Dontyne Gears may not have decades of history behind it, but with the experience and skills of its parent company, Dontyne Systems, the fledgling business has made remarkable strides within the gear industry.
“The gear industry is evolving, and Dontyne Gears works hard to remain at the forefront of that evolution through our skills, innovation, and experience,” said Dr. Michael Fish, director of Dontyne Gears. “In today’s segmented environment, the end-to-end package of capabilities Dontyne Gears offers is largely unique for an outside supply house, e.g. design, analysis, prototyping, and testing. We strive to achieve the fastest and most flexible result possible whilst incorporating as much of the complete development in-house as possible.”
A range of services
It’s through these capabilities that Dontyne Gears can make available some of its unique services, according to Fish. The company offers design and analysis services, prototyping, and testing to companies who do not have the internal skills, capability, resources, or experience.
These services can be used individually or as part of a development program.
Dontyne Gears can create new gear systems or optimize existing ones. This can include analysis of operating criteria under load such as stress, vibration, efficiency, and power loss as well as design of tooling and simulations of component generation. Dontyne can already produce some test gears in-house up to a 350 mm diameter using several methods and inspect them using high-precision machines. Production capability will grow in the coming years, but for now, the company works with several development partners to provide a wide range of gears for testing.
Recently, Dontyne Gears collaborated with Alvier Mechatronics and Hoganas on the development of a 12:1 layshaft gearbox to connect with an eMotor, according to Fish.
“We also have sales contracts to offer the Gear Production Suite from Dontyne Systems and high-accuracy gear-checking machines from Osaka Seimitsu Kikai (Japan) in Europe,” he said. “We will be launching a range of back-to-back test rigs later this year also — all of which can be viewed at our site in Washington, England.”
With this range of services, Fish hopes Dontyne Gears can bring as much gear development in-house from concept to prototype testing, thereby reducing the development time and cost for its customers.
“It also reduces the potential for error in data transfer between companies at each stage during the process,” he said. “Our services also meet a need in cases where the designs we are testing are not readily available in current production.”
Innovation and improvement
Within an ever-changing gear industry, it’s important to Fish that Dontyne Gears strives to remain independent of any particular equipment and be compatible with whatever its customers might be using.
“We also pride ourselves on our approach to innovation and continuous improvement,” he said. “There are projects under way that will be new to the industry and enable significant progress in product capability and production efficiency.”
Dontyne Gears’ approach to the gear industry is apparently paying off, according to Fish.
“We take great pride that multi-national companies with worldwide recognition are already seeking us out to work in collaboration with us despite our size,” he said. “This is a strong recognition of the capability and expertise we hold within the company. As these collaborations reach the market and yield significant benefits for clients and the industry, we will feel immensely proud of what we have achieved from a limited resource base.”
Development pride
And considering Dontyne Gears opened its doors in 2013, the company has had a fast track to success.
“We are a relatively young enterprise in the industry, but we’re proud of our developments so far,” Fish said. “Although we were established in 2013, we have only taken on external projects in the last two years to ensure we’re delivering maximum quality for our customers. It is only in the last 12 months that we have been in a position to really promote ourselves in the market and drive brand awareness.”
The response, according to Fish, has been extremely encouraging.
“It has enhanced our confidence that what we have to offer meets — and exceeds — the market need,” he said. “The addition of more machines recently has delivered more capability in-house for a wider range of services, making it more efficient for clients. We also now have test rigs to trial durability and wear for involute gears as well as comparing differing materials and profiles.”
Dontyne Gears has a range of test rigs in-house and, with its development partners at The Design Unit, Newcastle Upon Tyne, it can validate various performance criteria of designs.
But that’s not all. Dontyne Gears has also increased its human resources this year and doubled its floor space, according to Fish.
“And we have plans to expand even further in the short and medium term,” he said. “This has allowed us to offer an ever-more comprehensive service range, which we are excited to continue expanding over the next two years.”
Need for an external resource
Dontyne Gears was founded six years ago when an opportunity was seen to create an external resource for companies who needed expertise in the development, manufacture, testing, and inspection of a wide range of gears, according to Fish.
“Bringing recognized experience and skills from Dontyne Systems — a well-established software company providing design and analysis tools, as well as interfacing to machine tools and inspection equipment — Dontyne Gears was a naturally aligned fit for a spin-off organization,” he said.
And Fish expects Dontyne Gears’ success to continue as the gear industry evolves.
“Without doubt, I would like to think that in 10 to 20 years it would be said that the work of Dontyne Gears and its collaborating partners have brought about definite and significant improvements within the global gear industry,” he said. “We will have achieved this by reducing costs while improving production efficiency and product performance. Only then, could I retire happy; except I have been frequently told ‘gear people’ don’t retire, so back to drawing board it is then.”
MORE INFO www.dontynegears.com
