In this case study, an industry-leading electric truck manufacturer faced caster failures that caused production line disruptions. Seeking a customized solution, they turned to our expertise.
When an industry-leading electric truck manufacturer was experiencing caster failures which caused entire production lines to go down, they reached out to us for a customized solution to facilitate their unique needs.
This electric truck manufacturer’s primary issue with their old casters was debris retention. Tiny metal chips and other types of debris were getting caught between the wheels, causing them to bind up and lock, forcing the autonomous guided carts carrying heavy batteries to stop and eventually halt entire production lines.
After meeting with their team, we tested several potential solutions within our own facility before providing our recommendation solution for them to test within their plant. Our proposed solution included our most commonly recommended setup of two rigid and two swivel casters per cart. Instead of using the more traditionally utilized caster featuring a single wheel mounted within the fork caster rig, we recommended using an outrigger caster. This caster features two CC Apex HD 10” x 3” wheels, one on each side of the fork, held together by a barbell.
After a few weeks of testing our sample casters according to our proposed recommendations, this industry-leading manufacturer of electric trucks was impressed by the results, especially regarding the casters’ durability. The CC Apex HD wheels dramatically reduced debris retention, and the double-mounted outrigger setup eliminated any potential concerns the client thought they might see, primarily with compression.
Compression was such a consequential concern for the client because if the wheels of the casters experienced too much compression from the 6,000-pound total load weight, it could cause a small but significant enough decrease in the deck of the cart, which would affect the automatic transfer of product. However, utilizing the dynamically strong CC Apex caster wheels on both sides of the outrigger caster allowed us to provide the client with a solution that had the strength, resiliency, and versatility to meet all of their specifications.
This industry-leading electric truck manufacturer has specified that the outrigger caster featuring our CC Apex HD wheels will be their gold standard for casters on their AGC carts in the future. Not only did this solution eliminate this particular issue that resulted in significant downtime, but it dramatically reduced MRO expenses. The inch-and-a-quarter thick polyurethane thread provides excellent durability and less wear even when handling a significant amount of weight from hauling large electric batteries. The rebound resiliency of the polyurethane on the CC Apex HD wheels also minimized any vibration in the AGC.
Ultimately, our outrigger casters equipped with CC Apex HD wheels reduced downtime and maintenance costs while offering several additional benefits. These additional benefits included less wear-wear and tear on the facility floors due to reduced debris retention and a noticeable reduction of noise within the facility due to the carts vibrating less while being towed.