Industrial Equipment Manufacturing
From prototype and bridge production to end-of-life service parts, Fathom has you covered in the Industrial Equipment industry.
Comprehensive Capabilities for the Industrial Equipment Industry
You make big industrial equipment. You’ve got big suppliers who produce large quantities of parts, which you use to build them. These high-production suppliers don’t dabble in short-run or new product innovation (NPI) work. Their infrastructure requires them to stay focused on long production runs for you and other manufacturers.
- Who can you turn to when you need help with:
- Refining new part and assembly designs?
- Manufacturability analyses of your designs?
- Prototype parts to validate fit, finish and functionality?
- Bridge and low-volume production until your production tooling is ready?
- Reverse engineering and producing older service parts on demand?
- Finding an industrial 3D printing service that can help you with these needs?
- Fathom can help you:
- Refine your component concepts into prototypes,
- Optimize your part designs, material selection and production processes for optimal results, and
- Move them into bridge production, short-run production or full production.
How Can Fathom Help With Your Industrial Equipment Manufacturing Needs?
From the moment you contact us, you’ll be talking with an engineer, who will work closely with you to understand your needs. We believe in taking a personalized approach to design for manufacturability (DFM) analyses. This level of attention helps to ensure that all potential part design problems are identified and solved early in the product development process.
We’ll help you optimize your part designs, production processes and material selections for the best results, at the best price. Our experienced engineers can help you confidently move your projects from prototype to production.
- We work with customers whose industrial equipment is used in some of the most demanding environments on earth:
- Construction
- Agriculture
- Mining
- Drilling
- Engines and Generators
- Commercial Food Production
- Packaging
From corrosive environments to temperature extremes and rugged environments, our parts help keep industrial equipment running at peak productivity.
Case Study //
Heavy Equipment Manufacturer
Fathom’s speed, engineering expertise and comprehensive capabilities kept a leading heavy equipment manufacturer from going into a line-down situation. Due to supply chain disruptions, Fathom’s customer was looking at a line-down situation expected to last five days covering three shifts per day.
Results //
The experts at Fathom were able to deliver the needed parts by utilizing the manufacturing capacity and technologies available at our Hartland, Wis. headquarters. Upon receiving an order at 12 noon EST, Fathom had the first batch of SLS parts in hand to the customer within 10 hours – saving the customer almost $1 million in lost productivity costs. By continuing to provide additional parts to the customer, Fathom enabled $3 million in downstream revenue. This customer remains an entrenched and strategic partner with Fathom.
$3 Million Revenue Enabled
Service Parts On Demand
Industrial equipment may work in the field for 50 years or more. Many times, the original drawings for their service parts have gone missing, or those components are no longer produced by any supplier. In other cases, you may only sell a small quantity of certain service parts per year for these old machines. It’s not economical to maintain an inventory of them on the shelf, to fill a few infrequent orders. In addition, lead times for many older service parts can often stretch into multiple months, causing major problems for customers who depend upon those machine to keep their production operations running and profitable.
Here’s an innovative solution for out-of-production parts or arduous re-ordering processes: Fathom can scan these old parts and help you to reverse engineer them. We can then produce them on demand using digital technologies like additive manufacturing and CNC machining. We’re already doing this for several of the world’s largest construction and agricultural equipment manufacturers. It’s a game-changer for them. They can fill their customers’ service part needs faster than ever, while also improving the bottom line of their parts and service business units.
Technologies for the Industrial Equipment Industry
With over 25 manufacturing methods and 9 locations, we’re one of the largest independent manufacturing services in the U.S. We have the technologies and the expertise to help you bring new products to accelerate your product development cycle. We’re also technology-agnostic. We’ll guide you to the solution that makes the most sense for the demanding environments in which your parts must perform.
Sheet Metal Fabrication
Fathom can handle your large sheet metal needs as well as precision forming of small, complex metal components and photo chemical etching, used to produce extremely flat, burr-free parts.
CNC Machining
Our facilities do some of the most advanced, precise CNC machining work in the country, including tough materials like aluminum, titanium and Inconel.
Injection Molding
Injection molded parts are used in multiple locations on today’s industrial equipment – everywhere from comfortable operator cabs, hardened gears that toil in the depths of these machines and brackets that carry electrical and hydraulic lines throughout them.
Fiber-Reinforced Plastic
Our experts can lay up, finish and paint body panels, cab walls and other large exterior pieces using fiber-reinforced plastic, ideal for building prototype machines for stakeholder feedback. In some cases, we 3D print bosses and bond them to the FRP so these panels can be attached to the structural components of the machine – an ideal combination of old and new manufacturing techniques!
Additive Manufacturing
Additive metal technology, such as Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS), is an ideal fit for the demanding applications of industrial equipment. Fathom can also produce rugged plastic parts using additive technologies like Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) and Multi Jet Fusion (MJF). Fathom is one of the largest industrial 3D printing services in North America, with over 40 years of expertise in additive technologies.
Many of these methods can be used to produce prototype parts for check fit, finish and functionality. In some cases, they can also be used to produce bridge and limited-run production parts. We also offer multiple finishing options for additive parts, including post-machining, painting and advanced coatings.
STEP Technology
Selective Thermoplastic Electrophotographic Process (STEP), exclusively available from Fathom, enables the additive production of tough, durable, high-precision thermoplastic parts at injection molding speeds – without tooling. It’s ideal for prototyping and bridge production of parts for industrial equipment. Fathom is the only industrial 3D printing service in North America that offers this game-changing technology.
Photo Chemical Etching
Photo chemical etching uses a technique similar to building computer chips that enables the creation of flat, precise, burr-free parts – fast – without tooling. It’s ideal for creating small, precise shapes like fine screens and filters, flat washers and shims.
Case Study //
Recreational Vehicle Manufacturer Prevents Line Down Situation
Fathom’s speed, engineering expertise and comprehensive capabilities kept a leading recreational vehicle manufacturer from going into a line down situation. Due to supply chain disruptions, their international supplier was not able to produce two critical vehicle components.
Results //
The experts at Fathom provided a high-quality domestic manufacturing solution and successfully navigated PPAP in 2.5 weeks to deliver the needed parts. Services used were CNC machining and custom tooling. Fathom provided over 2,000 total units enabling 1,000 units to be sold for $20 million in revenue. Due to the success of this first project, Fathom has earned this customer’s trust and continues to work on multi-million dollar contracts annually.
$20 Million Revenue Enabled
Industrial Equipment Solutions
Industrial equipment manufacturers can face a number of common challenges, which our seasoned engineering and production staffs can help them solve:
- Design for manufacturability (DFM)
- Optimization for advanced applications
- Part consolidation
- Lightweighting
- Eliminating or simplifying tooling
- Reducing lead time on parts
- Cost reduction
- Providing on-demand production of service parts
Quality is Fathom’s Number One Priority
At Fathom, our commitment to in-house inspections enables us to turn around parts quickly, including CMM validation, surface inspections and tensile strength testing.
In addition, we have a proven ability to comply with customer-specific process, material and workmanship standards.
View our Certifications to see a complete listing of certifications by location.
Why Choose Fathom?
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- We have the technical experience to be able to deliver high-performance, cost-effective parts that meet your requirements.
- We can support your needs throughout the product development lifecycle – from early prototypes for design validation and late-stage prototypes to verify fit, finish and functionality as well as bridge production and full production.
- We offer an unmatched breadth of manufacturing technologies – in-house, not via third parties – to meet all of your needs, including injection molding, sheet metal forming and precision CNC machining. We’re also one of the largest and most experienced industrial 3D printing services in North America.
- We have a long track record of success delivering high-quality parts to a variety of leading manufacturers that serve the industrial equipment industries.
- We’re problem solvers. Bring us your complex geometries, short-run/high-mix parts and “impossible” projects. We’ll help you get the work done!
