item Michigan (General Test & Automation) was contacted by a major manufacturer of aluminum flatbed, pneumatic tank, refuse, end, and belly dump-trailers to design a special aluminum polishing device capable of handling raw materials larger than 2’ x 40’.

The challenge at hand was that the supplier of the polishing equipment would need a massive reciprocating machine to meet the requirements of the end-user.

Standard machine building methods (the use of welded and painted steel) were eliminated early in the quoting process due to high material and labor costs and the exceptionally long lead-time to design and build.

In the past, the machine length of 110’ would have required on-site welding, leveling, and micro-adjustment to properly align a large bearing-bed of this size.

item Michigan was able to build a seven-piece structure using 80mm x 80mm structural aluminum profile and D25 bearing-shafts and bearings to create the 110’ linear table. This table was easily bolted together and leveled at final assembly with limited time and labor.



A 45’ shuttle bed of 60mm x 60 mm heavy profile was designed to support the 800 lb aluminum extrusion as well as the polishing head which generated over 500 lbs of additional pressure.

A custom rack & pinion system utilizing a seven-horsepower motor was used to drive this shuttle bed.

Final automation-cell design also included a special safety and dust collection system as well as 200’ of industrial guarding to protect the polishing head.

At this point, the end-user anticipates a return-on-investment in fewer than six months. item Michigan is looking forward to building a second unit which will be designed to polish aluminum parts exceeding 6’ x 40’.



The expertise and automation-design coupled with item’s extensive product line allowed them to meet and exceed this manufacturer’s objectives of providing an ultra-light, extremely dependable trailer with increased payloads to lower overall operating costs.