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Ohio-based A.R.E. has created a niche for itself by specializing in manufacturing parts for the small truck accessories market. A topcoat is sprayed onto the
plug, which is then sanded in a four-step process
then hand-buffed to a mirror-like
finish. There's a successful pickup line being used in the eastern portion of Ohio. It's not, "Do you come here often?" or even the old, but popular, "What's your sign?" Instead, the lines getting people's attention in Massillon and Mount Eaton, OH, are "Deluxe Commercial Units," "Nomadic Sports Racks" and "Packasport rooftop storage systems," which are designed and manufactured by A.R.E. for use on pickup trucks. A.R.E. also fabricates a variety of other fiberglass accessories including: six styles of caps available with options such as sports racks, sport wings and clothes rods; sports boxes; fiberglass lids designed to match the hood of the pickup truck; and running boards. Making Plugs and Molds The wood acts as a reinforcement for stability during curing, said Don Markley, Tooling/Mold Design supervisor at Mount Eaton. Once the plug is designed and fitted, technicians spray two applications of Lilly seal primer, then utilize a four-step sanding process, first using 80 grit paper, then 120 grit, 180 grit and 320 grit. A topcoat is then sprayed onto the plug, followed again by a four-step sanding process -- 320 grit paper, then 400 grit, 600 grit and 1,200 grit -- then hand buffed to a mirror-like finish. "Then we make a mold of the plug," Markley said. "Depending on the style, one plug can take five to six weeks to complete," he added. To help increase the production speed, accuracy and uniformity of the plugs, A.R.E. formed the CNC department in the fall of 1997. "Our short-term goals and challenges have been to create computer models of existing caps and lids and to work with R&D to develop future caps and lids," said Van Gorder. "We want to be able to take the long process of plug creation and shorten it to one to two weeks. Thus, a mold could be ready in a much faster period of time." Used along with Autodesk's Mechanical Desktop V. 2.0 and Surfware Surfaces modeling software is the recently purchased CIS five-axis CNC router with a 12-foot by 7-foot table for trimming the plugs. A cutting path is generated from the software and downloaded directly to the CNC router, which is capable of speeds of 1,000 inches per minute on the X, Y and Z axes and 30 rpm on the B and C axes. The maximum speed for the spindle heads is 18,000-30,000 rpm. "The machine also has an automatic tool changer and can change tools in under 8 seconds," Van Gorder said. "Parts done by hand can, at best, hope to have a tolerance of 0.32 inch. Parts coming from the five-axis machine have a tolerance of 0.001 to 0.002 inch. As the process grows beyond caps and lids, this should be a significant advantage for running boards. Also, the parts from the CNC process will have perfect symmetry. As an example, a corner on the driver's side will be identical to the corner on the passenger side. Although we feel our parts should look that way right now, this process helps guarantee it," Van Gorder said. "Uniformity also means that a given plug run today can be rerun a year from now and come out exactly the same. Better yet, small changes can be made to specific features on the plug, leaving the rest to be exactly the same as before. This will allow future enhancements to happen more frequently because of an easier, less time-consuming transition," he added. Manufacturing the Caps Fiberglass is then sprayed into the molds using a chopper gun, which mixes the fiberglass strain with resin and catalyst. The first layer is hand-rolled out and trimmed before the mold travels through another curing tunnel to the second lamination area. Reinforcement matting and honeycomb are placed in on a resin-wet surface, then the interior lamination containing white pigmented resin is applied with a chop gun. Again, the crew hand rolls the fiberglass, removing all air voids. The mold is trimmed again and travels through another curing tunnel. "The advantages of spraying the shell with "bondo" is that there are no air pockets," said Clayton Steiner, Quality Control/Raw Materials supervisor at Massillon. "We inventory in excess of 800 molds," said Steiner. "Each mold can be circulated more than one time on an eight-hour shift, although we try to keep it down to only one time." Mold maintenance is critical to having a fine-finished cap. Each of the 800-plus molds are inspected between each use for any abnormalities that may cause a defect in the next part made. "We can use each cap mold 50 times before we clean, buff and apply Frekote, a clear, polymer release agent to the mold," said Butch Darby, team leader for Mold Maintenance at Massillon. Finishing Touches Products are finished in a Binks spray booth. A.R.E. uses DeVilbiss HVLP guns to spray the finishing materials on the finished caps. The caps are then conveyed into an oven and dried at 140F for approximately 20 minutes. "This equals approximately 48 hours of ambient drying time," Steiner said. A Binks PrepMaster circulates fresh air throughout the facility. The company also utilizes a regenerative thermal oxidation unit to filter out fumes, to provide for employees "an environmentally-friendly" plant, McBroom added. It is a desire to manufacture well-built products, combined with the concern for employee welfare, that has caused A.R.E. to grow from a three-man shop in the 1969 to a two-facility, 535-employee company with products sold nationwide by more than 300 independent dealers. (For a history of the company, see sidebar "Capping Off a Friendship," page 30). Country-western star Charlie Daniels was recently signed on as the company's spokesperson. According to Daniels' claim, "For quality products and friendly, down home service, you can't beat A.R.E."
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