
Assembly Line Evaluation
Our support doesn’t end with production launch. We will work with your assembly plants to continuously improve the value of the products and service. General Fastener’s Engineers support total assembly cost reduction through line-side efficiency evaluation and in-plant assembly evaluation.
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Our Engineers can provide solutions for standardization/consolidation, redesign for ease of manufacture, fastener finish optimization, and total joint redesigns.
Contact us when you need assistance with pulling cost out of a program.
Cost Avoidance (Design):
Bolt was not effectively priced due to high rack plating costs. Part was rack plated to reduce damage to the threads, which caused installation issues. Previous barrel plate process was causing unacceptable damage.
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Solution and Actions: GFC worked with the plating applicator to handle product in a barrel process with caution. We tested the joint and determined the process was robust. The newer equipment with shorter drops caused less thread damage.
Customer Cost Avoidance: $30,000
Component Savings – Slotted Nut used to hold the tie rod to the knuckle.
Engineering worked with the customer on a redesign and commonization to a current nut that they were using. By commonizing to an existing part, they were able to take advantage of larger volume, reduce complexity of the application and significant savings.
Estimated Savings: $15,000