Fish says an added benefit of rotational molding is it requires less investment compared to injection molding. Annual output at Hudson averages 250,000 units with enough built-in capacity to make 500,000 units. Here’s an insider secret: workers along the line use BernzOmatic blow torches-yes, the same sort of thing you can pick up at Home Depot-to smooth out parting lines after the finished piece is ejected from the mold Fish recommends parents use the torch method if they find their child’s Cozy Coupe scratched after normal use. “The rotational molding machines we use have four or five arms at the end of the each arm are what we call a ‘spider’ that holds the aluminum cast molds.” Each mold is capable of producing enough parts to make eight Cozy Coupes every seven minutes. “The size of our parts requires us to use rotational molding because we need the parts to be very durable,” says Tom Fish, director of Design at Little Tikes for the past 20 years. Resin is loaded into an aluminum cast mold, heated while the mold rotates on an arm to assure even thickness throughout each part, after which cooled air is used to cool the mold, and the finished part is removed. Cozy Coupes are manufactured at the 600,000 ft2 Hudson plant using the rotational molding process. So as the traditional automakers give in to the naysayer’s willing to dispel the possibilities of plastic-bodied, affordable vehicles, Little Tikes is proving that plastics can lead to longevity and profitability.ĭomestic Production. Unlike its competition, which relies on complex engine technology and the latest infotainment systems to appease consumers, this vehicle runs on people power and has little more than two doors and four wheels, which are also made of plastic. While it would be the last place you’d expect to find the factory that can proclaim itself “the small car capitol of the world,” this town of 22,500 is home to the production line for the Cozy Coupe, a plastic-bodied vehicle that has remained in production by Little Tikes (for more than 27 years with sales of more than 20 million units.
The foundation for turning small car production on its head is taking place in Hudson, a small town 30 miles southeast of Cleveland, OH.
0 kommentar(er)
