Modular fixturing and teamwork make for a successful solution

To make big changes, companies often have to overcome even bigger obstacles. When faced with such a challenge, Detroit Truck Manufacturing (DTM) called on Bluco and their expertise in modular fixturing for a solution.

In his role as Director of Welding Engineering for Oakland Standard Company, Todd Stoughton got an informed perspective on the entire project from beginning to end.

A manufacturing shift with major potential benefits

The cabs for Spartan Motor fire trucks were being manufactured by another company and then shipped to Spartan’s assembly line. To become more vertically integrated, DTM was launched as a captive-channel supplier of fabricated aluminum cabs for Spartan Motors fire trucks, as well as the cab and chassis product it supplies to over 40 OEM fire truck manufacturers.

But as Stoughton quickly learned, the change would require a highly flexible fixturing solution. “My first challenge was to understand what it was I was building,” said Stoughton. “I came into the project thinking we were just building one kind of cab. It turned out to be a huge number of models and options. I quickly realized that if I was going to use hard tooling to build these things, it was going to be millions and millions of dollars.”

After confirming that suspicion by getting quotes on dedicated fixturing, Stoughton had to start thinking outside the box to come up with a better solution — one that not only fit the budget, but could get them operational quickly while accommodating different cab sizes, variable part shapes, and strict GD&T tolerancing despite tight floor space requirements. Stoughton wondered: “How are we going to make these subassemblies and marry them together with the accuracy that we require?”

The solution is modular

Having worked with Bluco, Spartan’s CEO, Daryl Adams, was already familiar with their high quality, quick turnaround and team of experienced engineers. So Adams asked Stoughton to share the CAD designs with Bluco’s engineers.

After the initial virtual discovery sessions with Bluco, Stoughton put a door in the back of his truck and he and the Spartan team visited Bluco’s Validation Center in Naperville, Illinois for several hands-on demos that provided proof that the fixtures they designed for the CAD models worked on the actual part. “At that point I knew that regardless of what I was trying to build, I had a guy that could put it on a fixture for me,” said Stoughton. The answer was indeed going to be modular fixturing. Now it was time to start designing.