Landing Gear
The Nefab Solution:
An aerospace company was looking to develop packaging for their landing gear systems. Previously, the crate the company used had two walls of 3/4" plywood, load support dunnage attached to the underside of the crate lid, and was nailed together in a traditional fashion. The crate was extremely heavy, resulting in very high transportation costs and increased handling costs at both ends of the journey. Nefab was provided with the opportunity to develop an improved design that would result in a reduction in damage, and lower transportation and handling costs.
The Nefab Solution:
Nefab's design team thoroughly reviewed the packing, handling, and shipping processes being used by the customer. Special focus was placed on the weight distribution, as well as the load characteristics. The analysis concluded that a better option was an ExPak crate with the walls and lid constructed of a much lighter 3/8" thick Oriented Strand Board (OSB). This was due to the correct positioning of the newly designed support dunnage, which tied the landing gear system to the base of the package and not the lid or sides. The Nefab solution also featured a "spring clip" closing system instead of nails used in their previous crate.
Customer Benefits:
- Eliminated shipping damage
- Lowered the customer's shipping costs due to the lighter-weight of the pack
- Removed the need for nails or nail guns, improving ergonomics & safety
- Is easier to load and handle internally and at their customer
- Can be opened and re-closed during transport for inspections and value-added operations