Werner Ladder asked Rute to redesign the feet and lower step supports for the Keller 97 series line of fiberglass step ladders. A softer look was desired for this line over the more hard-edged look of the M8700 Series. New design concepts were required to fit into a very tight set of constraints. The injection modeled braces are integral to the structure of the ladder, and their attachment points were fixed by surrounding parts that could not change.
All concepts were developed in CAD over the existing tooled geometry and rendered using our visualization process. This process is a lightning-fast approach to seeing precise still images and animations that look like perfectly executed visual prototypes. The final concept selection went straight to stakeholders for final approval before final engineering was started. The final production parts look virtually identical to the concept renderings, a feat we always look to achieve.
