10th Jan 2016
The Client
Commercial trucks are used for bulk transportation, general distribution or refuse collection.
The Project
Following a particularly harsh rain storm, an issue arose in the heavy-weight refuse vehicles.
Essentially, to change gear the driver must flip a two inch switch. However, in particularly wet conditions when the driver returned to the vehicle, rainwater would drip down the sleeve of their waterproof jacket and seep into a gap around the gear switch. Very occasionally, this water managed to short circuit the electronics. As safety is of ultimate importance, this necessitated a design modification in the driver’s cabin.
Interform Manufacturing provided the solution.
As specialists in vacuum forming, Interform Manufacturing were the perfect choice. The brief was to create a cover for the vehicle’s gear switch, which was waterproof, easy to fit, and of course met all the necessary safety standards.
The Interform Manufacturing team worked quickly with the client to create some design options and from these created a number of preliminary prototypes. One of the key considerations was that the cover could not interfere with the ability of the driver to change gear. The finished product was a transparent, two inch vacuum formed cover which when attached to the dashboard provides a complete seal to protect the switch.
The Result
Within two weeks, Interform Manufacturing designed, developed and produced 100 covers for the gear switches. Since this initial production two further batches have been supplied due to difficulties with the long term production involving injection moulding.
