NED: Could you tell me how the idea for u-Guard came about at Apex?
AGARWAL: Our customers were telling us that their work pieces were getting damaged because of the contact between the metal drive tool and the work surface.Imagine a vehicle or an appliance coming through the assembly line and the operator perhaps leaves the fastening power tool for a second to do something else and, boom, it scratches or dents the workpiece. The general damage or marring or denting on the assembly line of these expensive parts happens frequently, and the cost for the plant to take care of these damages can be significant.Apex solved this growing problem faced by our customers by engineering a solution that evolved into a line of covered fastener drive tools, that is, sockets, bit holders, and universal wrenches, to prevent the in-system damage occurring on the assembly lines during fastening. That was the beginning of our u-Guard line.
NED: U-Guard is also considered a safety device, though. How does that element fit in?
AGARWAL: That's true. Gradually, it has evolved into not only a tool to keep the work pieces safe—not only for anti-marring or anti-scratching—but it has become a safety device also. The reason for that is, on the assembly line, when an operator is using gloves, there is a potential for injury if the operator's gloves or even hair get caught by rotating tools while driving a fastener. Many assembly plants have adopted policies recently to minimize injuries by using covered drive tools, which is what
u-Guard is. These covers allow the drive tool to spin freely inside of them, in order to significantly reduce or, in most cases, eliminate contact from the rotating tool during a fastening operation performed with gloves.Let me explain. So, take a
socket, you put the cover on the socket to that socket can now spin freely inside the cover, but when the operator holds the tools, from the outside, their fingers do not feel that rotation anymore, because it is free spinning. Leading automotive companies have come out with strong recommendations to their plants that they need to offer covered tools on the line because of safety, marring, and ergonomic conditions. That's where u-Guard comes into play. It offers safety benefits, ergonomic benefits, and anti-marring benefits. It's a home run. It's a no-brainer for plants. It brings them multiple benefits.