There are countless blogs and articles on how to reduce costs and as a commercial vehicle manufacturer there are many quick wins that can be achieved, resulting in a more efficient workplace and a more efficient product.
Here are just a few examples of how you can reduce costs…
Cost of Materials
Adhesives make it possible to use economical, lightweight and diverse materials. For example, Formoa 066 makes the use of ABS and other economical, yet hard to bond materials possible.
Another simple move that can save money is to switch from cartridges to foil packs. The foil pack stub takes about 1/24th of the space that a cartridge shell would take in a bin. By making the switch to foil packs, one company was able to change their skip collection from once per week, to every two weeks!
Labour Costs and Production Efficiency.
Significant time savings can be made by using a primerless bonding system. Many adhesive systems require extensive surface preparation in order to be effective. By using the Formoa bonding system one company was able to save 15 hours per vehicle. Their previous system meant they had to sand/ abrade and prime all the side panels, now all they have to do is clean and bond.
The handling strength of an adhesive is also very important when it comes to production efficiency. Adhesives such as Formoa with excellent handling strength mean that props and clamps can be removed earlier and vehicles moved on down the production lines. The leading UK bus manufacturer was able to reduce build hours on bus roofs by 7 hours by using Formoa polymer technology!
Another company in the truck body industry reduced build time by 42 hours by using Formoa 066 adhesives and one-piece panels and floors instead of traditional riveted constructions.
Warranty and recall
Avoid warranty claims by replacing mechanical fasteners with adhesive and using application best practises. A horsebox manufacturer was able to reduce water ingress and related corrosion by following best practises. “S” bead application of adhesive was leading to water ingress, which then got trapped resulting in corrosion and failure. When best practises were followed, applying the adhesive is two straight parallel lines, the issue was resolved.
Many manufacturers were finding difficulty in educating their workforces in which products should be used for which application. Language barriers were causing miscommunication between teams resulting in the wrong products being used in the wrong applications. Mistakes like these are expensive and avoidable; that is why Forgeway developed the colours concept. Colour is a universal language, it crosses barriers and means that regardless of nationality, language or ability, operators will use the right product for the right application. The Formoa bonding system is completely colour coded. Blue for sealing, Yellow for bonding, Green for high strength bonding and Red for glass bonding.
This list is by no means exhaustive, and there are many other ways that cost savings and efficiencies can be achieved. Ask us for an on-site audit and find out how you can save money.
