Fire at Promens Plastic Production

For suppliers to the automotive industry, adhering to established production schedules is a top priority. Delays in production result in business interruption expense, lost revenue, missed growth opportunities and could even result in lost contracts for future business.

Promens is a global leader in the design and engineering of plastic products with 188 operations in over 30 countries. They create packaging for pharmaceutical, household and industrial chemicals, as well as components for electronics and automotive. As a result of an extensive fire at one of Promen’s European locations, hundreds of highly specialized and expensive plastic molds were severely damaged. The facility, in Zevennaar, the Netherlands, produced over 900 unique plastic products for clients in the automotive industry. The fire damaged 550 molds at the facility, which were owned by Promen’s customers.

This project was especially challenging because the affected warehouse possessed extremely high levels of humidity and affected products needed to be quickly moved to prevent the onset of additional contamination. In addition, initial examinations of the molds indicated that the fire had only damaged portions of each product. The actual molds showed no damage, but surrounding critical components including the electrical connections, cooling channels and hydraulic tubes were drastically affected by the fire. Every hour that the molds were not in use, production schedules fell further behind so the decision was made to undertake all repair activities on-site at Promens.

AREPA project managers were integral advisors to Promens throughout this entire process. Our team assisted with converting an entire production hall in Zevennar into an advanced toolmaker’s shop so that the molds could be inspected, restored and repaired. Crane gantries, a tank line and workplaces for toolmakers were installed to expedite the recovery process. Upon completion of the project, all but one of the 550 damaged molds was completely restored.

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