Our customer had been buying small pipe caps from OEMCP already, mainly because the prices were much less than what he could source in Australia. He had been capping his large 200 X 100 RHS pipe chassis with laser cut plates, fully welded onto the end of the pipe and then ground off.
The Process:
200 X 100 pipe caps are not commercially available. Firstly a design was developed by OEMCP engineers and a sample was arranged. The first sample was made in plastic and was not successful. A second sample was tried in nylon and this was successful except that the 'fins' on the parts were too brittle. A minor change was made to the mold.
Controlling the Quality:
Pre-shipping inspection is done by photo evidence only, as molded parts do not vary once the mold has been finalised.
Shipping:
Delivery was quoted as "ex-Ballarat" but the parts were dropped off by Vic Muller for free.
Cost?
The new part takes about 10 seconds to fit and has saved many hours of labour plus the expense of laser cut parts and grinding consumables. Best of all, the order quantity for this custom part was only 500 pieces! Tooling was $830, much less than Australian injection molding companies charge.
Vic Muller's recent work history includes 10 years as General Manager of family owned agricultural sprayer manufacturer Goldacres, located in Ballarat and St Arnaud, Victoria. Vic has also worked as a manufacturing consultant in Australia and Overseas and has extensive experience in equipment design, quality control systems, supply chains and supplier relationships, costing, budgeting and every other facet involved in managing a modern manufacturing and distribution company.
Relinquishing the Goldacres GM role to the eldest son, Roger Richards, in February 2013, Vic is now utilising his contacts in China, Taiwan and India to bring real savings to other manufacturers. Vic says "I enjoy the satisfaction of delivering savings to my customers but the real kick is in surprising them with quality that exceeds their expectations"
