Only rarely do these little heroes think of CNC production, technological polymers made from a variety of thermoplastics, and thermoplastic elastomers or rubbers. Children are also unconcerned with specialized tool making involved in the manufacturing of these toy figures or the meticulous process of painting the figures by hand. But it is just these concerns which motivate the company Bully-Form, located in Ronsberg and active since 1973, and guarantee consistent enjoyment for children in their play rooms at home. In the heart of the Alpine mountains 50 employees of Bully-Form GMBH develop, design, and produce original play figures as well as licensed play figures, such as Disney characters, which are eventually distributed world-wide through its Bullyland AG division.
But not everything that leaves this southern German company falls into the category of toys. In addition to Bullies, named after the founding couple Klaus’ French bulldog, the company produces approximately 5 million plastic components, as diverse as the children’s play scenarios involving the toy figures.
Components for lawn mowers, circular saws, towing hitches, and various other applications requiring customized plastic parts are produced here in fully automatic injection molding processes. Bully-Form’s products, based on original molds and corresponding proto type development, range from simple plastic wheels, injection-molded metal parts, and dual component pieces to elastic articles with complex undercuts, all of which can be refined or combined through pad printing, ultrasonic welding, gluing, or embossing.
Internationally active customers value the high quality standard, generally expected in today’s children toys, to which this company, founded over 30 years ago in Kempten, adheres. As a leading producer of lawn mower accessories, Bully-Form manufactures wheels with and without treading, including individual covers available in custom sizes, as well as supplementary bushings, bearings, or plastic drive pinions. On an average, 3 new products per month are produced on demand and added to the company’s wide-ranging assortment of goods for customers such as Kärcher, Viking, Toro, or AL-KO, in addition to regularly recurrent standard products.
Zur Einhaltung der eigenen Qualitätsstandards sowie der entsprechenden Kundenvorgaben hat man sich bei Bully-Form für die freiwillige Selbstprüfung entschieden, für die der Qualitätsbeauftragte, Wolfgang van Heynsbergen, verantwortlich zeichnet. „Qualität war schon immer ein wichtiger Bestandteil unserer Leistungen“, erklärt der gelernte Werkzeugmacher. „Der geforderte Nachweis für unsere Auditierung war dann schließlich nur noch das berühmte Tüpfelchen auf dem ‚i’ “.
In order to retain self-imposed quality standards as well as satisfy appropriate customer guidelines Bully-Form decided to implement voluntary self-inspections, for which Wolfgang van Heynsbergen, the on-site quality representative, is responsible. “For us quality has always been an important performance component”, van Heynsbergen, a toolmaker by trade, explains. “Demanding a verification process for our audits was just the proverbial icing on the cake.”.
In realizing these self-elected assessments, based on comprehensive quality verifications, Mr. van Heynsbergen places his trust in software solutions by CAQ AG Factory Systems, a company also active on the international market. In random inspection intervals production pieces are tested for predetermined values and tolerances at a specially designed inspection site. Data acquired during these inspections are automatically transferred to the quality assurance software program CAQ-Compact.Net®. In addition to statistics generated by the software, available on demand to customers in hard-copies as well as online, acquired values are read and verified monthly by customer-delegated controllers.
“I can definitely depend on CAQ AG Factory Systems’ software performance!” adds van Heynsbergen, who has been in charge of quality control since 2002. “My predecessor chose the software, and I knew not even 3 weeks after I started my job why he opted for CAQ AG Factory Systems.”
Due to the fact that Wolfgang van Heynsbergen had to assume his post in quality control at short notice, he had relatively little time to become acquainted with his new duties; in fact, he received only a cursory introduction into the operation of the quality software. In order to continue ensuring and documenting that the strict quality criteria demands at Bully-Form are met, Mr. van Heynsbergen made use of CAQ AG Factory System’s telephone hotline and received detailed information concerning the software’s application possibilities. Even after speaking with CAQ AG’s quality experts just once, he was, according to his own admission, thoroughly convinced of the software’s performance capabilities and user-friendliness: “CAQ AG’s hotline is aptly named. After just a few short rings I have access to a competent contact person who can help me solve my problems. I spoke to the hotline staff four times and every time was able to advance into increasingly more intricate workings of the software. Once, after receiving a query via e-mail from me during the night, the staff called my back the very next morning and assisted me with my problem.”
Mr. van Heynsbergen also participates in the training sessions, announced via e-mail newsletter, which CAQ AG Factory Systems offers on a regular basis. “Our DIN ISO 9001 certification is already in the planning stages. It’s very convenient and helpful that I can choose training sessions that will aid me in achieving our certification goals. As a customer of CAQ AG we are eligible for a discount on these sessions which makes doing business with CAQ AG Factory Systems even more of a pleasure. CAQ truly stands for quality!”
Renowned customers especially demanding in the area of quality and environmental management describe their success stories and serve as guarantors and references for software that yields high performance and is reliable and fair.
From mid-size companies to multi-national corporations, CAQ AG develops innovative, integrated software solutions that satisfy the highest demands and meet all requirements of quality management.
Furthermore, CAQ AG software supports all quality-related processes pertaining to any value added chain, production companies, and service providers. We attach special importance to compliance with standards as well as 100% release-capability of all of our software solutions without any restrictions – all this while retaining the maximum degree of customization to satisfy customer-specific demands.
Although CAQ AG software solutions are installed on thousands of systems worldwide, we guarantee that you can update your version automatically, no matter how many updates and upgrades you have installed previously. All upgrades function with minimum servicing time and effort onsite. Updates install automatically without requiring you to consult or involve our service staff. Updates neither change nor impede any customer-specific configurations. This principle ensures the full value of your investments.
In all of our efforts our most important goal is not just to satisfy you, but instead to thrill you! One thing is essential to realizing this goal – and we are very proud of our accomplishments on this front: We have a highly motivated, engaged, and competent team in which and with which working is fun!
It is a matter of course for us here at CAQ AG that our employees in development, support, customer service, sales, and management, in addition to having university degrees as well as practical experience, have completed the training courses for “Quality Manager GFQ-IHK” or “Quality Assistant GFQ-IHK” and stay up-to-date by continuously completing training programs.
