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COSMOS helps develop better forklifts while
reducing material costs
Company
Lugli |
Industry
Heavy Equipment |
Location
Italy |
Product Used
COSMOSDesignSTAR
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Type of Analysis
Linear Static,
Buckling
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More Details
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By switching materials from welded
steel to cast iron Lugli is now making a better
product at a lower cost
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The Challenge
Lugli, based in Italy, can trace its origins back to 1937,
barely two decades after the forklift was invented. After a generation
of innovation and invention, it can be counted among the more
successful producers of forklifts and warehouse trucks. It makes
a range of electric models capable of shifting loads weighing
up to six tons and diesel models that can carry twice as much.
Lugli believed they had a good design for a new steering axle
but it was such an important element they wanted to verify and
optimize it.
The Solution
The axle system had been designed in OneSpace Designer Modeller,
and they needed an analysis package that would work along side
it. With no practical experience of using a finite element analysis
package outside of some basics from a university course, the analysis
program also needed to be easy to learn and use. COSMOSDesignSTAR
met with both of these requirements.
When analyzing the steering axle,
the initial design was verified but then Lugli wanted to optimize
it. Their plan had been to make it from welded steel components
but COSMOSDesignSTAR showed them that they could use cast iron
instead. So COSMOS allowed Lugli to not only change the material
but also the process. This has produced a double benefit – now
they are making a better product and it is costing them less.
Summary and Metrics:
- Optimized the design to for cost and performance
- Immediately identified the cause of a part failure in the
steering mechanism
- Easy to learn and use for immediate results and productivity
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"We
have to keep high standards of reliability and this is
particularly important when we are making new designs.
We cannot afford to lose what we have gained in the last
sixty years so we have to be certain that whatever changes
we make are improvements. That's why we analyse our designs
with COSMOSDesignSTAR."
Marcello Meiners,
Project Manager
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