Cold-Forged Fasteners for Agricultural Machinery

Many industries are undergoing significant change, and the agricultural machinery industry is no exception.   

The agricultural machinery industry has seen unprecedented demand for its products over the last couple of years. Worldwide labour shortages and increasing requirements for food have led to a surge in popularity of mechanised agricultural processes, creating significant market opportunities for agricultural machinery manufacturers. This is also evidenced by the significant amount ‘AgriTech’ startups over the past year.  

Alongside this, manufacturers are increasingly investing in smart technologies and advanced agricultural robotics, including automised drones and seeding and spraying robots. Plus, like many other industries, they’re also forging ahead with zero-emissions technologies, like electric and hydrogen fuelled tractors, in an effort to reduce the sector’s considerable emissions.

The Importance of Durable Fasteners 

To meet this demand, it’s crucial agricultural machinery manufacturers optimise their products for use, down to the smallest of parts. Industrial fasteners may be some of the smallest parts in an agricultural machine, but they can often be the most impactful – they quite literally hold a product together. Plus, industrial fasteners may only be 1% of a project’s budget, but they can make up 50% of a product’s Bill of Materials. 

Many agricultural machines require standard industrial fasteners, but these parts still need to be optimised for use. However, with the rise of zero-emissions technology and robotics, increasing numbers of agricultural machinery manufacturers require engineered industrial fasteners. 

Here are some key requirements fasteners for agricultural machinery need to satisfy: 

High Tolerance Demands 

• Industrial fasteners for agricultural machinery need to meet high tolerance demands, and if these parts aren’t made a priority, they can loosen in their application, or worse, break. This can then lead to product downtime or maintenance, which can lead to warranty claims, reworks and damaged business reputations.  

Vibration and Corrosion Resistance 

• Not only do industrial fasteners for agricultural machinery need to withstand considerable weight, but they also need to be resistant to vibration, thermal expansion, and harsh fertilisers and chemicals to avoid corrosion.  

Lightweighting 

• Agricultural machinery manufacturers working with zero-emissions technologies are more likely to require engineered industrial fasteners. Heavier parts can heavily deplete battery performance. As aforementioned, industrial fasteners can make up a significant number of a product’s parts, and changing the geometry of a fastener can reduce a product’s overall weight significantly. A 10% reduction in vehicle weight, crucial for hydrogen-electric machines, can result in a 6-8% improvement in fuel economy, so reassessing the size, structure and material of these small parts can have an overwhelming impact on battery and machine performance.  

Barton’s Fasteners: Optimising Machinery Performance 

At Barton Cold Form, we’re experts in manufacturing durable, industrial fasteners for the agricultural machinery industry through cold-forging, a highly repeatable and sustainable manufacturing process. 

Cold-form manufacturing produces especially durable fasteners on a large scale, and an experienced cold-form manufacturer can work as accurately as within 0.02mm, meaning you’re guaranteed to receive specialised, high-quality parts, mapped exactly to your design specifications.  

We have over 90 years’ experience in meeting our customers’ bespoke fastening requirements. Our integrated engineering and manufacturing capabilities can help you improve your product output and quality. Whether you need standard or engineered fastening solutions, our engineering and industry expertise combined with our partnership approach can optimise your product’s performance.  

Contact us to maximise your product quality.