Heavy truck OEMs provide the backbone to the American economic infrastructure. The United States trucking industry accounts for a large majority of shipping in the country and the trucks that hit the road daily must be built with durable materials.
Increasingly, heavy truck OEMs are beginning to shift toward a metal to plastic conversion for specific applications in their equipment. Behind cost-effective business practices, more repeatability in manufacturing, and more, learn with Allied Plastics on this critical trend in the heavy trucking industry.
Why Plastics and Thermoforming are Winning Over Traditional Operations
OEMs, regardless of the industry they are in, are in a constant pursuit to find ways to create innovative, durable, parts at a cost that works for everyone. Materials, overhead, labor, and logistics all weigh heavily on decision-makers.
It’s for this reason that more metal to plastic conversions are happening. And not just for heavy truck OEMS, but for numerous industries including automotive, construction, and infrastructure. Tooling costs are traditionally more cost-friendly for thermoforming operations compared to something like metal stamping. But thermoforming tooling costs are also less than and faster to build for injection molding. For OEM programs that operate on low to medium production runs, this can prove pivotal as the high-volume production runs commonly associated with injection molding offset the tooling costs.
Thermoforming specifically creates large part pieces for heavy trucks and not only is it in a single piece but can feature integrated features. To have a “single” piece when utilizing metal, it would require welding, bracketing, fastening, and even secondary finishing operations. Additionally, weight reduction is a large pivot point in the metal to plastic conversion conversation. Thermoformed pieces like a large exterior panel are lighter than metal which improves fuel use, handling, and overall wear.
Heavy Trucking Specifics
Consider being out on the road and knowing the conditions that your trucks could face. The snow and cold temperatures of the mountains. The heat and humidity along the East Coast. Precipitation in the Pacific Northwest. America’s vast and diverse climate calls for materials with heavy trucks – whether that’s interior or exterior – to meet the demands of the harshest conditions offered.
Through this lens, that’s where the metal to plastic conversion becomes optimal for heavy trucking OEMs. Materials used for heavy gauge thermoforming perform allow for rust resistance, performance in wet or snowy conditions, and various forms of road debris better – and more budget-friendly – than non-treated metal parts can.
Customization of thermoformed parts – such as textures, color, and branding – take place during manufacturing, not as a value-added operation which further saves OEMs on costs as metal operations would have to have the customization aspects take place after initial production.
Best Applications of Metal to Plastic Conversion for Heavy Truck Parts
The materials and parts that make up the big rigs we see out on the road daily contain a mix of plastic and metal parts. More and more metal to plastic conversions are taking place in the heavy trucking industry. While not an exhaustive list, these are some of the most common examples for metal to plastic transitions in heavy trucking. Examples for metal to plastic transitions in heavy trucking.
- Side fairings in class 8 trucks
- Sleeper cab extenders
- Bumper covers
- Fenders
- Intake ducting
- Sleeper climate control vents
- Heat shields
- Wiper motor covers
- Instrument panels
Considerations
For as great as thermoforming operations are in heavy trucking applications, there are still specific scenarios where metal fabrication or another form of metal production is likely the better option for heavy trucking applications, however.
Considerations on thermoforming versus metal manufacturing should be held if a part or application is going to face high heat loads, intense structural loads, tight dimensional tolerances, or even deep draw features as these might favor metal production methods instead.
Contact Allied Plastics Today for More Information on Metal to Plastic Conversion Operations
Allied Plastics are true industry leaders in heavy gauge thermoforming applications, serving a broad range of OEMs across the country and within numerous industries. Our heavy gauge thermoforming operations entail custom parts in sizes up to 9 ft x 14 ft x 60” depth of draw with a starting sheet thickness ranging from .060” – .550”.
Our metal to plastic conversion operations features the full complement of our experienced engineers working with you to seamlessly transition from a metal design and production cycle to plastic. These conversions focus on attention to detail and finding ways to not just carry over an existing product application but finding ways to enhance it as well.
Allied Plastics has been serving heavy truck OEMs since our doors opened over 30 years ago. When your team is ready to shift from metal to plastic, contact us and we’ll get to work.