Garden equipment

What the industry needs

Brackets and mounts in handheld and walk-behind equipment: handle mounts, gear housings, blade mounts, engine mounts, wheel supports. Die cast in aluminium where weight matters, in zinc where the detail is fine and the volume large.

What makes the requirements special

Price is the whole discussion. In this segment the margin sits in the part, not in the brand. We price on metal volume and cycle time, and both can be influenced during design. Removing ten grams of unnecessary metal from a part you make 40,000 of per year is 400 kilos of metal a year — and a shorter cycle, because a thinner section solidifies faster.

This is the most direct form of positive product criticism we practise: here a design change converts into money you can calculate yourself.

Tolerances that avoid post-processing. Every operation after casting costs money in a volume segment. If we can cast the bearing fit directly, without subsequent machining, a whole operation disappears from the calculation. That requires the tolerance requirement to be realistically set and the tool to be built for it — and it is settled before the tool is designed.

Environment across many seasons. The tool sits in a shed over winter, is used in rain and sun, and gets pressure washed. The surface treatment has to be judged against that, not against the shop shelf.

Vibration. Engine mounts see cyclic load for their entire service life. That makes radii and freedom from porosity in loaded sections more important than it sounds for a consumer product.

Why we fit

• Series die casting is the core of our model.
• Positive product criticism before pricing. We review wall thickness, draft angles, radii and tolerance requirements to bring down weight and cycle time before the quote.
• Short lead time on call-offs. Imports with long sea freight tie up capital and flexibility. A Norwegian supplier an hour from Oslo can respond to seasonal swings.
• The tool is yours and it stays in Norway.

Be honest about the price picture

At very high volumes of a simple part, a foreign die caster will often have a lower hourly rate than we do. Our argument is lead time, seasonal flexibility, proximity to the tool and a part that can arrive fully machined — not the lowest unit price in the world.

What has to be clarified

We have not published which annual volumes we can handle, or whether we can hold finished goods stock and deliver against call-offs through the season. For this industry that question is often more important than the unit price.