The client is a manufacturer of outdoor kitchens. The company makes high-quality, weather-resistant, stainless steel kitchens that remain outdoors year round. All kitchen modules and components are assembled with a combination of industrial manufacturing and manual craftsmanship. The company headquarters and production site are in Ostwestfalen, Germany. Its products are sold through kitchen supply retailers.

The standard versions of the outdoor kitchens have fixed feet, but since many customers want to have more flexibility in positioning them, the kitchen modules are optionally available with castors. The entire castor design must therefore be able to handle moisture and a wide range of temperatures.

The company previously used castors from a competitor, which were based on an aluminium rim. However, these corroded quickly when exposed to the weather, resulting in visible blemishes on the aluminium. The client was also unsatisfied with the stiffness of the locking pedal.

We were asked to supply a corrosion-resistant castor with a smoothly operating locking pedal and a protected bearing to prevent penetrating water from damaging the wheel cover when it freezes. The client also wanted its logo on the wheel cover.

We recommended a castor with nylon wheel centre and antistatic tread made of thermoplastic polyurethane. A castor with POTH wheel and stainless steel wheel cover was designed specifically for this application. The client’s logo is laser-engraved onto the cover. The castor also has a high-quality stainless steel bracket with bolt hole, a corrosion-resistant stainless steel ball bearing and a smooth FI pedal.