production plant in Oxel?sund

Only two years after moving, ToBe Teknik has outgrown its premises in the Bara industrial estate in Oxel?sund/Sweden. But the company's turnover has also increased from SEK 18 to SEK 26 million, explains Tony B?ckman, owner of the company, as he takes a group of visitors on a guided tour of the extension, with assembly, goods delivery and finished products stores, and a hall with the 13 machines that can produce up to 250 different plastic parts.

Production is generally automated, and the plastic is injected into the moulds developed in cooperation with the Swedish-owned ARC Tooling Technology Inc., in China. ToBe Teknik also undertakes marking or printing of the plastic parts, as well as assembly of both sub-systems and complete modules. The company has customers in Sweden, the USA, Thailand, Norway, Germany, Denmark, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Malaysia. Most of the ToBe Teknik customers develop products for other companies, particularly those in the electronics and automotive industries.

In several applications, plastics are about to displace materials such as aluminium. But this pre-supposes high quality of both the plastic and the inserts, which is one of the reasons why ToBe Teknik began using TOOLOX last year instead of conventional steel for one of its inserts. "TOOLOX is actually well suited for everything, but we consider it most beneficial in the production of reinforced materials that cause heavier wear of the moulds than other plastics," says Tony B?ckman.

The use of TOOLOX instead of conventional tool steel initially involves higher costs. But it soon pays for itself, considers Tony B?ckman, who estimates that ToBe Teknik can cut costs by 10 to 15 per cent. Even higher savings can be achieved on larger moulds.

"TOOLOX is simple to use. You start by running a couple of test series with a prototype. If it all looks good, you can immediately start production, or you can give the steel an additional nitriding treatment. This will substantially extend the useful life, even when moulding plastics that cause heavy wear of the mould. Hardening conventional steel after the test runs is much more complicated and uncertain. This is also the reason that Zlatko Visic, toolmaker at ToBe Teknik, prefers to replace worn out conventional steel with TOOLOX.

"Nothing can beat TOOLOX for moulds. This is obvious to anyone who has the least knowledge of materials. If a 5 millimetre drill is used to drill a hole, you can rely on the hole being exactly 5 millimetres. This is because the plate is so pure and has no inclusions whatever, which gives me a sense of security".

(Tomas Berglund, Area Manager TOOLOX responsible for Northern Europe and Asia. Tel: 46(0)155 25 54 48. Fax: 46(0)155 25 55 34. Email: tomas.berglund@ssab.com)