Case Study: Crenlo Engineered Cabs

We created a fully customized solution for Crenlo Engineered Cabs to streamline their assembly process and reduce unnecessary prep work.   

The Challenge

Two of the key parts in Crenlo’s assembly process for one of their customer’s applications are their right hand and left hand skirts used on the cab assembly. These skirts are made out of TPO (Thermoplastic PolyOlefin) and mounted onto a truck which is then painted and baked in an oven.

In their previous process, the parts would arrive with a residue on them from the prep work at the previous supplier in order to get them ready for painting. TPO is a low surface energy plastic, so it is very difficult to bond to and requires additional steps that high surface energy plastics do not.  Unfortunately, this prep work left residue on the part creating additional work as it needed to be cleaned off of the parts prior to being painted.  The TPO that they were previously using for these parts was also prone to warpage causing additional fallout and rework costing time and money.  

Our Solution

ICP proposed a newer material from Simona-PMC that includes a directly paintable and bondable film layer in order to alleviate the prep work prior to painting. When the customer receives the parts, they simply do a quick alcohol wipe to clean any potential surface contaminants off prior to painting. 

⇨ Related Content: TPO Features & Benefits in Thermoforming

ICP worked with Simona-PMC who also recommended going with a higher melt strength TPO to help alleviate some of the warping issues during the baking process.

The following benefits of the new solution were:

• Cost savings – even with higher-cost materials, the overall part cost is lower due to less prep work at ICP to get these parts ready for paint. Just form, trim, assemble, and ship instead of tying up labor getting parts ready for paint!
• Crenlo was able to save on labor as prep work prior to painting is very minimal.
• Improved cosmetics and lower fallout and rework as the parts are not warping in the oven following paint.
• WIN-WIN for all parties

This was a success resulting from the collaboration between Simona-PMC, ICP, and Crenlo Engineered Cabs in order to arrive at a solution that exceeded expectations for all parties including the end customer as well!