Manufacturing is at the heart of what we do here at SuperATV. After we design a part, it takes exceptional talent and technology to execute our vision.
That’s why we have a diverse set of equipment and a lot of manpower filling our 232,000 square foot facility. We’ve got routers for windshields and skid plates, brake presses, lasers, lathes, CNCs, mills, welders, and tube benders, and we’re adding more all the time. Let’s look at a few of these and what they help us do in more detail.
One of the most import part of the manufacturing process is our CNC routers. The “CNC” part means that the router is computer controlled. We use routers to cut flat sheets of material into the precise shapes required for our windshields and skid plates. They are cut exactly the same each and every time thanks to the computer controlled aspect of it. We cut either ARMW or polycarbonate and bend them in brake presses to become skid plates or windshields respectively.
Then we box up those windshields and skid plates with whatever hardware and brackets they need before moving them out to the warehouse. They don’t stay there long, though. We crank these things out non-stop on multiple routers because they’re so popular.
Lasers are exciting. But the really exciting ones—the ones that can actually burn holes in things—are reserved for science fiction and manufacturing. Well, we’re in the business of manufacturing so we’ve got ourselves a big fancy laser.
Ours is a 60-ft. table with an arm over it that carries the laser. We send huge sheets of steel through and the laser cuts through it all like butter. Our laser can cut out all of the parts for dozens of boxed A-arms, lift kits, and bumpers in a single sheet. We also use it for portal gear lift backing plates, and anything else that uses plates instead of tubes.
The manufacturing process isn’t done until the final parts are assembled. The flat pieces from the laser go to the brake presses where we bend them and then send them to welders to assemble. Walking by our row of welders, you’ll see containers full of these bent flat pieces and pallets full of their raw finished assemblies.
After these parts are assembled on a jig, welded, and quality checked, we move them to our powder coating area. Our powder coating guys clean the parts, cover them in powder, and then bake them until we get that nice gloss or wrinkle finish we’re looking for.
Once they’re assembled and powder coated, we send them to our assembly cells. This includes our portal assembly cells, and if you’ve bought one of our portal kits, you know they come with a lot of different parts. In order to make sure we get these kits right, we have a team that specializes specifically in assembling these kits in house. These guys are also responsible for putting gears and seals into the portal boxes as well. If you walk around their area, you’ll see hundreds of empty portal boxes waiting for their guts to be inserted and get boxed up.
Like our CNC routers, our CNC mills use a computer to tell them what, where, and how to cut. Unlike our routers, our mills turn a big block of metal into a clean and precise metal part. No ARMW or polycarbonate here. Most of the time you’ll see these machines churning out billet aluminum portal and differential housings.
We didn’t cover everything like our wire-cutting EDM that has its own climate controlled room, and all of our lathes that we use to make all sorts of miscellaneous parts. But I think you get the idea. We work with cutting edge machines (there’s a pun in there somewhere) run by top notch talent to bring you the very best home-grown parts we can. And the story of our manufacturing is never-ending.
We’re always growing, always adding new tools, and always improving our manufacturing. After all, to make a great part, you’ve got to have great tools.
