Design of Windrower Transport Stand for MacDon Industries
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Date
2015-12-07
Authors
Friesen, Adam
Odwar, George
Wany, Yi
Mi, Lu
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Abstract
MacDon Industries, a Manitoban manufacturer of agricultural harvesting equipment, has identified that the current assembly and shipping process for their windrower tractors could be improved. The following report outlines our work with MacDon to develop and design a stand that can support the current windrower models. The stand will allow the tractor to be manufactured and transported without the drive wheels and casters installed, saving time and improving their operations. The customers identified three key needs for the final design. It needed to improve the operational efficiency, be safe to use and meet a number of functional requirements. The team then developed conceptual designs which could best meet all of the customer’s needs. With the consultation of the customers, two final concepts were selected and developed. A final design was then chosen that provided the best overall performance for 5000 tractors over a 5 year design period. The final design consists of a disposable tractor stand, a set of reusable caster wheels and a reusable forklift attachment. The stand was designed to support 6000 kg with a minimum safety factor of 1.37. It weighs 44.9kg and has an expected cost of $68.12 each. Three forklift attachments and four sets of caster assemblies will be used in combination with the stands, each weighing 322 kg and 19 kg respectively. These reusable designs will add an additional $0.60 to the stand cost when used for the 5 year period. The total cost of the design is $68.72 per tractor which is less than the $100 budget. If the proposed design gets implemented, the tractors will not require the wheels to be installed with the tractor on the assembly line. It reduces the time required to load the tractors for shipping and will make the tire inventory easier to track and manage. The design improves the safety of the loading process with the use of the forklift attachment and the caster assemblies allow the tractor to be moved easily without a forklift. Having met these needs and staying within the budget, this design will improve MacDon’s overall assembly and shipping processes.