Case Study: Stanley Black & Decker achieves up to 25x cost savings and 50x time savings with Markforged

Stanley Black & Decker - Customer Case Study

Stanley Black & Decker faced a costly, slow challenge producing a wheel shaft that supports adjustable guide wheels on a railroad frog grinder— a part that carries full grinder weight and shock loads and was traditionally machined from large steel blocks with roughly 90% material waste. To solve the hard‑to‑machine flange and long shaft geometry, Stanley Black & Decker partnered with Markforged and used the Metal X printer.

Markforged engineers redesigned the shaft as a three‑part assembly: an off‑the‑shelf shaft and key plus a Metal X‑printed flange that required no supports. The new assembly passed durability and abuse drop testing and dramatically reduced waste, cost, and lead time—delivering up to 25× cost savings and 50× time savings overall (with single‑component fabrication showing as much as 96% cost and 98% time savings), while simplifying production and machining.

Stanley Black & Decker