CAQA Polyform Plastics and Cable
CAQA Polyform Plastics and Cable makes moulded and extruded plastic components, polyethylene and PVC pipe, low voltage power and control cable, and rubber compounds, conveyor belting and linings for customers in building products, water, mining, agriculture and electrical wholesale. The Dandenong South plant runs 14 injection moulding machines from 80 to 1,100 tonnes and three extrusion lines. The Bayswater cable works draws, strands and insulates copper conductor and sheaths finished cable. The Wingfield works compounds rubber, calenders sheet, builds and repairs conveyor belts and sends splicing crews to mine and quarry sites across South Australia.
The business runs three shifts at Dandenong South and Bayswater from Monday to Friday with a weekend shift when order books require it, and a day shift plus site crews at Wingfield. Each production area has a supervisor, setters or technicians and operators, supported by tooling and maintenance, a materials store and a laboratory. Six departments report to the General Manager: Injection Moulding, Extrusion and Film, Cable Works, Rubber and Belting, Tooling and Maintenance, and Technical, Quality and WHS. Production is planned from job cards raised against customer orders and tracked from setup through first-off approval to packing.
Quality is managed under a certified quality management system with process setting sheets for every tool and line, first-off approval before a run continues, in-process checks and a nonconformance register that drives corrective action. Cable is made and tested to the Australian product standards and carries the electrical equipment safety marking the wholesalers require. Safety is managed under the Victorian and South Australian work health and safety frameworks with machine guarding to the Australian standard, isolation and lock out for every tool change and maintenance task, fume extraction in rubber and PVC areas, and a chemical register covering resins, rubber chemicals, peroxides and splicing solvents.