Case Studies

Challenge

The Department of Defense wanted to swiftly upgrade the suspension system on 1,700 Caiman vehicles as the battle moved from Iraq to Afghanistan, since the road conditions and terrain are more challenging and have different requirements in Afghanistan versus Iraq. Barron Industries was selected by a large Michigan fabricator to work hand in hand with them on this program. The challenge for both Barron and the fabricator was to ramp up to production extremely rapidly. Barron was to launch 24 investment castings (many of them machined) in just 5 weeks and 6 sand castings in 8 weeks! This kind of expedited timing is unheard of in the investment casting industry, since just the tool itself typically can take from 3 - 4 weeks to produce.

Solution

Because of critically tight timing on this program…a lot of engineering work and planning was done up front allowing Barron to get it done right the first time. There was no time allocated for process development, which occurred simultaneously while castings were being produced. Barron's engineering team performed solidification modeling using its solid cast software to insure a quick launch with no development time. Barron had previously contacted our Tool Maker to insure the capacity was available to produce all the tools in the tight timeframe laid out.

Caiman Welded Assembly

Our Tool Maker agreed to the timing and dedicated the resources to work 24/7 until completion of all tools. Barron worked from the 3D math data without prints. If Barron had waited for prints, the project would have never been launched on time. Barron used the 3D math data to complete the tools for the casting and cutter paths for machining while engineering was being completed by the customer. First Article sample submission and Production Parts occurred simultaneously. Barron also launched 6 sand castings for the same program through a partnership with a local sand foundry.

Let’s talk about how Barron can work with your company to plan a successful launch.