Case Study: CADDS Group speeds up rail wagon draft gear measurement with Markforged 3D printing

CADDS Group prints draft gear gauge overnight at 1.5% of injection molding cost with Markforged

CADDS Group, a multi-divisional design and fabrication firm based in Australia, faced a challenge from a major mining client to design a more efficient tool for measuring wear on rail wagon draft gears. The existing manual method was time-consuming, inaccurate, and costly. CADDS Group partnered with Markforged, utilizing their FX20 and Mark Two 3D printers to develop a solution.

Markforged's additive manufacturing solution enabled CADDS Group to rapidly design, prototype, and iterate on a single, modular gauge tool. The final design could perform all necessary measurements and be printed overnight. This approach slashed the development and production time from an estimated 500 hours for injection molding to just one week of design time, at a mere 1.5% of the cost. The successful tool proved the concept and provided CADDS Group with a significant market foothold.

CADDS Group