Cast Iron Attachment Coupler
A conversion from steel coupler to single-piece casting
A customer in the construction industry required steel to ductile iron conversion, with a design that reduced the number of parts. NEI delivered the solution.
A customer in the construction industry needed ductile iron casting for an attachment coupler. The previous design was welded steel and consisted of over 30 separate components. By converting the coupler to a single-piece casting, the customer realized significant streamlining of raw inventory flow and logistics. The product improved durability, was less complex and costly, streamlined assembly operations, and reduced the cost per piece.
Closely collaborating with the customer, design iterations were developed over the course of several months. After a design was chosen, NEI engineers rigorously tested prototype castings. Finally, production tooling, which included patterns as well as multiple core boxes, was produced and PPAP completed.
The green-sand molded ductile iron attachment coupler replaced a steel fabrication that had over 30 pieces with a single, 355 kg iron casting. The resulting benefits included:
- Reduction of individual components required, from over 30 down to a single casting, removing inventory complexity
- Reduction of overall assembly components required
- As this part was fabricated/assembled in-house by the customer, it helped streamline their raw inventory flow and logistics given we delivered the part fully painted and machined
- The performance of the casting was consistent with the steel fabrication
