Not your ordinary personal-use transportation seating

Woodbridge creates a custom designed solution leading to a production increase of 2,400% from initial launch

By Timothy Teyner, Product Manager and Eric Turmel, Marketing Manager

For many families living in residential communities owning a personal transportation vehicle is almost paradise. Most of these neighborhoods are designed to let residents drive on local roads to visit friends, explore the grounds, commute to the local pool, play a round of golf or travel to the clubhouse for dinner.

From entry-level to high-end models, consumers are looking for ways to customize their personal transportation vehicle with luxurious features which include high-end seating.

Custom designed solution
Recently, Woodbridge was approached by its customer that manufactures personal-use transportation vehicles to supply a custom full bench cushion and seat back on the launch of their low volume premium trim package for the North America market.

The Woodbridge team collaborated with the customer to ensure the seating had a high-end, crafted look and feel while being comfortable and visually appealing. Unique cut and sew techniques were used to create an exceptional custom look that distinguished the product from the competition. Since this was a new market segment for our customer, the initial goal was to manufacture this vehicle at a low volume. However, soon after the premium trim level package hit the market, it immediately became a best seller and instantly gained market share.

Next generation in action to meet production demand
Due to its high demand, Woodbridge and the customer determined a next generation full bench cushion and seat back design was necessary to allow for increased capacity objectives. Like any journey, it began with solid research. The Woodbridge team explored several possibilities—examining numerous technologies to identify possible ways to meet these requirements. Finally, we concluded that a new design was required to support the needed capacity output.

This was just the starting point of an accelerated and challenging adventure. We contemplated several approaches, including those that fell into categories like “will not work” and “doesn’t exist.” It became apparent that the idea with the highest potential was implementing a new “advanced closeout” technology to streamline production, while still maintaining the premium look and feel. This innovation allowed for a seamless integration of all component parts in the complete seat assembly. Based on Woodbridge’s recommendation and implementation of this new technology, production increased by 2,400% from the initial launch—allowing the customer to meet and exceed consumer demand.

Conclusion
As the personal-use transportation market continues to grow, the full bench cushion and seat back engineered and manufactured by Woodbridge adds to the overall high-end look of our customer’s vehicle. Because of our unique approach, we were able to take the seating from ordinary to extraordinary. Our vast experience allows us to leverage our innovative solutions to meet the ever-changing needs of the industry.