IT TAKES POWERFUL ENGINEERING TO MOVE POWERFUL EQUIPMENT

Detroit Diesel has 70 years of building reliable engines. They know what works and what doesn't. Everything done as a company to date has led to the development of the DD15 engine. Detroit Diesel took what they learned from past successes and failures to design the most reliable, fuel-efficient and powerful engine yet. Moving an engine around the plant in a fork truck free environment was more of a challenge. Detroit Diesel turned to the engineers at Topper Industrial, the leaders in fork truck free systems, to solve some very challenging material handling problems.

The objective DD described to Topper Industrial was to deliver heavy diesel components to the assembly and machining lines using tuggers and carts. The engine components that needed to be moved include the 400# crankshaft and the massive 2000# engine block at the DDC plant in Detroit Michigan.

The DD15 Engine is the most advanced Diesel Engine ever built. The engineers at DD wanted every aspect of the production of the DD15 to be innovative including utilizing lean manufacturing principles which are not only more efficient, but safer.

The obvious challenges Topper's engineers faced were the weight of all the heavy components and in some degree the shapes of the engine block and crankshaft. It was evident Topper would need to design a material handling system and manufacture several specially designed delivery carts. Most of these carts needed to perform in a way that has never been done before.

Engine Block Cart
The first challenge was the Engine Block Cart. The Engine Block Cart was designed based on Topper's industry standard Quad Steer type cart. It was built to carry (4) four DD15 engine blocks with power transfer. The power comes from the tugger's electrical system. This has never been done before.

Crankshaft Cart
The crankshaft cart is also based on the Quad Steer but with gravity conveyors and positions for (8) eight crankshafts. The material handling systems for this part included gravity conveyors at the assembly line and at the "supermarket". The supermarket is where commodities are located and staged for delivery. The entire system is 100% mechanical with automatic transfer features. This was the most challenging part of the overall DD fork truck free material handling system because of the weight and shape of the parts. As with all of Topper's systems, safety is the most important part of the process so there were many built-in safety features including disabling of the tugger during transfers. This has never been done before.

Cylinder Liner Cart
Using the innovations designed for the Crankshaft Cart, the heavy duty quad steer has positions for (2) 48"x45" pallets. This cart has a power transfer which is also powered by the electrical system of the tugger. Additional safety features including disabling the tugger during transfers are incorporated into the Cylinder Liner Cart. This has never been done before.

Mother Cart for Kit Carts
The kit cart travels with an AGV on the assembly line with components built just for that engine. At the end of the line, the kit cart is pushed effortlessly on to any mother cart for return to the supermarket. This has never been done before.

Topper Corral Cart and Dollies
The Topper Corral Cart and Dollies have been very popular for moving multiple carts in a smooth and stable manner at the same time. The corral cart encapsulates the dollies and pulls around a plant both full and empty. In the case of the DD the dollies needed to be small, lightweight, offer good density and be easy to push. A very unique and innovative feature was developed to make this one of the most ergonomic material handling products on the market. Topper designed a self elevating platform that keeps the parts at a safe height for the operator on-line and employee loading the cart. The dolly has a spring loaded carriage that lowers when weight is applied and rises when weight is removed. This has never been done before.

Rotation Cart
Unique rotation carts were designed so that the operator on the assembly line can rotate the top of the cart to keep parts close reducing the need to reach. An important feature is the retractable storage shelf to temporarily store packaging dunnage for the operator. This eliminated the need for a second rotation cart on-line just for the empties.

Small Parts Delivery Cart
This is the only cart utilized at DDC which is used in a typical fork truck free system. It features adjustable shelves and is usually pulled in a train. This gives the operator many options to pick and pull small parts.

The DD15 Engine is Detroit Diesel's new revolutionary Heavy Duty Engine. Much of the material handing equipment was designed to meet the specific needs of building the DD15 and the entire material handling and assembly process was designed to be lean and fork truck free. Fork truck free and lean assembly combined with innovation and world class equipment is a great topic for a feature if not a cover story.

About Topper Industrial
Topper Industrial is a leading material handling equipment manufacturer with an emphasis on safe, fork truck free environments. Topper Industrial products are widely used within the automotive industry and are changing the way material is moved within an assembly plant. Topper Industrial designs custom material handling solutions for a variety of world class manufacturers, from one cart to an entire production facility.

About Detroit Diesel
Detroit Diesel is a leading manufacturer of on-highway heavy-duty diesel engines for the commercial truck market. Headquartered in Redford, Mich., Detroit Diesel is engaged in the design, manufacture, sale and service of these products, in addition to supporting alternative and hybrid engine strategies for the commercial truck marketplace. Detroit Diesel is a Daimler AG company.