GrimmSpeed Battery Tray Mount
Atlas recently worked with well-known automotive aftermarket specialist, GrimmSpeed, in assisting with the development of a new lightweight battery tray mount.
This light weight tray provides a performance advantage by replacing the OEM battery with a lightweight unit. By doing this, it removes 19lbs off of the nose of the vehicle, which can have a noticeable effect on weight transfer, cornering, and acceleration.
For people that like to race their car, a reduction of this much weight offers a performance gain that is substantial and there are zero drawbacks in a performance environment.
In the real world, or one that has cold winters or cars that don’t get driven or their battery charged on a daily basis, having a lightweight battery often means having a dead battery.
For this reason they needed a design that would bolt to the car without modification to any components. The idea is to have a safe, secure battery for racing on the weekends, but it must be able to be converted back to the OEM battery so you can drive to work for the next week.
So quick and easy install and disassembly is important, but it cannot be at the price of secure fastening. A loose battery is both unsafe and will get you disqualified from a race before it begins.
After developing solutions to these problems, and through engineering expertise and Atlas’ new equipment technology, they were able to design, prototype and produce several iterations of a design for their lightweight battery tray. The result is an unobtrusive mounting solution that is fast, easy and reversible, as well as functional and attractive.
As an added bonus, the design of the battery tie down itself can be used on the car’s OEM battery when the rest of the lightweight kit has been removed. The fit, finish and accuracy of these parts are superb and are something they are proud to provide to other car enthusiasts.
Stainless Steel Insulated Freezer Lids
Atlas was contacted by a company that provides refrigeration equipment to the food service industry to assist them with solving their manufacturing bottlenecks.
The company had just been awarded a large roll out of freezers for a large prominent fast food chain and would not be able to handle the manufacturing requirements under their roof in the amount of time required.
The Atlas team assessed the opportunity and offered a turnkey solution that would alleviate over 80 hours a week from the customer’s manufacturing schedule at a competitive cost.
The plan entailed developing a complete manufacturing cell at the Atlas facility in Chippewa Falls, WI. The cell mimicked that of the customers with punching, welding, grinding, foam insulation and assembly all in a captive cell creating #4 stainless steel assemblies ready for installation. Daily KanBan deliveries satisfied the demand with zero defects.
The Atlas team was up and running within 30 days of receiving the commitment from the customer and continues to provide and manage inventory at the customers facility on a daily basis.
Renewable energy
Renewable Energy is fast becoming a driving force in today’s tough economic times. Climate change concerns coupled with high oil prices have made renewable energy options more viable. Increasing government support through renewable energy legislation and incentives are assisting commercialization of new technologies.
Atlas Manufacturing is proud to be a part of this quickly changing market and has recently partnered with a leader in the industry by supplying them complete assemblies for their off grid, backup power systems.
Atlas edged out its competition with superb customer care, engineering, and design and quality support. Buss bars produced in the Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin facility further complimented assembly.
The Atlas advantage offers a complete assembly delivered to its customers door step, ready for the final touches to be added before shipping to the energy storage location.
Unique Store fixture display
A prominent store fixture company sought design and finishing guidance from Atlas. The end product was to be utilized in a major big box electronics store and rolled out nationwide. Appearance and cost were critical elements of the request. Atlas suggested changing the fabrication method from a tubular weldment to a sheet metal and tube hybrid design. By working with the customer and understanding their needs, 32 inches of weld was eliminated from the manufacturing process reducing cost and improving the finish. A threaded feature was added to the leg posts which eliminated loose hardware and improved assembly for the installer. These changes greatly reduced cost and improved the aesthetics of the end product.
High Performance Computing
Atlas was approached by a large HPC company to participate in a new product launch. The project required installing printed circuit boards into complex chassis arrays. Once assembled, all elements of the HPC were assembled into a rack system and shipped to the customer for final product configuration, test, trim, and pack. A newly constructed 11000 cubic foot ESD room within the Minneapolis facility complete with continuous monitoring equipment, grounded floor, and self contained climate control ensures safe printed circuit board handling into the assemblies.
