Dayco

Dayco is a global leader in the research, design, manufacturing, distribution, and aftermarket services for essential drive engines. They have customers in the automotive, construction, agricultural, and industrial sectors — of which their main partners are Caterpillar and GM. Dayco has over one hundred years of experience, and they've emerged as a leading global system solutions provider for hybrid electric vehicles. They're experts at equipping customer applications around the world with the most effective drive systems to meet their performance requirements.

Their major challenge is keeping expenses down. They're forward-thinking and ready to adopt new technology to keep ahead of the competition and provide the best rapid response support for key customers. The Markforged platform helps them do both. Swiftly implementing a solution using Markforged 3D printers frees up skilled labor and CNCs. Dedicating those resources to machining high-value parts directly raises profit margins. More resources for production parts means more throughput, and more resources for prototyping speeds up the proof-of-concept demonstrations that secure new customers. Markforged printers also reduce the inventory costs associated with tooling, and lowers operational cost.

Dayco printed this profile gauge, for aligning complex under-the-hood assemblies for automotive applications, using Markforged technology. The complexity of routing applications under the hood of an automobile makes it difficult to produce these contour gauges with standard tool-marking practices. The 3D printed gauge costs less, is produced faster, and meets Dayco's high standards for precision and durability. An earlier version, of machined aluminum, would take 200 hours to produce and cost $3,500. The Markforged-printed version is produced in half the time, and costs 57% less — just $1,500. There are other advantages, too. The high-quality surface finish and dimensional accuracy of Markforged's Onyx material helps Dayco engineers design precision features and complex routing schemes necessary for profile gauges like this.