Pressure Safety Lock

Our customer came to Ajax because they had problems holding tolerances on an aluminum bracket with a square notch. This part is used as a safety component on a consumer small appliance, so the material and tolerances needed to be perfect to avoid user injury. Ajax designed a strengthening gusset that lets the part work-harden, while maintaining dimensional integrity within .5°.

When the customer moved manufacturing to China, they retooled everything except our part. The offshore operation couldn’t meet the functional requirements. As a result, we didn’t lose a customer, we gained a market. Volume increased from 50,000 parts per year for the U.S. market to nearly a million parts per year globally.