Safe standing and walking platforms for commercial vehicles
Step plates are sturdy, slip-resistant platforms designed for standing and walking on trucks and commercial vehicles. They are typically installed behind the cab and provide drivers and service personnel with safe access to technical components.
Today, step plates often incorporate additional functions. For example, they can also serve as covers for sensitive vehicle components, such as protecting the high-voltage battery in electric trucks.
As platforms for commercial vehicles, step plates must meet high standards: safe walkability, high mechanical load-bearing capacity, low weight, and a durable construction for daily use.
Graepel develops ready-to-install step plates, primarily made of aluminum and stainless steel. Through carefully designed hole patterns and ribbed structures, anti-slip step plates are created that also exhibit high structural rigidity. This allows for an optimal combination of weight, stability, and safety.
Applications
Perforated steel tread plates are a key component of modern trucks and commercial vehicles. They are used wherever safe access to vehicles is required.
Typical applications include:
- Step plates behind the cab of trucks
- Maintenance and service access points
- Covers for technical components
- Platform solutions for special-purpose vehicles
Benefits & Features
- Anti-slip tread plates for safe walking on trucks
- Textured perforated metal surfaces for stability and slip resistance
- Optimized weight-to-stiffness ratio
- Materials: Aluminum sheet and stainless steel sheet
- Wide selection of available perforation and rib designs
- Custom perforation patterns and structures according to customer requirements
- Slip resistance testable according to DIN 51130
- Optional slip-resistant ColorGrip coating
- Can be designed as a visible component
- Delivery of ready-to-install components
Why Graepel is a preferred manufacturer of tread plates
Graepel has been developing and manufacturing tread plates and perforated sheet metal solutions for trucks and commercial vehicles for decades. The experience gained from numerous projects with international truck OEMs is continuously incorporated into the development of new components.
A key advantage is the high degree of vertical integration within the company. From development and tooling through to series production and surface treatment, the step plates are manufactured entirely at Graepel.
Services and Expertise:
- Joint development and design of step plates and walkways made of perforated sheet metal
- In-house tooling for punching and embossing dies
- Series production of structured sheet metal components
- Testing of stiffness and slip resistance
- Further processing into assemblies, including assembly and cleaning
- Delivery of ready-to-install components for OEM assembly processes
A key feature is the modular tooling concept. A wide selection of existing perforated and embossed designs is already available as tooling. This allows for the cost-effective production of many variants of step plates for trucks.
This enables:
- reduced tooling investments
- Flexible adaptations for design changes
- Derivation of multiple product variants from existing tools
At the same time, Graepel supports its customers in the economic optimization of components. Through intelligent sheet metal designs, targeted beading structures, and structural analysis, material can be saved without compromising stability or safety. This reduces weight and costs in commercial vehicles.
FAQ
Step plates must be slip-resistant, sturdy, and durable. At the same time, they should be as lightweight as possible so as not to unnecessarily increase the vehicle's weight.
Aluminum sheet offers an excellent weight-to-strength ratio. This makes it particularly suitable for floor panels in commercial vehicle manufacturing.
The slip resistance is achieved through a textured pattern of holes and ridges in the sheet metal. These provide a secure footing when walking on the walkways. In addition, Graepel offers ColorGrip, a surface technology that provides additional slip resistance.
Yes. Hole patterns, rib structures, and dimensions can be customized. Modular tools make it possible to produce different variants cost-effectively.
Yes. In modern commercial vehicles, for example, battery covers or protective features can be integrated directly into the running board, creating multifunctional components.
