inventory was moved and stored multiple times. Through collab- orative work, Kinze and Dotson engineers consolidated the number of parts for the main shank down to three. According to Schindle, at one point in the product develop- ment process, Kinze considered going to a two-piece cast ductile iron assembly for the entire planter row unit. These two pieces would have been too large for Doston to cast, and after shopping the market, Kinze returned to Dotson with the plan for a six-piece as- sembly of smaller castings. The no-till coulter arm of the
row unit was redesigned from five steel parts to one, and the parallel arm was reduced from seven pieces to one cast ductile iron compo- nent. The face plate was a one- piece stamping that was converted to a ductile iron casting for more rigidity. In the steel fabrication, the parallel arms were attached to the shank and face plate with fine thread nylock nuts, which made assembly time consuming and problematic. With the cast ductile iron version, the savings in assem- bly time at Kinze for the planter row unit is between 5% and 10%. The 4900 Series Planter was
unveiled in Kinze headquarters February 2013 and is pegged for the 2014 planting season. It was most recently exhibited at the Farm Progress Show in Decatur, Ill., in August 2013, and the cast ductile iron planter row unit is listed as one of the planter’s top new features.
MEDIA
Projected world population growth indicates food demand could outpace current crop production.
RESOURCE Using the Actable App, scan this page
to see a video highlighting the new features of the Kinze planter, including the ductile iron row unit. For instructions on Actable, see p. 24. To watch online, go to
www.metalcastingtv.com.
Sept/Oct 2013 | METAL CASTING DESIGN & PURCHASING | 23
Photo courtesy of Kinze Manufacturing.
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