Elasto Proxy makes ready-to-install cab insulation for heavy equipment. From the headliner to the floor mats to the side panels, we supply custom solutions for quieter cabs and more efficient assembly. Manufacturers buy pre-cut insulation from us, but that’s just part of the value we offer. Elasto Proxy also offers additional services that save you time and money.
Keep reading to learn more, and contact us when you’re ready to leave that old and inefficient way to get cab insulation behind.
The Old Way to Get Cab Insulation
Some heavy equipment manufacturers still cut cabin insulation by hand. They buy material in bulk and cut individual parts with an Exacto knife and a cardboard template. Buying rolls of acoustical foams or rubber flooring might get you a volume discount, but it also ties up cash and floor space. That doesn’t help Accounting or Inventory Control, but what about Operations?
Cutting insulation by hand produces parts that are less precise and more expensive. An Exacto knife isn’t a precision cutting tool, and the edges of the cardboard template wear away over time. If there’s a miscut, material ends up in the trash and away from your cost sheet. In other words, you may never know the true material cost of your jobs.
What happens if there isn’t a major miscut? With acoustic insulation and rubber flooring, close enough isn’t good enough – especially with mating parts or panels. Gaps allow sound waves to pass and noise to enter the cab. With flooring, water from an operator’s boots could reach the subfloor. You don’t have to use imperfect parts, but there’s a labor cost to cutting them again.
Cutting parts by hand is inefficient, but what about installation? The old approach involves liquid adhesives or fasteners. Liquid adhesives are messy, raise health and safety concerns, and have time-consuming setups and cleanup. Fasteners are available in plastic, but even lightweight and less expensive ones take time to install. Small, hard-to-hold fasteners also require the use of hand tools.
Finally, the old way to get cab insulation is inefficient because all the parts that an installer needs aren’t readily available. How many times does an installer walk back and forth to a worktable? And how many back-and-forth trips to the warehouse does a picker need to make? Are you capturing the costs of all this walking around? Transportation (as it’s called) is a form of manufacturing waste.
The New Way to Get Cab Insulation
The new way to get cab insulation starts with paying for only what you need. Elasto Proxy can buy your material in bulk, store it in our warehouses, and cut it on-demand or according to your sales forecast. Your blanket PO gets you the benefits of our volume discounts, but without paying for all your material up front and storing it in your own facility.
Using water jet cutting, Elasto Proxy can then fabricate your parts with speed and precision. There’s no tooling to wait for or pay for, and our digital manufacturing process is computer-controlled and highly repeatable. A computer-aided design (CAD) file beats a cardboard template, and water jet cutting is great for low-to-medium part volumes.
Water jet technology also eliminates manual miscuts and reduces material waste. By nesting your parts, we can create cutting patterns that optimize material yields. We can also laminate different materials together, such as rubber flooring and acoustic foams, and then cut them to-size based on the dimensions of your cabin.
Because what you buy is precision-cut, mating parts or panels fit cleanly together. With our waterjet equipment, we can also cut holes or notches if you need them. Try doing that by hand without removing too much or too little material. Similarly, Elasto Proxy can make angled or chamfered cuts so that your insulation fits other cabin features, such the arms for brake and gas pedals.
The new way to get cab insulation also makes it easier to install. That’s because Elasto Proxy can apply pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) tapes to your parts for peel-and-stick installation. You can also use fasteners, but installers won’t have to struggle to position parts that are taped in place. This also reduces the risk of leaving gaps between parts where sound waves or water can enter.
Finally, the new way to get cab insulation eliminates transportation waste. With Elasto Proxy’s kitting services, you can get a box that contains all the cabin insulation to install for a build. We can even package in assembly order so that the part to install first, typically the headliner, is on top. Installers won’t have to walk back and forth to worktables, and pickers won’t have to return to the warehouse.
Choose Ready-to-Install Cab Insulation
Ready-to-install cab insulation speeds assembly, reduces wase, and cut costs. It also provides benefits away from your assembly line and across your entire organization. Are you still buying, storing, installing, and paying for insulation the old-fashioned way? Talk to our team and learn how we can help you to improve your operations.
