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Many equipment operators look at cabs from the inside-out. And while enjoying the air conditioning and XM radio in a nice comfy seat are great amenities, the cab is more importantly the protective shell between the operator and the environment outside. With efficiency a priority, money the bottom line, and more unskilled workers manning the controls, the jobsite can be a dangerous place. Whether it's noise, chemicals, dust and other environmental conditions, or as severe as a sudden heavy rock fall in a mining quarry, an OPS (operator protective structure) cab can save an operator's life. Period.

Custom Products of Litchfield Inc., Litchfield, MN, specializes in designing, manufacturing and testing customized cabs, ROPS (roll-over protection structure), FOPS (falling-object protection structure), and OPS to government and industry concensus regulations. The company works directly with the OEM from concept to prototype to finished product every time.

Randy Reinke, president of Custom Products, says, many people ask why OEMs don't build their own cabs. "They can," he admits, "but consider the type of materials and the amount of vendor items we work with: rubber, glass, hardware, instrumentation, upholstery; things not often found throughout the rest of the machine." There may be several hundred part numbers in a cab design representing dozens of vendors. If an OEM builds its own cabs, it undertakes the responsibility of working with all of those vendors on top of the rest of the machine.

A specialist like Custom Products can keep current in the latest hardware and types of glass than perhaps a large OEM can, which is why, Reinke says, many tend to outsource.

"We get lots of questions asking if we have something 'off-the-shelf' that will work for a specific company. The answer is really, no, but the real answer is that we can make it customized to you and meet all of your needs and specifications," he says. "Cabs are not one size fits all. We are very much about adapting to our customers needs and applications."

A recent revamping of its facility proves that for Custom Products, customer comfort and partnerships are essential. The latest features of the building include a video conference room for interactive meetings in real time with customers across the country. The room will be networked to the engineering system so engineers can work out the details of the cab design with the customer, allowing the customer to suggest changes and see them on the screen in real time. "It allows us to meet and say, here's where we are in the design process. What do you think?" says Reinke. "Then the customer has the ability to say, 'No, it's too big, or we need a window here.' It's fine at that point. We haven't built it yet."

Beyond the video conference room, a second-story observation room outside of Custom Products' zero-degree (0 F) testing area gives customers a chance to watch destructive OPS qualification tests being done on the prototype and be able to see problem areas and troubleshoot with engineers on site.

A separate sample room is designated for arranged meetings between suppliers and OEMs. This allows Custom Products to bring its glass, hardware, or fabric suppliers face to face with the OEM so they have the opportunity to work out cab design details together. "We're very much about building long-term relationships with customers. This isn't a commodity. We start building the relationship early on," says Reinke.

Jim Schmitt, director of engineering and regulatory compliance, adds, "Offering contract OPS testing is another road leading to Custom Products, in terms of getting to know us and discovering our capabilities. Contract OPS test clients can become cab design customers as well." The company isn't a design house, however. It's a cab manufacturer.

Not-so-secret weapons

Randy Reinke's father founded the company in 1959. He started building cabs in 1962 and marketing them through farm implement dealers, which was the start of Cozy Cab, the aftermarket brand of Custom Products of Litchfield. The company stayed in the aftermarket until the early '70s when it started adding some OEM business and at the same time started adapting to the ROPS test standards that OSHA was writing.