Hardware Industry Case Study

Part Consolidation / Hardware Industry

Background

A Lofthouse sales rep visiting the plumbing section of a Home Depot store one Saturday noticed a plumbing assembly that consisted of 5 machined components produced from brass bar stock. It appeared that the manufacturer was then high temperature brazing the assemblies into a complex control valve.

The rep felt that Lofthouse could re-engineer the part into a single forged component that would provide a stronger part, while reducing costs significantly. He purchased the assembly and reviewed his idea with Lofthouse Engineering staff on Monday.

Challenge

The group observed that the present assembly had a number of potential problems, which were later confirmed by the manufacturer:

• Brazed joints had to be pressure tested prior to assembly with other internal components.
• Leaking parts were re-worked; yet even re-worked parts failed.
• Each component carried inspection cost, followed by an inspection of the assembly.
• In some assemblies, brazing material had flowed onto sealing surfaces and required re-work.
• The assemblies required acid cleaning to remove the oxides caused by heating to brazing temperature.
• Assemblies had the appearance of prototypes rather than well designed production products.

Engineering at Lofthouse agreed with the initial assessment, and proceeded to develop a SolidWorks model which was compiled on CD for discussion with the plumbing company. A cold call was made and a meeting was established.

Upon meeting the prospective customer, the Lofthouse Sales Representative asked for a tour of the facility to become familiar with present operations and the production process. During the tour, the prospective customer acknowledged that while the valve had excellent performance in the field, production costs and quality problems were difficult to control.

Upon presenting the drawing and pricing to the prospective customer, the Lofthouse salesperson was advised that the proposed pricing was not in line. In response, the representative probed using a number of costing questions based on his tour of the facility. Those observations and comments generated substantial interest and discussion to the point that the company agreed to review its internal costing.

Six weeks later, the contact advised that in fact Lofthouse pricing was less than the company’s actual cost. The plumbing manufacturer was ready to make a move.

Solution

Lofthouse designed a brass forging in alloy C37700, which was machined in one chucking on a CNC transfer machine, and changed cleaning from harmful acid to environmentally friendly, "brass-chip" blasting. Being porosity free, the forged component did not require pressure testing, and since it was machined in one chucking, it required only one inspection. The one-piece construction, free from the stains of brazing, presented a professional appearance to the end user.

Lofthouse provided a lower-cost part that solved the customer's quality, performance and marketing problems.

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