Case Study: Parker Hannifin-Racor achieves standardized additive manufacturing, faster lead times and cost savings with Stratasys

Parker Hannifin’s Additive Investment Pays Continuous Dividends

Parker Hannifin-Racor, a leader in motion control and aerospace flight controls, faced persistent tooling and part-supply challenges—long lead times for machined tooling, frequent need for protective covers and obsolete part replacement—that threatened rework, scrap and on-time deliveries. To tackle this, the company’s additive manufacturing team piloted and then adopted FDM 3D printing with support from Stratasys, ultimately purchasing Stratasys Fortus 400mc and Fortus 450mc polymer printers.

Using Stratasys FDM printers and engineering-grade materials (including ULTEM), Parker Hannifin-Racor began producing caps, protective covers, gauges, tooling and replacement parts in-house—sometimes printing gauges overnight and shipping them the next day—to rapidly resolve issues. The Stratasys solution delivered a 99.9% print success rate, reduced scrap, improved quality, compressed lead times from weeks to days, and generated cost savings that quickly paid for the investment while improving customer responsiveness and operational efficiency.

Parker Hannifin-Racor

Brian Suisse

Additive Manufacturing Chief Engineer