Fast delivery and high product quality can enhance the competitiveness level of a company, as in the case of mista that for its mould production activity turns to meusburger as supplier of change moulds, plates and normalized elements.
Punching and welding of small metal parts, injection moulding and thermoplastic finishing; plastic co-moulding on metal/plastic, on plastic and Imd; development, qualification and production of electromechanical assemblies. This is the activity carried out by Mista at Cortiglione (AT), established in 1971 with an activity oriented to the production for companies belonging to Fiat induced activities. Afterwards, in the Eighties and in the Nineties it develops instead a production of punched electrical contacts with silver welded or riveted tips. «Products – specifies Mauro Pera, technical office – used in several components for household appliances in the “white good” industry: from thermostats for refrigerators and boilers, to pressure switches, valves and pumps». Successive acquisitions lead the company to develop also the production of electromechanical components (at the beginning relays and afterwards switches and commutators) and to strengthen its position also in the thermoplastic moulding and in co-moulding. Today it can therefore produce electrical contacts, punched and welded parts, thermoplastic items for the most important producers of components for the automotive, household appliances, low-power electrical energy. «All products and processes – further explains Pera – are developed in Italy and manufactured in the production sites of Cortiglione in Italy and of Menzel Bouzelfa in Tunisia».
High quality standard and special
Processes, those carried out by Mista, which for some time have been making wide use also of products manufactured by the Austrian Meusburger, family company headquartered at Wolfurt, in Vorarlberg and operating on the market of tools and in the production of high-quality normalized elements. Mista technicians use in fact several products of the punching catalogue, starting from steels (Meusburger can boast an availability of 20 typologies, plus two aluminium ones), characterized by undisputed quality because, besides coming from the best European steelworks, undergo a thermal treatment called “stress relieving annealing” (directly executed inside the company) in the three furnaces, with a daily capacity of 240 tons. «The purchases of Meusburger products made by our company– specifies Mr Pera – are essentially subdivided into precision change moulds, standard ground plates and special versions upon demand, as well as normalized elements». The latter range from guides, extractor sets, erosion accessories, ground bars and so on. «What are the reasons that have led to the choice of Meusburger as supplier? Very important for our activity – underlines Mr Pera – is the fast delivery from the order receipt, as well as obviously the excellent product quality, the prompt answers upon requests of both special and standard offers». The fast delivery is granted by Meusburger thanks to the current 18,000 square metres of warehouse, the biggest central stocking of normalized items for plates and round pieces where almost all the catalogue articles are immediately available and can be forwarded in short time. It is so achieved a “reactivity” corresponding to 99% of the received orders. In order to be able to satisfy more and more exhaustively the demands for special solutions not included in the catalogue, the company is also completing a new dedicated production unit that will start operating in 2015.
Change moulds and productivity in synergy
In addition to the production as supplier, Mista has gained deep know-how also in the component ambit, allowing it to develop its own product: a switch intended for the automotive industry for whose development are used also Meusburger elements and, in the specific case, change moulds both for a co-moulding mould and for punching tools. «It is in fact – specifies Mr Pera – a co-moulded component in which are automatically inserted (in a co-moulding mould, author’s note) four contacts». A fully automated and robotized process, conceived and engineered by Mista technicians, which will allow (thanks to the above mentioned automatic insertion) a productive capacity of 2 million pieces/year. «The process – ends Mr Pera – provides that a robot picks the contacts from preparation pallets and positions them in the co-moulding mould. In this phase the press is activated for the co-moulding, afterwards the same robot picks the co-moulded items and positions them on a rotary table. A seal and a membrane are mounted on each piece and then are executed leak tests in vacuum and voltage drop tests». More in detail, the punched part provides for two preparation tools for the strip, which will be just punched, wound and then subjected to the tinning treatment (as far as one part is concerned) and silvering (the other part). The same strip will be then repositioned on some feeders and then passed to piece bending-detaching tools. All that for a machining cycle corresponding to about 45 seconds, featuring high productivity and quality.
The future as constant growth
Constantly expanding in terms of production and availability of solutions, Meusburger deems the Italian market absolutely strategic to grow. Also for this reason, owners go on investing both in human resources and in strong collaborations (like in the education of youth in Cnos-Fap work schools of Salesians). From the point of view of the catalogue choice, the punching tool 2014 catalogue has been doubled in comparison with the previous one of 2011. A range growth that is accomplished also through the two-plate and two-pillar die sets, sintered punches, strip guide with collars, locks for ball cage, column and bush supports, bronze/graphite guide bushes. For a total of over 30,000 articles ready in stock. It is worth signalling also workshop products consisting of auxiliary material like cutting tools, measuring and surface finish devices, erosion accessories and lubricants. A bent for a strong national and international growth that has been accompanying the enterprise since 1964, year of foundation individual firm, today employing 700 collaborators and reaching a turnover that exceeds 160 million Euros. All that according to a strategy of constant widening of the productive capacity (where stands out the new productive unit that will start operating next year) and of continuous targeted investments in the latest technologies to approach as privileged partner the over 11,000 effective customers, among which also Mista has been ranking for long time.
Mista company in pills
Established in 1971 Mista produces electrical contacts, punched and welded components, thermoplastic goods for the most important producers of components for automotive, household appliances and low-power electrical energy. «Activity carried out – specifies Renato Castagneto, one of the four shareholders of the company– in two distinct productive sites. At Cortiglione (AT), our head office, about 130 workers are employed and we find the production departments for the metal punching and welding, thermoplastic moulding and the workshop for the mould making and maintenance. Since 2007 we have been also present with a factory at Menzel Bouzelfa in Tunisia that houses the department for the thermoplastic moulding and co-moulding, the assembly of electromechanical products and the mechanical workshop for the equipment maintenance. Here work about 280 people, for a total of around 410 employees». Besides, five people are employed in the technical office, three of whom dedicated to the plastic department, with a person taking care of co-design and process industrialization and one, Mr Mauro Pera, specialized in punching. «A productive capacity – adds Renato Castagneto – able to generate an average turnover of about 30 million Euros and almost totally intended for the automotive and “white goods” industry”». A turnover that has always constantly and progressively grown, confirming the farsighted and attentive entrepreneurial vision that has always been able to accept the most exciting challenges. «We consider ourselves an aggressive company – states and ends Renato Castagneto – that constantly aims at further growing on the market. Thanks to technical skills and experience gained in so many years of activity developing solutions for important Italian and foreign customers. Without neglecting flexibility and dynamic response to customers, mirroring our organization always oriented to collaborate for the achievement of targets of highest competitiveness, ours and of our customers».
