3D Printed Jigs & Fixtures: The Basics
March 13, 2025Case StudyCustomer: SolidusIndustry: PackagingTechnology: Stratasys SAF
March 18, 2025FDM - Parker Hannifin Additive Investment Dividends Customer Success Story
From Idea to Standard Practice
Parker Hannifin’s Additive Investment Pays Continuous Dividends
Parker Hannifin is a name synonymous with motion control, and its Aerospace Group’s flight control components are renowned internationally. A high percentage of commercial or private aircraft that take flight every day has an actuator or control device with the Parker name on it. Dave Howe is part of the Parker Hannifin additive manufacturing team at the company’s Ogden, Utah, Commercial Flight Controls division. It’s here that Howe and the rest of the AM team have transformed 3D printing from a calculated risk to business as usual.
The journey started with the idea that additive manufacturing might help with the company’s tooling needs. With the assistance of PADT, an advanced 3D printing product development and services provider, Howe and Dan Zumbo, Parker’s additive manufacturing manager, started small with a loaner 3D printer.
The pair quickly saw the value in the technology, using it to make caps and protective covers for the numerous types of control devices the company produced. Others within the organization were noticing the value, too, which created an increasing demand for 3D printing services. “As we were printing things and showing engineers throughout the facility what could be possible with additive, the 3D printed projects started coming out of the woodwork,” says Howe.
The time came to return the loaner printer to PADT, but the Parker team knew additive technology was an investment that would pay long-term dividends. The question was how to justify the purchase of a new 3D printer. The Parker team approached this by substantiating the printer’s cost on the savings it would generate.“You have to show your justification in dollars, so we did that. We kept track of what we were printing and did a simple comparison to a conventionally machined part,” says Zumbo. “When we made our first printer purchase, it didn’t take long to be able to pay for it because the savings are great when you compare a printed part to something that you’d have to design and machine out of metal,” he adds.
Expanding the Additive Applications
Rarely does a company adopt AM and stay within a limited range of uses. Most often, the creativity of the engineers using it has the effect of “letting the genie out of the bottle,” and the applications grow. Howe notes that they’ve printed engineering models, prototypes, gauge holders, potting tools, masking templates, and even obsolete parts that are no longer available for older machines. However, protective components for the flight hardware have arguably netted the most significant impact, considering the wide variety of controls and actuators the company produces. “There are a lot of moving parts, a lot of articulating links and levers, and when they’re putting these things together or taking them apart or shipping them, they need to be protected,” Howe says. “It really saves from us having to do rework or scrapping parts out or making late deliveries to customers,” he adds.
Zumbo echoes this sentiment but adds that beyond the quantifiable savings, there are significant “soft savings” too. It’s not as easy to put into dollars and cents, but very real nonetheless. For example, if an actuator component is damaged, there’s a quality fallout, which could result in rework and a missed customer delivery. This is where the 3D printed components pay dividends. Another example of soft savings is lead time. Having the ability to internally produce parts versus the logistics of sourcing from the supply chain can result in a much shorter timeframe. It’s more difficult to determine monetary savings for this but compressing what might take weeks or months into days is a very convincing metric.
The same could be said for 3D printed tooling, which provides better worker ergonomics. “We create additive parts and solutions for ergonomics, whether it be for reaching or for lifting or comfort at a workstation. It’s more difficult to dollarize the savings you get from ergonomics but there is definitely value that should be realized,” Zumbo says.