This is to be the ultimate tail-gate for a pickup truck. The idea is to provide a completely stocked workbench embedded in the tail-gate of the average truck. Initially this will be an 'add-on' feature purchased by the user. The eventual goal is to have OEMs deliver this on new vehicles. Every person who owns a truck has at least one time used the tailgate as a work surface. However, a stock tailgate provides little in the way of accommodating such use. With this tailgate, tasks performed on the tailgate may be done more effectively and poses less damage to the truck. The benefit to the student will be great. Not only will this project use every piece of engineering knowledge learned so far. It will take students to the next step of developing a business plan in order to guide them through the complete design process for putting a product on the market.

The tailgate will be designed for MTM Tools, LLC; however, their customer base will be vast. This would appeal to anyone from homeowners, contractors, off-roaders and everyone in between. The end result from this project will be a fully functioning prototype of this tailgate for one specific truck. From this base, the tailgate will be modified to fit other vehicles, as well as modifying the features of the tailgate to provide application specific accessories.

Project Name

Ultimate Tailgate

Project Number

P10811

Track

Entrepreneurship

Start Term

2009-2

End Term

2009-3

Faculty Guide

Chris DeMinco(ME)

Faculty Consultant

Dr. Mark McVea (ME)

Primary Customer

Dr. Mark McVea