Our client, Echelles Riffaud (a SME owned by the Gimaex group) had 3 key concerns:
- To rejuvenate its range of firefighting ladders with a newly designed control station for deploying and manoeuvring ladders
- To reduce assembly times to gain in internal production capacity
- To restrict the cost of the new control station to that of the previous solution while integrating the new design features.
Echelles Riffaud first appointed a project team and then contacted Uniject once it knew:
- That moulded composites were the best solution for the design selected by the Gimaex group,
- That the design project alone would not enable Riffaud to meet its other 2 targets (assembly times and cost).
Thanks to our technology and our involvement in the project from an early stage, we were able to propose to the client:
Enlargement of the project to the actual structure of the zone,
Realistic challenges in terms of machining depth and demoulding (for the principal piece, called the “bathtub” in our workshops
Integration of several functions:
- Mechanical: the principal pieces form part of the mechanical structure of the control station and are easily adjustable (horizontally in both directions) during installation on the vehicle
- Ergonomic: the operator position now enables improved visibility of operations, access to control functions and ergonomic commands in degraded mode
- Electrical: wiring is contained inside the structure, which not only conceals but also protects it.
Delivery of a ready-to-install sub-assembly that’s easy to fit to a firefighting ladder.
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