A KEY ELEMENT OF MACK'S HIGHWAY MARKET STRATEGY The "VISION BY MACK" highway tractor, recently launched by Mack Trucks, Inc., was conceived with a clean sheet of paper and the input from thousands of people in the trucking industry, including fleet maintenance managers, company drivers, owner-operators, fleet managers, service technicians, and company CEO's. The result was a truck designed with these needs in mind: Productivity, Efficiency, and Comfort. A key element in the cab of the VISION™ truck for the comfort and ergonomic needs of the driver is a state-of-the-art speaker system, including the innovative speaker grilles designed by GR Technical Services, of Mountainside, NJ.
According to Bob Hooper, Technical Sales Director for GR Technical Services, "The grilles need to be acoustically transparent, therefore a large amount of open space is a requirement. This of course means that it is a greater challenge to design a part that will be moldable. The speakers are integrated into the headliner of the cabin, so for ease of assembly, we designed snap-in tabs enabling the grille to be easily mounted while providing a clean cabin ceiling."
Originally, the speaker grille was designed to be an expanded metal part. However, plastics provided a more economical solution. GR Technical Services offered a design and mold construction that permitted the generation of the required hole pattern; yet with a clean radius on the exterior of each hole surface without blemishes or witness lines. MOLDFLOW's plastic process flow simulation analysis was conducted to ensure that no gas trapping occurred in the grille area, where aesthetics were most important.
"One of the key advantages that we could offer to the designers at Mack was the ability to give them stereolithography models, as well as working models made with cast urethane prior to the completion of the production tools", recalled Hooper. "Cast urethane parts were installed into pre-production and pilot truck models for performance testing. Once production parts were available, they were retrofit into those units. Mack was therefore able to move ahead with performance testing four weeks earlier than the completion of the production cavities."
The grilles are molded by Graber-Rogg, of Cranford, NJ. "We strive to develop designs which have excellent manufacturability", commented Hooper. "There was a good match between the behavior of the plastic in the mold and the outcome that GR Technical's engineers predicted for their part and mold designs.
In order to ensure that the grille would provide the aesthetics, durability, and safety that Mack expects from all aspects of the VISION interior, the material was carefully selected. The custom-colored ABS resin from A Schulman matches the interior trim, and incorporates a UV stabilizer to maintain the color throughout the life of the truck. The compound is also flame-retardant to meet the FMVSS 302 standard for the flammability of interior materials (of motor vehicles).
Highway customers told Mack that they expect progressive styling, reliability, and value throughout the life of the truck. This was the philosophy employed in every component of the VISION tractor, and this was the outcome that Mack's supplier partners were expected to achieve. Together, a leap forward in transportation technology has been achieved.
™ VISION and VISION BY MACK are trademarks of Mack Trucks, Inc.
Photographs - Courtesy of Mack Trucks, Inc.
The "VISION BY MACK" 
According to Bob Hooper, Technical Sales Director for GR Technical Services, "The grilles need to be acoustically transparent, therefore a large amount of open space is a requirement. This of course means that it is a greater challenge to design a part that will be moldable. The speakers are integrated into the headliner of the cabin, so for ease of assembly, we designed snap-in tabs enabling the grille to be easily mounted while providing a clean cabin ceiling."
"One of the key advantages that we could offer to the designers at Mack was the ability to give them stereolithography models, as well as working models made with cast urethane prior to the completion of the production tools", recalled Hooper. "Cast urethane parts were installed into pre-production and pilot truck models for performance testing. Once production parts were available, they were retrofit into those units. Mack was therefore able to move ahead with performance testing four weeks earlier than the completion of the production cavities."
Highway customers told Mack that they expect progressive styling, reliability, and value throughout the life of the truck. This was the philosophy employed in every component of the VISION tractor, and this was the outcome that Mack's supplier partners were expected to achieve. Together, a leap forward in transportation technology has been achieved.