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CASE STUDY

Part Redesign

challenge

The Challenge

 

Spraydown is a unique aero guard system that contributes towards fuel efficiency and safety in the heavy-duty trucking industry. By separating the water from the air and directing it down towards the roadway, it increases fuel efficiency 1-3% and increases visibility for drivers. The original design of Spraydown required an average of 150 individual components that a fabrication worker had to assemble by hand. This was mostly individual spacers that had to be placed between the vanes to maintain consistent separation. This was time consuming and inefficient, driving up the cost of each unit.

solution

The Solution

 

An Engineered Profiles engineer redesigned the pin system that held the vanes in place. The straight pins and spacers replaced with a specially designed pin that is notched at regular intervals. Our inline punch system was configured to create football shaped holes that would allow the notched pins to be twisted, locking the vanes into place. This dropped the average part count per flap to 30. In addition to dramatically reducing the assembly time, it also reduced the weight of the part as well as the cost.

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result

The Result

 

Spraydown won an award for innovation and brought manufacturing jobs from China to the USA. The innovation brought by Engineered Profiles cemented a partnership that has allowed this product to be installed on tractor-trailers across Europe as well as the United States. By eliminating the excess parts, Engineered Profiles was also able to reduce the lead-time in production of this product and reduce the cost.

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