Government Part Manufacturing
Fathom does a lot of new product development for U.S. defense and military agencies, but we also do plenty of work with civilian government agencies in the transportation and utility sectors. In applications like railcars and buses, parts must work, day in and day out. Failure is not an option.
Comprehensive Capabilities for Government Part Manufacturing
Fathom is uniquely organized to help you accelerate and improve the time to market of your new products. Our broad portfolio of 25+ manufacturing methods includes sheet metal fabrication, CNC machining and injection molding. We’re also one of the largest industrial 3D printing services in North America. We can help you to:
- Refine your component concepts into prototypes,
- Optimize your part designs, material selection and production processes for optimal results, and
- Move them into bridge production, short-run production or full production.
Have you completed development of your parts? Are you ready to go to market with a production supplier? Fathom is uniquely positioned to hit the ground running on your full production requirements.
With 10 U.S. facilities plus all relevant certifications (ISO 9001:2015, AS9100, NIST 800-171 and ITAR) and an in-house quality management system, we can help you bring your product to market faster.
How Can Fathom Help With Your Government Part Needs?
From the moment you contact us, you’ll be talking with an engineer, who will work closely with you to understand your needs. We believe in taking a personalized approach to design for manufacturability (DFM) analyses. This level of attention helps to ensure that all potential part design problems are identified and solved early in the product development process.
We’ll help you optimize your part designs, production processes and material selections for the best results, at the best price. Our experienced engineers can help you confidently move your projects from prototype to production.
With over 25 manufacturing methods, we’re one of the largest independent contract manufacturers in the U.S. We have the technologies and the expertise to help you bring new products to accelerate your product development cycle. We’re also technology-agnostic. We’ll guide you to the solution that makes the most sense for the demanding environments in which your parts must perform.
Our parts help keep our customers’ equipment running and serving the public through temperature extremes, vibration and long duty cycles, in applications like:
- Locomotives
- Railcars
- Transportation infrastructure
- Buses
- Public utilities
- Transit authorities
Service Parts On Demand
Equipment used by government agencies may work in the field for decades. Often, the original drawings for their service parts have gone missing, or those components are no longer produced by any supplier. In other cases, you may only sell a small quantity of certain service parts per year for older equipment. It’s not economical for you or your customers to maintain an inventory of them on the shelf, to fill a few infrequent orders. Yet it’s also critical to keep your equipment running. Downtime can affect service to the public. No one wants that!
Due to today’s labor and supply chain challenges, lead times for many older service parts can often stretch into multiple months, causing major problems for customers who depend upon that equipment to be ready to run, 24-7. Fathom can scan these old parts and help you to reverse engineer them, then produce them on demand using digital technologies like additive manufacturing and CNC machining. We’re already doing this for a number of equipment manufacturers. It’s a game-changer for them. They can fill their customers’ service part needs faster than ever, keeping their machines operational when it matters most.
Technologies for Government Part Manufacturing
With over 25 manufacturing methods and 11 locations, we’ll guide you to the solution that makes the most sense for your application, from additive manufacturing and injection molding to CNC machining and sheet metal fabrication. We can help you accelerate your product development cycle!
Sheet Metal Fabrication
Fathom can handle your large sheet metal needs as well as precision forming of small, complex metal components and photo chemical etching, used to produce extremely flat, burr-free parts.
CNC Machining
Our facilities do some of the most advanced, precise CNC machining work in the country, including tough materials like aluminum, titanium and Inconel.
Injection Molding
Injection molded parts are used in multiple locations on today’s equipment – everywhere from comfortable operator cabs to hardened gears that toil in the depths of these machines and brackets that carry electrical and hydraulic lines throughout them.
Additive Manufacturing
Additive metal technology, such as Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS), is an ideal fit for the demanding applications of industrial markets. Fathom can also produce rugged plastic parts using additive technologies like Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) and Multi Jet Fusion (MJF). Fathom is one of the largest industrial 3D printing services in North America.
Many of these methods can be used to produce prototype parts for check fit, finish and functionality. In some cases, they can also be used to produce bridge and limited-run production parts. We also offer multiple finishing options for additive parts. Including post-machining, painting and advanced coatings.
Selective Thermoplastic Electrophotographic Process (STEP)
STEP technology, exclusively available from Fathom, enables the additive production of tough, durable, high-precision thermoplastic parts at injection molding speeds – without tooling. It’s ideal for prototyping and bridge production of parts for new or upgraded equipment models. Fathom is the only industrial 3D printing service in North America that offers this game-changing technology.
Photo Chemical Etching
Photo chemical etching uses a technique similar to building computer chips that enables the creation of flat, precise, burr-free parts – fast – without tooling. It’s ideal for creating small, precise shapes like fine screens and filters, flat washers and shims.
Government
Solutions
Companies that serve government agencies and municipalities face a number of common challenges, which our seasoned engineering and production staffs can help them solve:
- Design for manufacturability (DFM)
- Optimization for advanced applications
- Part consolidation
- Lightweighting
- Eliminating or simplifying tooling
- Reducing lead time on parts
- Cost reduction
- Providing on-demand production of service parts
Quality is Fathom’s Top Priority
At Fathom, our commitment to in-house inspections enables us to turn around parts quickly, including CMM validation, surface inspections and tensile strength testing.
In addition to our ITAR certifications at several locations, we have a proven ability to comply with customer-specific process, material and workmanship standards.
View our Certifications to see a complete listing of certifications by location.
Why Choose Fathom?
- We have the technical experience to be able to deliver high-performance, cost-effective parts that meet your requirements.
- We can support your needs throughout the product development lifecycle – from early prototypes for design validation and late-stage prototypes to verify fit, finish and functionality as well as bridge production and full production.
- We offer an unmatched breadth of manufacturing technologies – in-house, not via third parties – to meet all of your needs, including injection molding, sheet metal forming and precision CNC machining. We’re also one of the largest and most experienced industrial 3D printing services in North America.
- We have a long track record of success delivering high-quality parts to a variety of leading manufacturers that serve the mobile equipment industries.
- We’re problem solvers. Bring us your complex geometries, short-run/high-mix parts and “impossible” projects. We’ll help you get the work done!
