THE SITUATION

We often receive quote requests from an Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) looking for a design for custom wrenches. In one such example, the OEM sent us a wrench drawing that they had contracted from a design firm with their product specifications. Our engineering team gave an initial quote and subsequently recommended a redesign of the wrench to optimize for cost, functionality and production throughout.

THE CHALLENGE

Redesign the wrench drawing for cost, functionality, and production process while retaining the client’s desired specifications.

THE SOLUTION

When companies contract with design firms, many times the end product is at risk of becoming “over-engineered”. The design firm, in trying to create a perfect tool for their client, sometimes does not consider the manufacturing cost of complex designs that require many tight tolerances.

As more complex components are added to a design, maintaining consistent quality standards becomes more challenging. The quality level is determined by adhering to specific tolerances that become tighter as the design becomes more complex. As you might guess, the tighter the tolerance required, the higher the cost will be. 

These trade-offs between costs and tolerances are present in every design, so we identify the critical areas where we need tight tolerances, and areas where tolerances can be relaxed to optimize for the production process and cost.

By analyzing the client’s specific application and balancing production limitations, manufacturing costs, and the tolerances required for functionality, we made efficiency gains in the production process as well as the design itself. Lowell’s design team approaches these problems by considering the critical functionality of the tool while balancing economical unit cost and production processes that we can test in-house.

THE RESULT

Lowell’s engineering team is uniquely situated to address these kinds of challenges. Relying on their tried and true portfolio of wrench drawings and multiple decades of experience in production and ratchet design, we presented two high strength alloy aluminum custom wrenches. We have been manufacturing this product for our client ever since. Over the years, to meet the evolving needs of our client, we have made continuous improvement efforts to iterate and revise the design as needed.

CUSTOM CAPABILITIES

Lowell’s engineering team is excited to take on new challenges and looks forward to delivering a product that meets each clients’ individual needs. Our team possesses extensive capabilities for modifying an existing product you currently use, or to engineer a brand-new one. Some of the customizations we are able to make are listed below. Let’s discuss your application today!

• • New design from detailed drawing, to sample fabrication, and manufacturing
  • Alter the shape and size of a drive
  • Change the number of teeth on a gear
  • Add a free-running neutral
  • Handle modifications:

- Shorten

- Lengthen

- Bend

- Off-set

- Hinge

- Reposition mounting configurations