The introduction of Asguard 50 Guarding
At the beginning of 2020, THOR SAFETY LIMITED was approached by Dforce Engineering Limited to quote a sizeable guarding installation for a major automotive manufacturer to be fitted at a manufacturing plant based within continental Europe.
Dforce manufactures welding and riveting fixtures for robotic cells in automated BIW facilities and was looking for a partner on this project who specialised in guarding installations.
The guards were to be fixed perimeter fences made from aluminium extrusions with a variety of infill panels and had to include both hinged and sliding doors.
There was a significant problem, however, the end-user specified a guarding system made from extrusions manufactured by an overseas supplier, and on investigation the costly nature of these elements made the guarding unfeasibly expensive.
The management team at THOR SAFETY LIMITED in partnership with Dforce came up with a unique solution. We were already working with an aluminium supplier to create our own range of extrusions. With that in mind, it was decided to create two new sections which could be incorporated into the THOR SAFETY LIMITED product range and offered, not only to this new customer but also to our existing and future client base.
The proposed sections were to include tee slots which would complement our existing designs so that planned connection elements could be standardised and to easily accept a range of infills - sheet, mesh, polycarbonate, etc.
A new design was very quickly produced in partnership with Dforce and after several designs, meetings to consider ease of panel manufacture and simplicity of installation, involving both 3D presentations and samples produced by 3D printing; all parties gave the project the green light.
THOR SAFETY LIMITED then set about commissioning the products - a vertical section and a separate cross rail section - with our aluminium supplier.
Whilst waiting for the dies to be manufactured and the extrusions produced, a bespoke system of brackets was designed for connecting the panels and for floor mounting the system. These were to be zinc plated.
For the sliding doors, THOR SAFETY LIMITED, as an agent for a UK based sliding system supplier was able to supply their own linear rails and sliding carriages.
We also developed, with the aid of 3D printing, a new plastic end cap specifically for these sections. The cap incorporates the THOR SAFETY LIMITED logo and is an aesthetic finishing touch to the system.
Our client required both 2D and 3D drawings, the latter to be incorporated into their system simulation and were provided to help them achieve this objective.
With the inevitable break for the COVID-19 outbreak, a new timetable was agreed. The panels were constructed at our West Midlands facility, packaged and delivered to our clients UK base. Here our engineers installed the system, on time and within budget.
The clean lines and anodised finish have drawn pleasingly good reviews from both the client and the end-user. At the time of writing the system is being dismantled once more by our engineers, ready for reinstalled at the end-users plant.
THOR SAFETY SYSTEMS are therefore pleased to announce the addition of our new ASGUARD 50/30 system to our expanding product range. We are proud to offer our customers unique and specialised solutions to their manufacturing process.
To find out more, please speak with our Sales Team.