With a relatively short 6 years in the industry, Dahlon comes to Dyndrite with an impressive set of skills and experience – and a keen understanding of how good AM software can change the way parts are produced. Starting in additive while studying his Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering Technology at Purdue University he quickly became the lead manager at the school’s 3D printing lab, as well as implementing the Rockwell Automation Lab.

After graduation in 2014, he took employment with then startup metal additive service bureau, 3rd Dimension Industrial 3D Printing, and sharpened his skills in a customer-facing environment. During his time there he consulted with customers on best practices for design and implementation, developed post-processing and quality control systems, refined parameters on the metal systems to reduce porosity and improve surface quality, and printed lots and lots of metal parts.

“Dahlon did a lot of foundational work for 3rd Dimension as it started out, helping the company become a leader in the service bureau market,” said Bob Markley, founder and CEO of 3rd Dimension. “He came in and immediately started work on many difficult parts, dealt with a lot of challenges and tackled customer problems head on.”

Building on that experience, he was recruited by medical device manufacturer, Smith and Nephew, as a subject matter expert in AM in late 2015. In this role he helped the team implement metal additive manufacturing in design of new implants as well as aiding manufacturing in the creation and execution of qualification and manufacturing processes for new equipment.

“I helped Smith and Nephew deliver its first additively manufactured medical implant and set processes in place that are still being used today. It was a hell of an achievement both for me personally as well as for the company,” said Dahlon.

His next role was Application Engineer at Oerlikon, a provider of materials, equipment and expert services in additive, where he worked for 2 years between Business Development and Manufacturing as a metal additive subject matter expert. Focusing on customer needs, Dahlon worked to refine customer designs, optimize laser parameters, and establish manufacturing processes to meet both AS9100 and ISO 13485 quality requirements; all while expanding his technical skillset beyond medical devices to complex aerospace rocket parts.

“As I went through college, I dreamed that I could have the chance to make better rockets or help improve medical devices and treatments. I have already done both and it is an unbelievable feeling,” he said.

When Dahlon is not working, he’s out in nature, hiking, biking and kayaking, and not just in the mountains of North Carolina, near to where he lives, but also in Colorado, Iceland, Poland, and Israel in recent trips.

Dahlon joined Dyndrite in February 2020 and is already adding his expertise and value to the Applications Engineering team.

“I learned a lot with my career in both external and internal service bureaus and know how the right - or wrong - software can mean a world of difference to productivity and good part production. The potential for production-grade additive manufacturing is already being realized but is held back by the current software applications. My passion is to change that and I am truly excited to be delivering a new revolution in the industry with the Dyndrite team,” said Dahlon.

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