How strain and injuries from wiring Carts were virtually eliminated with Drive Caster®

Home » Blog » How strain and injuries from wiring Carts were virtually eliminated with Drive Caster®

By Doug Backinger VP of Sales

Posted on: November 20, 2018

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Minimizing the Risk of Overexertion and Maximizing Product Maneuverability.

Situation:

When a large airplane manufacturer designed a new model, they chose to use more electrical-system architecture instead of pneumatics to power its systems such as hydraulics, engine start and wing ice protection.

This change required designing a new wiring harness that could travel through the plane (which was between 186 and 224 ft.) so operators could install the wiring. Although the harness improved efficiency, its length was over 40 feet long. This extended length was becoming a costly problem in more ways than one.

At that length, the harness tool could flex. This presented problems as the harness had to follow a very precise path through the narrow confines of the plane. It also took 4-5 workers to manually move the heavy system which was a difficult task due to the push force required to get it moving and while maneuvering through the tight quarters.

Solution:

Two Conversion Drive Casters® from Caster Concepts were installed on each end of the tooling.  This minimized the risk of overexertion and maximized maneuverability.

Each Drive Caster® consists of a motor-powered industrial caster, steering handle, swappable battery, and easy-to-use controls.  This setup made the initial push force much less on the tooling carts and made steering the heavy equipment a much more stable and easier job.

It now only required two workers to move the carts, one controlling each conversion caster. The strain on workers was virtually eliminated, and the result was so positive that spare conversions were purchased. In addition, there is much interest in equipping other tools to realize similar efficiencies.