New directions Simon Plastic

new directions

From a one-man operation that was established over 30 years ago, Simon Plastic has grown to become a significant plastic component manufacturer supplying products for prominent car manufacturers in Hungary. Today the company is more determined than ever to strengthen its competitiveness and move into new markets. Edina Beale reports.

The rapid development of the Hungarian plastic component manufacturer Simon Plastic began in 1996 when its first production hall was built in Szabadbattyán, 6km away from the industrial city of Székesfehérvár. The company then became the official dealer of General Electric in Hungary, which enabled it to invest in more serious technology in order to supply the automotive sector. The firm began to win contracts with prominent car manufacturing companies and by 2008 it had the financial strength to establish another production site in Kőszárhegy.

At present Simon Plastic employs nearly 400 people and the company’s turnover reached HUF 5.8 billion in 2017. This year its revenues are expected to be close to HUF 7 billion. While the company’s core products are automotive electronic connectors and sound systems, it also supplies components for the medical, food, electronics and energy industry. Nearly 30 million pieces of components are being produced every month, most of them used by top European car manufacturers including Mercedes, Audi and BMW. Fresh strategic ideas

In order to improve efficiency, in January 2018 the Kőszárhegy site became the company’s new headquarters. Hence, the structure of Simon Plastic has been stabilised and strengthened after the significant change four years ago when the company’s founder, Mr István Simon, stepped down from his post as CEO and passed the management of the factory on to his son, Péter Simon, and his daughter, Zulejka Simon.

While still concentrating on the core business of plastic component manufacturing, the new management has also already implemented some fresh strategic ideas. “We invest great energy in extending our core product range with higher added value products. We now offer assembly services for our partners and we intend to put more emphasis on this activity in the future,” reveals Mr Péter Simon. “A couple of months ago, following our half-year audit, we received the ‘Factory of the year 2017’ award – this is a good indication that we are moving in the right direction.”

In order to meet the requirements of these new potential markets, Simon Plastic has begun to make the necessary investments. “In the past three years we have invested nearly 1 billion forint on developments. These were partly infrastructural developments and partly capacity extensions, but the same emphasis was placed on developments aiming to improve quality and efficiency.”

New production and office facilities

As a result of this investment, a 1500m2 warehouse facility was reconstructed to be suitable for production activity and this area is now linked to the company’s existing production hall. A new tool factory was also being built and equipped with CNC machine, a tapping press machine, chip wire cutting and laser marking. In addition, the firm extended its office facilities to provide a new base for its growing number of engineers, finance and accountancy staff.

A new raw material supply facility was also attached to the production hall and, in response to the demands of Industry 4.0, Simon Plastic has introduced a modern MES (manufacturing execution systems) reporting system. In order to extend its capacities the firm has purchased new injection moulding machines. But these serious developments however do not end here, says Mr Simon: “Currently a public procurement procedure is taking place for similar size developments which will include capacity enlargement, while the same focus will be given to improving the quality of our technologies. In addition to this, we intend to build a new 6000m2 manufacturing hall and equip that with machines and technologies to meet all customer requirements. The value of this project is nearly HUF 1.5 billion.”

Clear vision

Since its establishment, Simon Plastic has been continuously strengthening its position. Today the Hungarian firm is in the process of transforming its organisation so it can step forward in the supply chain and acquire new strategic partners and profitable markets in the automotive and other industries. Its long-term goal is to maintain its focus on continuous developments while diversifying its activities in order to focus on projects with higher added value.

Mr Simon has a clear future vision: “Our mission for the long run is to provide a high quality, customer orientated service for our partners in the automotive and other industries. Relying on the teamwork of our committed staff we are aiming to produce high added value plastic and metal components using innovative, sustainable and safe production methods.” n