A company called MTU Drive Shaft had a contract to supply Ford Motor Company with shafts for the Ford 500 and Freestyle. Everything was in place except the small foam piece that was required for shipping and handling.

The suppliers they contacted all proposed laminating layers of foam together to make the part.

MTU didn't think that laminating would hold up to the rigors of handling on the assembly line. Custom molding seemed to be the answer, but the specified foam isn't moldable.

An internet search was launched to find a supplier that could provide the solution. A response from the B.B. Bradley Company within the hour started to produce some real results. Years of experience allowed a quick identification of the material and technique needed to fabricate it.

MTU had a prototype in their hands within the week.

The prototype allowed Ford to make some suggestions that were then implemented into the design and MTU had their approved parts in place well before the scheduled first run.

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Sandia Laboratories of New Mexico had a situation that wasn't too uncommon. They had a very strict requirement by their customer, the United States Government, to provide an Expanded Poly Styrene foam piece that had intricate shapes and contouring in a density of foam no one could find. They also needed only 250 of these parts.

Everyone they talked to insisted that the only way to manufacture the part was to mold it, which would require more than $15,000 in mold costs alone plus a heavy penalty for small volume.

That's when the B.B. Bradley Company went to work. Our extensive capability in CNC fabrication techniques allowed a solution that eliminated molding and would therefore save thousands.

A one time engineering charge, construction of a low cost fixture and some programming got Sandia the parts they needed at a much lower fabricated part price.

The B.B. Bradley Company offers molding, but helps customers decide when and if that option is right for their budget and application.

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Design expertise isn't just for new projects. In our constant quest to improve things, we came across a design change that just needed to happen.

A major manufacturer of electronic test equipment was purchasing a pallet for overseas shipment of its product.

The current design was becoming costly because it required a lot of hardwood to meet export standards. Without the customer requesting it, the B.B. Bradley design team decided to explore options for reducing cost without sacrificing performance.

The result was a series of design changes that not only exceeded the customer's standards, it also allowed material cost to remain significantly lower and more stable through many unprecedented rises of lumber costs.

As you can see, the B.B. Bradley Company places a very high value on the relationships it has with its customers and is always striving to improve every product and service it provides.

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LSI Graphic Solutions needed a little help. A brand new contract with a very large national fabric retailer for in store signage was driving a need to rethink the traditional way of doing things.

The ceiling signs LSI provided were usually trimmed with molded polyurethane foam that mimics real wood molding. Because the material and mold costs were becoming much too expensive, a decision was made to explore alternatives.

Working with the B.B. Bradley Company, they discovered that fabricated Expanded Polystyrene could do the job for a lot less and add the benefit of design flexibility as well.

They traded the thousands they would have spent on mold costs for much lower tooling and setup charges and got a product that was sandable, paintable and a very attractive addition to the in store décor.

B.B. Bradley's 5 axis milling capability made it possible and LSI is now bringing the same concept to other projects.

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Don't ever tell the B.B. Bradley Company "It can't be done!". We love a challenge.

Ayershire, Inc. had a customer that wanted to know if a solid 20" diameter EPS tube could have a 90 degree bend in it
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When presented with the challenge, the B.B. Bradley engineers quickly came up with a unique solution that employed the most advanced capabilities in the industry, and in our plant.

This four foot high solid foam elbow probably isn't something you would need, but it does prove a point and our customer, Ayershire appreciated it so much, they've presented us with many other more practical challenges.

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A prominent electronics manufacture called B.B. Bradley in a panic. They had just received a foam piece from their existing supplier that just wasn't going to work. To make things worse, they needed to ship their product the next day.

The problem with the piece was it had distortion in it from die cutting, causing it to not fit properly into their equipment.

The B.B. Bradley prototype center was the answer. The new customer received an acceptable part from B.B. Bradley later that same day. Our in-place technology and zero back log philosophy made it possible to deliver a solution that didn't require expensive tooling costs or long set up times.

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