Brentwood, TN, October 10, 2022 – The United States Air Force Rapid Sustainment Office (USAF RSO) has signed-on for a yearlong Phase III program with VEXTEC Corporation. The Phase III program will deploy VEXTEC’s VPS-MICRO computational predictive software to USAF engineering teams at the forefront of metal additive manufacturing (AM) for critical sustainment activities.

VEXTEC’s successful SBIR Phase II AM program with RSO, born out of an open call Pitch Day solicitation, catalyzed USAF interest in predicting risk of fatigue failure of AM metal parts. A demonstration project at the close of Phase II was coordinated between VEXTEC and Air Force Life Cycle Management Center – Propulsion Directorate (AFLCMC/LP) at Tinker Air Force Base. VPS-MICRO was able to provide quantitative predictive capabilities, that gave engineers and managers actionable information before any AM parts were even built.

“The Air Force wants to develop more digital tools to be able to take full advantage of the potential AM can provide,” stated Dr. Bob Tryon, VEXTEC Chief Technology Officer. “This Phase III program is structured such that, not only will VPS-MICRO be delivered to engineers who specialize in risk assessment, but standard work protocols will effectively integrate this technology into the teams’ workflows at Tinker. This will give the Air Force additional resource support to additively manufacture their own metal parts.”

The ultimate goal of the Phase III is to highlight how digital predictive tools can complement existing testing schemes, to accelerate risk prediction and alternative material qualification for new and legacy components that utilize AM.

About VEXTEC:

VEXTEC Corporation is the home of VPS-MICRO®, a unique microstructural fatigue durability prediction software based on ICME (Integrated Computational Materials Engineering). This technology fills a gap in the existing capabilities provided by CAD/CAM, FEA, statistical modeling, and physical material and component testing, by effectively integrating them into a single computational processing framework. Since 2000, VEXTEC has provided predictive analytics prognostics and life extension capabilities for hundreds of different products. VEXTEC’s clients include leading multinationals in the aerospace, automotive, electronics, energy, heavy industry and medical device manufacturing sectors, as well as many federal government agencies. VEXTEC has seven US patents related to its technology. For more information on VEXTEC and VPS-MICRO software, visit: http://vextec.com.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Brentwood, TN, October 10, 2022 – VEXTEC Corporation was awarded a sole source contract from the U.S. Navy to expand its Corrosion Cracking Maintenance Prediction Software (CCMPS). CCMPS is used by the Navy to predict the future maintenance needs for aluminum (5000 series) ship structures.

The U.S. Navy is tasked with extending the lifetime of certain naval vessels by 5-10 years at full mission capability, however, they have been challenged by stress corrosion cracking of their aluminum ship structures which impacts maintenance schedules. That’s where CCMPS comes into play. The Navy uses CCMPS to simulate inspection schedules of their aluminum fleet resulting in a “Time-to-Repair” prediction. This software capability gives the Navy a way to turn actual data in to actionable data which they can use to improve maintenance planning schedules.

Under this contract, VEXTEC will add new capabilities and technology to the software enabling the Navy to continue using CCMPS for years to come. “In the current CCMPS scheme, each ship location of the fleet is simulated individually and the next doesn’t begin until the prior has finished,” said, Dr. Animesh Dey, VEXTEC’s Chief Product Development Officer, “VEXTEC will be implementing a multi-threading method in the software; this will allow multiple locations to be simulated in tandem and compiled at the end once all ship locations of the digital fleet have completed the simulation.” These upgrades will reduce the overall time it takes to run a model benefiting the Navy’s condition-based maintenance needs which is essential to their overall mission.

About VEXTEC:

VEXTEC Corporation works with both federal & commercial clients across many industries to provide fatigue prediction software based on ICME (Integrated Computational Materials Engineering) to predict product durability. This unique software, VPS-MICRO, fills a gap in the existing capabilities provided by CAD/CAM, FEA, statistical modeling, and physical material and component testing by effectively integrating them into a single computational processing framework. VEXTEC has seven US patents related to its technology. For more information on VEXTEC and VPS-MICRO software, visit: http://vextec.com.

If the terms Metal Additive Manufacturing, AM, 3D Printing, ICME, Computational Fatigue Modeling resonate with you, we are interested in speaking with you.

Selected as America’s Most Promising Company by Forbes Magazine, VEXTEC is the developer and provider of VPS-MICRO® software as a SaaS model. We help our clients to save time and money by accelerating push for Additive Manufacturing (AM) into standard production & reducing physical testing burden for qualification of new materials/sources.  VEXTEC’s clients include leading multinationals in the aerospace, automotive, electronics, energy, heavy industry and medical device manufacturing sectors, as well as many federal government agencies.

If you are interested in joining a small business with a dedicated team that is at the cutting edge of computational material science developing software to revolutionize Metal AM, please apply.

Qualified candidates for the position will have the following requirements and skills:

• Engineering graduates that have a M.S. and Ph.D. in Engineering (Civil, Mechanical, BME, Material Science degrees are preferred).
• Aptitude and demonstrated ability to write engineering code in Fortran, Python, C# is very desirable.
• Experience in structural mechanics or fracture mechanics.
• Knowledge of probabilistic methods and statistics.
• Knowledge of finite element modeling and analysis. Deep familiarity and experience with commercial finite element software such as ANSYS, Abaqus, Nastran will be an asset.
• Self-motivated with the ability to pick up new analytical skills.

Employment with VEXTEC offers competitive salaries and a flexible work environment, as well as a comprehensive benefits package.

VEXTEC Corporation provides software, technical expertise and services in the areas of component, system, and fleet durability.  In collaboration with our client companies, we utilize VPS-MICRO to help make better products and resolve in-service durability and reliability issues.

To apply for a career at VEXTEC, please send your cover letter and resume to hr@vextec.com.

Qualified candidates will have the following requirements and skills:

• Engineering graduates that have a M.S. and Ph.D. in Engineering (Civil, Mechanical, BME, Material Science degrees are preferred).  Minimum of a B.S. Engineering degree in any of the above disciplines also accepted, with equivalent work experience.
• Experience in structural mechanics or fracture mechanics.
• Knowledge of probabilistic methods and statistics.
• Knowledge of finite element modeling and analysis. Deep familiarity and experience with commercial finite element software such as ANSYS, Abaqus, Nastran will be an asset.
• Excellent analytical and problem solving skills.
• Ability to write engineering code is preferred.
• Technical report writing experience is a plus.
• Good communication skills both oral & written.
• Ability to work independently.
• Self-motivated with the ability to pick up new analytical skills.

In addition to offering competitive salaries and a flexible work environment, our employees are provided a comprehensive benefits package.

VEXTEC Corporation is a privately-owned engineering services and software company headquartered in the Nashville, TN area.  VEXTEC was founded in 2000, with the goal of developing a computational process based in ICME (Integrated Computational Materials Engineering) to predict long-term product durability. This technology fills a gap in the existing capabilities provided by CAD/CAM, FEA, statistical modeling, and physical material and component testing, by effectively integrating them into a single computational processing framework.

What makes us different from other engineering consulting companies is our proprietary durability software, VPS-MICRO®, which we have been developing since VEXTEC’s founding. We have received over $25 million in development funding from the United States Department of Defense through its Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR/STTR) programs. During this time, VEXTEC has been granted seven patents related to our technology.

VEXTEC Corporation provides software, technical expertise and services in the areas of component, system, and fleet durability.  We, in collaboration with our client companies, utilize our VPS-MICRO engineering software to help make better products and resolve in-service durability and reliability issues.

For more information on VEXTEC’s services and technology, visit www.vextec.com. To apply for a career at VEXTEC, please send your cover letter and resume to info@vextec.com.

• Tuesday, Feb. 16th 4:40 p.m., Room 205B, Reliability-Based Methods for Rapid Certification of Metal Additive Manufactured Parts
• Tuesday, Feb. 16th 4:40 p.m., Room 207C, Uncertainty Propagation in a Computational Fatigue Model of an Air frame Structure
• Wednesday, Feb. 17th 9:30 a.m., Room 213, Microstructural Small Flaw Fracture Mechanics for Improved Design Analysis

Last week, I was at the 2015 SIMULIA West Regional User Meeting held at the historic Hayes Mansion in San Jose, CA! VEXTEC was one of the sponsors of the event and is a partner of the Advanced Integration Program. It was the 20th anniversary of this event and I was at the first of these events held in Long Beach. The longstanding tradition of the Regional User Meeting format has continued – providing an invaluable platform for industry and academia to join together and share their knowledge and experience in advancing methods and technology for finite element analysis, multi-physics, process automation, design optimization and simulation management . It was great to catch up with old friends (the Computational Modeling community is a small and close knit community), connect with other users and learn how the latest simulation technology and methods can accelerate and improve product development. At the meeting, I learned about Simulia’s Learning Community portal which is a convenient site to keep abreast of the latest collaborations in the 3DS eco-system.

The main event included future strategies and technology/product updates from Simulia leadership as well as User Presentations and Networking opportunities. I also had the opportunity to participate as an invited speaker. My talk entitled – Computational Modeling of Complex Systems using “Digital Twin” and “Digital Thread” Frameworks – underscored of how VEXTEC’s Virtual Life Management (VLM) technology compliments and aligns with Dassault Systèmes (DS) strategy of computational modeling and uncertainty management. VEXTEC is developing this technology as part of the US Air Force’s initiative on developing a computational Digital Thread, Digital Twin eco-system.

Here is a link to the slides from my presentation: VEXTEC DS SimuliaWest 2015_Presentation