Full Parts Portfolio for an Organic Weed Control OEM
Overview
Chapmans established dialogue with a manufacturer of precision equipment for organic weed control who were experiencing a rapid increase in sales. As environmentally conscious growers moved away from herbicides in favour of interrow mechanical hoeing, machines for crops as diverse as sugar beet, salad, vegetables, herbs, and even flowers were all required on short lead times. Direct contact with the growers, not to mention the wide variety of crops involved, meant that frames were assembled to order from an extensive list of options.
Issue
The high degree of customisation and short timeframe provided a challenge for our client in terms of 100% stock availability. To mitigate against this, hoe blades were often sourced from local suppliers with welding and assembly carried out by other external subcontractors. At face value, this supply route was cost effective and responsive however product quality in terms of aesthetics and wear rates was questionable, with no one single supplier being in control of the process from start to finish.
Design Brief
The client specified through hardened A-blades and side hoe blades as a USP given that competing products are often cold formed from pre-hardened material. For the A-blades, the angle of attack was given careful consideration to ensure a root cutting rather than bulldozing action. Side hoe blades were to have additional fixing holes to allow retrofitting onto other brands of equipment. Both families of blade were fitted to the machine using a selection of straight and formed stems – weld-on or bolt-on models. The life of these stems also required extending so that they did not wear through leading to the loss of the attached blade.
Our Proposal
Initially, we defined the narrowest and widest A-blades, standardising the nose angle so that the form tooling was common across the range. The angle of attack was selected from a mid-size blade sample, keeping this angle as shallow as possible to aid root cutting. By forming in the hot state and heat treating thereafter, we were able to achieve higher hardness results than the cold bending process afforded. For wider working widths, we then increased material thickness, further extending the component’s service life. Some A-blades were supplied already welded to the stems, some as separate parts. By maintaining common angles across the range there were no expensive tooling set up times for the smaller volume items whenever everything was produced together as a single package.
The Result
The client benefitted from the same degree of flexibility as previously – access to product of various working widths, with and without stems and in large and small volumes – but with enhanced performance and stamped with their own brand identity. Moreover, additional fixing holes permitted spare parts to be fitted onto different machines, widening the client’s available market. After initial trial orders, Chapmans have now supplied multiple bulk deliveries.
