Feature Advertorial
Bent wire parts from William Hughes rescue automotive OEM
W
hile most projects for the supply of bent wire parts to automotive OEMs are planned meticulously months in advance, a recent project saw William Hughes respond- ing to a request from a major European automotive OEM to address a problem in a soon-to-be-launched five-door hatchback. A review had highlighted a shortage of knee-room in the rear of the vehicle, which was hindered by the positioning of a map pocket in the rear of the front seat. William Hughes was asked to redesign the framework for the map pocket so it could be positioned in such a way to provide an extra 2-3 inches of legroom.
Dorset, once the process and component had been proven it was safely transferred to the company’s 3000 sq m factory in Plovdiv. Of course, bent wire parts and welded wire assemblies are not just supplied to the automotive sector. Components range from cooker parts and furniture frames through to steel baskets. If any company has a requirement for a 2D or 3D wire form that involves twists, turns, spirals, protrusions, indentations – or just plain bends – William Hughes has both the expertise and the state-of- the-art automation to meet requirements exactly.
William Hughes Ltd, Tel: (01963) 363377
www.wmhughes.co.uk
spring technology Masters of
One of the principal bent wire parts created to solve the problem starts life as a 6.5mm diameter piece of straight mild steel bar. A short series of bends is created to negotiate a path around the exist- ing wire frame of the seat – the need to alter other existing parts must be avoided so that extra cost is not incurred. At either end of the bent part, the wire is planished (flattened) to a thickness of just 2mm. Here, a 5mm diameter hole is punched – again, one at either end. The relationship between the planes of the planished sections and the positioning of the holes is vital to ensure ease of assembly. Due to the impending launch date of the vehicle the William Hughes solution was adopted on a temporary basis until a “volume” solution could be sourced. Initially, a quantity of 6000 parts was requested. However, such was the success of the William Hughes proposal that the very same bent wire parts have now been adopted for production runs. A total of 7500 parts a week are cur- rently being supplied. Part of the reason that William Hughes can be competitive for the high volume supply of parts is their company factory in Bulgaria. While the development process and initial quantities for this project were produced at William Hughes’ headquarters in
S34 W
illiam Hughes has been making springs for over 200 years.
Today, our resources are amongst the most extensive and sophisticated in Europe, fulfilling orders large or small with equal facility, ensuring continuity of supply, rapid delivery and competitive prices on every single item.
The variety of springs available is almost infinite, in a choice of metals nearly as wide including stainless steel, brass, phosphor bronze, beryllium copper and nickel-chrome alloys.
Compression Tension Torsion
State-of-the-art facilities for in-house design of products and machine tools.
Simultaneous engineering, fast prototyping and early functional testing are just a
few of the technologies that allow us to bring a product to market in the most timely and cost-effective way, assisted by the additional production facilities in our Bulgarian factory.
For more information, contact:
Station Road, Stalbridge, Dorset DT10 2RZ, United Kingdom. Tel: 01963 363 377 Fax: 01963 363 640 Email:
sales@wmhughes.co.uk Web:
www.wmhughes.co.uk Enter 130 - 40TH ANNIVERSARY SUPPLEMENT - Design Solutions 1971-2011
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