There are many different types of truck bodies. To name a few, there are:  

Austin Hardware® has long served the RV market. Our location in Elkhart, IN, well-known as the RV capital of the world because the greater Elkhart region is where more than 80% of global RV production is based, has helped to make us the hardware supplier of choice for many RV manufacturers, dealers, and end-users alike.

We have a large selection of in-stock handles for every area of your recreational vehicles. Whether it’s a Class A motor home, an ice-fishing trailer, or a pop-up camper, the RV you’re driving sports various handles inside and outside the vehicle.

Here are a few of the locations you’ll find handles on most RVs:

Drawer slides assist in the opening and closing of drawers. From emergency and utility vehicles to server racks, battery trays, and medical equipment cabinets, the list of uses for drawer slides in vehicular and industrial applications is virtually endless. 

Choosing the right drawer slide for your application requires the answers to a few questions.

• What is the drawer used for, and how much weight will it be required to handle (load capacity)? 
• What are the environmental conditions in which it will primarily operate? Must the drawers lock in any position (i.e., open position, closed position, both, or neither)?
• Must the slides contain a disconnect to allow for the complete removal of the drawer?
• How much space is available, and how much of the drawer must be easily accessed?
• How often will the drawer be accessed?
• How much of a factor are aesthetics (i.e., will the slide be hidden)?

Often, the most critical element to determine, and the best way to begin to narrow down your options, is your required load capacity. From there, you can start to explore the available options. 

There’s a tug-of-war taking place on production lines and assembly floors across numerous industries, but especially sectors under the transportation umbrella. It relates to the use of traditional mechanical fasteners versus modern adhesives. 

Both have well-earned positions in the marketplace, as they have on our shelves at Austin Hardware®. So, we’re not here to advocate for one over the other. The engineers, buyers, and other top executives at your company need to make decisions like this based on factors that are likely to be unique to you. Our goal in this space is to point out some of the benefits of both, and explain how, in some cases, using both in the same application could be beneficial.

We want to help you not only achieve but exceed your goals. That’s our simple mission. We know we can’t do that by just providing hardware. We have to do more, and we attempt that in several ways:

• We will help you find superior parts that will give your end product a competitive advantage. 
• If we can’t find something on the market, we’ll help design a modification that will meet your needs. 
• We can provide you with exceptional services, such as a vendor managed inventory program, designed to take the burden of day-to-day purchasing activities off your hands and allow you to focus on the bigger picture. 
• We can also do that via customized kitting and packaging services that will save you time in production. 

Most of the time, however, the successes we see are the result of a combination of these things.  

What is a Gas Spring?

Have you ever wondered how a gas spring works? Or maybe you don’t even know what one is. You would be surprised though by how much you use them in your daily life. Have you ever tried opening the trunk of your car? Or raised an office chair to desk level? What you probably used was a gas spring. There are so many common daily uses for these helpful springs. They are most commonly used for doors but have a wide variety of applications. A gas spring works by using compressed gas to maneuver two different parts a 1) piston rod and a 2) cylinder. The gas compression creates a strong force which is proportional to an increase in pressure as the two mechanisms work together. Even a small gas spring can generate a lot of force and therefore has impressive strength.

There are many ambiguous terms for the rubber products used to protect the edge of a manufactured product or create a weather-tight seal for a door, window, or enclosure.  Some of the terms you might come across include edge guard, gasket trim, edge trim, push-on trim, edge gasket, seal, trim seal, rubber seal, and weatherstrip (or weather strip, depending on where you look). Each end-user and each supplier might use any of these terms to describe different products. Many times, the names will overlap. 

When Cheap isn't Inexpensive

The cheapest drill bits are not necessarily the most cost-efficient in the long run. There are times when the cheapest product is all you may need. In most cases within a production environment; higher quality may ultimately serve you better.

For many companies, a Vendor Managed Inventory program is a better way to handle replenishment.

The natural question for you to ask now is … why? What are the benefits of having a supplier manage MY inventory?  In a word … MONEY.

Now that’s obviously an oversimplification. But when you break it down and look at all the different parts of the replenishment cycle a VMI program can impact, it becomes easy to see the benefits.  

Let’s take a more detailed look.

There are a number of options, and plenty of decisions to make for companies considering a Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) program. Depending on a company’s goals, budget, and available resources they’ll have to decide on the type of VMI program, to what extent the VMI provider’s personnel will be used, how products in your program are going to be replenished and accessed, and more.

We’ll look at a few of these options in this post.

There are essentially two types of VMI programs

• Non-Consignment
• Consignment.

Both Non-Consigned and Consigned VMI programs offer customers a similar list of benefits, which you can read more about HERE.