GM flooring distributor inc. custom Multi-functional Floor Brushing machines project

In December 2022, GM Flooring Distributor Inc. (hereinafter referred to as GM Flooring) came to our company through a customer introduction and wanted to order 1000 Multi-functional Floor Brushing machines. The order requirements are very special!

Part 1: GM Flooring special customization requirements and challenges

1. Chassis 16 inches;

2.Voltage 110V,60HZ, American plug;

3. It is required to drill a hole from the middle of the head, and the water pipe is connected to the water tank and the middle hole of the head, that is, water from the middle of the head;

4. Open holes (diameter 40mm) at the edge of the chassis, and connect the metal pipe with the vacuum cleaner hose;

Our company started in 2010 and has been in the cleaning equipment supply industry for more than 10 years, but we have never seen this kind of multi-functional floor brushing machine. In particular, open a hole in the middle of the head, so that the water pipe connects the water tank and the hole in the middle of the head, and drains water from the middle of the head (see the above figure for details). The traditional brush machine is from the chassis edge of the hole, the water pipe is connected to the tank and the chassis to open a small hole, that is, water from the chassis hole. The middle of the head is the motor, and our motor supplier does not have such a motor with a hole in the middle, which means that we need to conduct separate motor development and testing together with the motor supplier, which is faced with a lot of uncertainties.

In addition, a large hole is cut at the edge of the chassis, and then connected to the vacuum cleaner hose, this design has not been seen in China. This means that our product development department needs to redesign, proofing and testing, and also faces a lot of uncertainty.

Part 2 Our efforts to explore and solve

In view of the special and challenging ordering requirements proposed by GM Flooring, team members of both sides have established a wechat group to ensure that they can discuss and communicate with each other on details and problems during the project promotion at any time, so as to improve the efficiency of product development and ordering.

First, solve the motor problem. We asked several motor factories that we worked with, and they all shook their heads because they had never heard of this kind of motor with a center opening. However, with our continuous efforts to communicate and strive for, one of the motor factories expressed its willingness to cooperate with us for development attempts. GM Flooring requires "If the holes are 20 mm and we are placing 10 mm hose or pipe through it will be enough clearance so the The hose are not spinning." We must ensure that the hole is large enough to accommodate a pipe with a diameter of 10mm, and there must be a certain gap between the pipe and the hole wall, and ensure that the tube does not rotate when the motor is rotating, otherwise the tube will soon be damaged; At the same time, this aperture can not be too large, otherwise it will affect the strength of the motor shaft, the aperture is too large, the strength of the motor shaft will be affected, the motor may be deformed in the work and scrapped. The motor shaft needs to be strong enough and the opening needs to be very precise. After the joint development and testing by our engineers and engineers from the motor factory, we have successfully developed a motor prototype with a center opening that can basically meet the GM Flooring requirements (see the picture below) :

Second, solve the problem of the motor center drain pipe. We need to find a suitable material and size pipe inserted in the central hole of the motor to ensure that the pipe does not rotate with the rotation of the motor, but also to avoid excessive friction between it and the rotating motor shaft. Because once there is too much friction, it will mean that the machine will have a lot of noise, and the pipe will soon be worn out and scrapped. Thank goodness our talented engineers did a great job in this segment! They found such a metal tube and added a fixed metal ring to the top of the machine head, through which the metal tube was inserted into the hole in the middle of the motor shaft. The metal tube was fixed on the top cover by this metal ring, so that when the motor shaft was rotating, the metal tube was very stable and there was almost no friction with the motor shaft. It will not rotate with the rotation of the motor shaft. In January 2023, our first prototype was assembled, and it was amazing (see image below).

Third, solve the problem of chassis hole. It is easy to make a hole in the chassis, but we need to consider the position of the hole, after all, the diameter of the hole is 40mm, we need to avoid affecting other parts of the chassis and the strength of the chassis, and we need a metal tube fixed to the hole and connected to the hose of the vacuum cleaner. Finally, our engineers, with the support of our suppliers, developed a pair of metal tube combinations to perfectly solve this problem! (See picture below)

Fourth, prototype testing and confirmation. We have assembled a complete prototype and tested it, and everything seems to be OK. After seeing the demo video, GM Flooring can't wait to place orders for the first batch of products (130 units, one container)! Wait! This product is a newly developed customized product. In order to maximize the benefit of customers, we propose to send a prototype to the United States first, and let GM Flooring engineering team test and evaluate the prototype. This is the safest way. The client finally agreed to our proposal, and praised us for our rigor and patience :"Thank you Lina. I very much appreciate you and your patience with us. You have a great night rest." The prototype was sent to the United States at the end of February 2023, and the customer was very satisfied after receiving the prototype! In May 2023, the customer ordered our first batch of products, 130 custom-made Multi-functional Floor Brushing machines.

Fifth, product production and delivery. Although we sent the prototype to the USA and won GM Flooring's approval, we still made further improvements in some details during the production process, including product color, chassis opening size and position, plug, LOGO size and position, product manual, and packing case design. Especially in the final assembly link, it was found that some machines caused a small amount of lubricating oil leakage due to the opening of the motor center. Therefore, we made further improvements to the structure, and repeatedly tested and verified all the machines to ensure that there was no problem before the formal packing. On August 19, 2023, the entire shipment was loaded onto a container truck and set off for the United States.

Part 3: Product effect and evaluation

This customized product is our joint development with GM Flooring. Compared with the traditional multi-functional floor brushing machine, this product has two advantages:

First, the water in the center of the head can avoid the sewage thrown out by the brush machine in the process of cleaning the ground and polluting other places. In a traditional brush machine, the hole is on the side, the liquid flows out of the tank, and then runs down the hole, and the brush under the chassis is rotating, and it will spread the sewage everywhere.

Second, the chassis is open and reserved for metal tube, in the use of this multi-functional brush machine at the same time, the vacuum cleaner's hose is connected to the metal tube on the chassis, so that the machine can clean the ground while sucking away the dust and garbage on the ground, and the work efficiency is greatly improved.

Part4: Our service and customer evaluation

After seeing the test video of the product prototype, GM Flooring partners were eager to place an order, but to be on the safe side, we proposed to send a prototype to the US for customer confirmation. The customer was very anxious, but finally agreed to our proposal, and praised our rigor and patience. "Thank you Lina. I very much appreciate you and your patience with us." Many nights, no matter how late, or even early in the morning, we will reply to the information in time to ensure the efficiency of the project.

Although we wanted to make this product customization project perfect, an accident still occurred. In October 2023, after the goods arrived at GM Flooring, the customer discovered that the Pad drive we configured was 15 inches instead of the 16 inches agreed upon in the order, My God! The colleague in charge of parts distribution is very sad and self blaming, and we can no longer bear to give him any further criticism and blame. After communicating with the customer, we have decided to send all 130pcs 16 inch Pad drive to the United States via international express UPS delivery, with all product components and shipping costs borne by our company. The customer expressed great satisfaction with our after-sales service!