Part Redesign

The Challenge

Spraydown is a unique aero guard system that contributes towards fuel efficiency and safety in the heavy-duty trucking industry. The product increases fuel efficiency from 1 - 3% by separating the water from the air and directing it down towards the roadway. Doing so also has the added safety advantage of increasing visibility for drivers.

The original design of Spraydown required an average of 150 individual components that a fabrication worker had to assemble by hand. This was mostly individual spacers that had to be placed between the vanes to maintain consistent separation. This was time consuming and inefficient, driving up the cost of each unit.

The Engineered Profiles Solution

An Engineered Profiles engineer redesigned the pin system that held the vanes in place. The straight pins and spacers were replaced with a specially designed pin that is notched at regular intervals. Our inline punch system was configured to create football shaped holes that would allow the notched pins to be twisted, locking the vanes into place. This dropped the average part count per flap to 30. In addition to dramatically reducing the assembly time, it also reduced the weight of the part, and importantly, reduced the production cost.