Johnston Sweepers, global street cleaning vehicle manufacturer, is switching from metal fabricated components to plastics moulded parts with the assistance of Broanmain Plastics.
Working with material suppliers to source a dimensionally stable thermoplastic that would meet the tolerance requirements, Broanmain opted for glass filled polyamide - nylon for the thicker components that required strength, and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene for the ascetics components.
Steve Hurst, Head of Purchasing at Johnston Sweepers estimates that switching from aluminium to plastic for these caps has reduced the part cost by half.
Broanmain has currently helped convert more than 30 metal parts to plastic, among them a complex suction water outlet integral to the road sweeping operation that previously cost £50 per metal part and required extensive welding and powder coating.
Broanmain’s most recent development is a holster for the pendant that enables a driver of a sweeper to walk outside of the cab and operate the machine to lift and tip the body.
“Speeding up the manufacturing process for parts and addressing weight constraints is increasingly important to us. Anything that we are producing in steel or aluminium is quite volatile and expensive. Plastic is a good alternative if you can find the right partner,” said Steve Hurst, Head of Purchasing at Johnston Sweepers.
“By sourcing the tooling from a high quality Chinese-based specialist, we were able to justify the payback. Where we see the opportunity for plastic we will use it. And as we move more into all electric vehicles and zero emissions, lightweighting will become increasingly imperative.”