How Dixie Iron Works is Pioneering 3D Metal Printing

The Customer

Dixie Iron Works, established in 1933, provides the highest quality and safest flow control equipment to the oil and gas industry. It is also known as MSI.

Over the past two decades, the oil and gas industry has seen significant growth, attracting new competitors. This has led to the commoditization of Dixie's products and intense competition, resulting in price reductions. Competitors have moved manufacturing overseas to take advantage of cheap labor. Despite this trend, Dixie remains committed to U.S. manufacturing from its two plants in Texas.

Gerard Danos, the current owner of Dixie Iron Works, has an engineering background and strongly believes in innovation. He challenges his engineers to develop creative solutions and has diversified his workforce with young engineers trained in additive manufacturing, bringing a unique approach to managing the business.

The Challenge

Danos realized the need for innovation, especially in new product designs. He invested in a Markforged X7, an industrial-grade 3D printer, and encouraged his engineers to explore the possibilities with Onyx, a durable thermoplastic developed by Markforged, as well as metal parts.

“The biggest advantage of additive manufacturing is that it unleashes your creativity and your ability to quickly create solutions to customers' problems. You can't innovate that fast with traditional manufacturing methods.”

– Gerard Danos, President, Dixie Iron Works

The Solution

Danos' learn-by-doing approach was put to the test when Dixie's supplier wanted to charge a lot for changes to a $4.50 nylon o-ring support. The Dixie team improved the design, made 3D printed parts, and found they worked well, costing just 47 cents each to produce in-house. This success convinced them that additive manufacturing could be key for production parts. They then explored using metal for production parts, pushing the limits of their additive manufacturing knowledge.

Investing in a Markforged Metal X printer was an easy decision for Danos. The Metal X, offering the capability to produce industrial-grade metal parts, presented an ideal solution for Dixie Iron Works' expanding manufacturing requirements. It is more economical than Laser Powder Bed Fusion (L-PBF) metal printers. And, the metal powder it uses is bound by a polymer, which eliminates the need for Personal Protective Equipment to protect against potentially dangerous loose powder exposure.

The Metal X uses the same Eiger software as Dixie's Onyx One and X7 printers, streamlining its integration into existing processes. After seeing the quality of the 3D-printed metal parts, machinists requested time to print lower-volume production metal parts that required intricate setup time on a CNC machine.

The Dixie team saved time and money by using additive manufacturing for lower-volume production parts. They eliminated tooling and setup time, and redesigned parts to take full advantage of additive manufacturing, resulting in significant savings. One part they now 3D print on demand with the Metal X is a dart check valve stop, which used to be expensive and time-consuming to machine from solid stainless steel.

Production costs much less, and Dixie Iron Works no longer needs to tie money up in inventory for a low-volume part.

The team redesigned a small part originally made for CNC machining, making it suitable for the Metal X process. They consolidated an assembly into a single component that uses 75% less material and can be printed on a single printer. Furthermore, they switched from carbon steel to 17-4PH Stainless Steel, reducing production costs from $20-30 to just $5. Additionally, they used the Metal X to produce durable end-of-arm tooling for industrial automation, such as long, skinny grippers.

Despite the higher material cost of 3D-printed metal parts compared to CNC-machined equivalents, they become less expensive when factoring in CNC machine programming, setup, tooling, and labor costs of highly-trained operators. That's why designing for 3D printing has become one of the core principles of product development and continuous improvement at Dixie Iron Works

“3D metal printing simplifies what is a very complex, labor-intensive and costly process.”

– Gerard Danos, President, Dixie Iron Works

The Future

Danos' willingness to invest in additive manufacturing tools and his trust in his team have been key factors in the company's success. The Metal X has significantly expanded Dixie Iron Works' ability to innovate and produce metal parts.

Danos is exploring metal binder jetting printers, like the PX100 from Markforged, to enhance Dixie's manufacturing capabilities for higher-volume production of end-use components using additive manufacturing, while maintaining process efficiencies and cost savings achieved with the Metal X.