CASE STUDY | Cast Footplate

Wyma Solutions is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of post-harvest vegetable and fruit handling equipment. Christchurch-based, they have production facilities on two continents and machinery operating in more than 50 countries.

THE CHALLENGE

Wyma uses a custom stainless machined footplate design for their support structures. This design offers considerable height adjustment flexibility and incorporates a ball joint to account for sloped floors.

While seconded to work at Wyma, Caliber engineer Angus McKay identified a potential cost-saving opportunity by moving to a cast footplate design.

THE SOLUTION

Caliber undertook the challenge of redesigning the footplate to retain the strength and functionality of the existing design while optimising it for casting.

Using Finite Element Analysis (FEA), the footplate was refined to enhance its strength while simultaneously reducing overall mass. The result was a redesigned footplate with equivalent strength and functionality, a 40% reduction in total mass, and significant cost savings.