A Visit from the Government

We recently had a visit from Dr. Kevin T. Geiss, Director, Science and Technology, in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD(R&E)) at the Pentagon. Given Dr. Geiss’ past experience as the Director, Airman Systems Directorate, 711th Human Performance Wing, AFRL, he noted that he was familiar with NextFlex “from a distance.” Responsibility for the 9 DoD Manufacturing Innovation Institutes is now under his wing, and he mentioned that he will be championing our efforts to expand our value and support to diverse DoD organizations. He noted that four Critical Technologies fall under his attention within OUSD(R&E), including Quantum [computing], Advanced Microelectronics, Biomaterials, and “Future G” [catch-all for advanced, immerging technology].

Robert McManus and Jeff Bergman from the Engineering Team set up live demonstrators for Dr. Geiss’s visit to NextFlex, including a Machinery Monitoring tag streaming vibration data to a computer and visualizing the response. This demonstration also included a conceptual tool dashboard, on which predictive analytics alerts are displayed. Our team is now planning to use these in more permanent demonstration setups in NextFlex, some of which will be used during Innovation Days next week.

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