Solar Railing System
Our Customer’s Problem:
A world leading solar panel company came to us with a “you can’t do it” problem (our favorite kind). The problem – the rails to mount their panels were too expensive (high cost) and the rails were multiple pieces causing movement and failure over time for mounting their powerful panels.
Because the rails were configured in multiple pieces and due to inconsistent winds and weather conditions, the rails would end up buckling thus becoming unusable. They came to us to find a new design for the railing that would be more durable without increasing costs.
The GTech Solution:
Over a few weeks we designed and tested tools based on what the engineers requested. We explored options of tool design to trap the material when forming, minimizing wrinkles, maintaining and insuring strength, while at the same time being able to manufacture the rails in one-piece, thereby giving the solar power companies installers the quickest takt-time during installations with a stronger and more reliable solution.
What we found was that the key to the project was developing the right tool technology to get both the quality and cost the customer needed. Finding the right raw material made a significant impact to finding a solution that worked.
We did it. The new railings did not require break joints or extra assembly or costs for our customer. And the quality exceeded expectations – the railings can better handle corrosion and are now durable for 30 years!