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Ohio Valley and the Agricultural Industry

Tag Archive: trucking

1. Demands on the Trucking Industry This Holiday Season: Outlook & Solutions

   December 4, 2018 2:45 pm Comments Off on Demands on the Trucking Industry This Holiday Season: Outlook & Solutions

   The holidays are a busy time for everyone—especially for the trucking industry. Black Friday – and the ensuing holiday season shopping frenzy – leave the transportation industry moving extra freight from early fall through the end of the year and beyond. Heavier than usual traffic and a greater consumer demand for on-time delivery add to the strain, which is even more important this year as tight capacity and a shortage of drivers burden the industry even without the added peak season stress.

   Ohio Valley Manufacturing supports the trucking industry with design solutions to help keep up with the chaos. Our services help fleet managers and truckers optimize their truck designs to withstand not only the holiday season, but all year round demand.

   Here’s an overview of what’s to come for the trucking industry this peak season, as well as Ohio Valley Manufacturing’s answers for this high-stress time.

   Peak Season Demands on the Trucking Industry

   There’s good news this holiday season: the economy is thriving, and business is booming. In fact, the National Retail Federation (NRF) predicts sales will increase between 4.3% and 4.8% this November and December. That figure will translate to as much as $720.89 billion in total.

   A healthy economy and strong consumer confidence have primed shoppers to spend. The retail industry, as well as customer service and logistics, are recruiting additional employees to keep up with the expected increase in demand.

   Of course, the transportation sector is also hiring. Amazon, FedEx, and other transportation stakeholders of all sizes are bringing on tends of thousands of additional drivers for the holidays.

   This peak season is panning out to be one of the busiest in recent years. Ohio Valley Manufacturing is ready with solutions that help the transportation industry operate at peak performance.

   Trucking Solutions at Ohio Valley Manufacturing

   Ohio Valley Manufacturing designs metal components for trucks through services such as heavy-gauge stamping and precision blanking. Our products are strong enough to endure the rigors of the holidays, as well as any other time of the year.

   Heavy-Gauge Stamping

   Since 1999, Ohio Valley Manufacturing has produced industry-leading stampings. Commercial trucks require robust metal components to support heavy loads, making such vehicles an ideal application for heavy-gauge stamped parts.

   Our facility houses state-of-the-art presses to produce durable metal components. These machines can handle up to a 4,000-ton press capacity and 24-inch maximum press stroke. These qualities enable the presses to work with carbon steel, aluminum, and stainless steel between .020 and 0.625 inches in thickness.

   A wide range of stamping products, such as circle blanks and surface mount pins, are made from this process. Many other heavy-duty truck components are also created in this manner.

   Precision Blanking

   Precision blanking creates durable sheet metal for further use in trucking applications. Ohio Valley Manufacturing offers eight blanking production methods that can handle material sizes measuring from .020 to 0.625 inches in thickness, 72 inches in width, and 100 inches in length. The procedure works well with many common materials used for transportation applications, including:

   • Carbon steel
   • Aluminum
   • Stainless steel

   We tailor our precision blanking process to each individual client’s needs. Our team handles a variety of orders, from prototyping to contract or custom projects. We possess the capability to fabricate first operation blanks, and can work a range of order types, including bulk orders, imports, or other more intricate projects. We possess the capacity to handle small- and large-scale production runs. No matter what the demands of your project, we’re here to handle your truck component fabrication needs.

   Let Ohio Valley Manufacturing Help You This Holiday Season

   The holidays are here, along with increased pressure on commercial trucks. Ohio Valley Manufacturing is ready to support the transportation industry during this time of increased demand and throughout the upcoming year, where capacity will likely remain tight.

   To learn more about our services for the trucking industry, contact us today.

2. New Technology,New Progressive Die Work With Laser Weld, And A New Year!

   December 16, 2015 6:18 pm Comments Off on New Technology,New Progressive Die Work With Laser Weld, And A New Year!

   As 2016 approaches, we thought we’d tell you a little bit about what’s been happening at Ohio Valley Manufacturing this past year, and what we’re planning for the New Year. Overall, 2015 has been a great year for our company, and we recently received some exciting new work involving laser weld technology. It’s highly advanced technology that joins two steel coils, welding them together. Then, the welded coils run through our machines and are stamped out. The welded coils are being used as crash absorbers in vehicle crash panels to keep drivers safe.

   A recent industry report says, “Joining coils is part of the steel industry’s day-to-day business. For machines to work continuously, coil welding machines positioned at the beginning of the rolling mill connect the tail end of one coil to the beginning of the next, creating an endless ribbon… some steel is best joined using laser welding…”

   Apparently, we’re among the first in the U.S. and overseas to do progressive die work with laser weld. (We’ve been told we are the first to do progressive die work with laser weld and coil, but this hasn’t been confirmed yet!) In Europe, they have been using similar technology, for several years now, and we’re excited to begin working with it in the U.S. The report quoted earlier in this post also states, “Laser welding has come to dominate in many areas, but resistance welding is still the most widely used…” At Ohio Valley Manufacturing, we have the capabilities to do both – and we also do so much more.

   We’re a key supplier of first operation blanking, stampings, for a variety of industries, including automotive, trucking, transportation, appliances, agricultural equipment, lawn & garden products, suspension parts, and more. Learn more about Ohio Valley Manufacturing and our capabilities by visiting our website. Or give us a call at 419-522-5818 and we’d be happy to tell you more. We hope to hear from you soon! But, in the meantime, we wish you a Happy New Year, and thank you for reading our blog.

3. Ohio Valley and the Agricultural Industry

   November 27, 2013 9:22 pm Comments Off on Ohio Valley and the Agricultural Industry

   Last time we talked a bit about the “lightweighting” trend, what it is, and how it applies to one of the primary industries we’re involved in, namely the trucking industry.  This time, we’d like to examine more specifically how the trend and our expertise therein dovetails with other more heavy duty applications of heavy gauge stamping and blanking, particularly within the agricultural industry.

   While the basic idea of lightweighting is found across multiple industries, the particular goals and factors differ slightly for the heavy duty nature and specific needs of the agricultural industry.  Generally, the maneuverability, fuel efficiency, and transportability that is achieved with lighter weight is advantageous in all applications.  The extreme example here is with racing – the design specifications, advanced materials, and other efforts to make the cars as light as possible are incredible, making complementary technology necessary (spoilers and other airflow manipulation techniques) to keep the super light cars on the track.  On the other end of the spectrum we have heavy duty, rugged equipment, such as is found in the agricultural industry.  The primary considerations here are durability, resistance to extreme weather and corrosion environments, and load-bearing capabilities, while still maintaining the lightest weight possible.  All of these particulars make using alternate materials more difficult, as only higher grades of steel have the tolerances necessary for such specifications.  For instance, the field disks found on tractors often come with strict specifications for emerging engineered steels (like these advanced high strength steels or AHSS), to be able to withstand the continuous use and corrosive conditions of the soil.  This goes for other parts of the tractor too, from wheels to drive idlers, and other parts that require high load bearing capabilities.

   At Ohio Valley, we have long been a leader in heavy gauge blanking and stamping, and we’ve recently made some pretty exciting investments to increase our capabilities in those areas.  Make sure to check back here at our blog in the future for some more information about how we’re pushing the envelope of heavy duty offerings in our industry to new heights.