ANN ARBOR, Mich., July 27, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS) is pleased to announce the selection of three finalists for this year’s Commercial Technologies for Maintenance Activities (CTMA) Technology Competition, which shines a spotlight on innovative capabilities that can streamline maintenance and sustainment operations for the Department of War (DoW). This competition provides an opportunity for academic, commercial, and government teams to showcase new and innovative ways of making maintenance and sustainment operations more agile, effective, efficient, and affordable. It serves as a structured pathway for the DoW to identify high-impact technologies that demonstrate dual-use value to the broader industrial base.
The top three finalists, selected by DoW maintenance leaders from a highly competitive field of entries, are presented here:
- Digital Maintenance Advisor: Prescriptive AI to Operationalize Nondestructive Inspection, by Avathon Government, Inc.
- Modulus Extended: Quantitative 3D Surface Inspection Inside Bores, Pipes, and Tanks, by GelSight, Inc.
- Titomic Kinetic Fusion™: Solid-State Cold Spray for Rapid Defense Sustainment, by Titomic USA, Inc.
Avathon Government’s Digital Maintenance Advisor (DMA) integrates inspection data, maintenance records, and technical guidance into a unified decision-support framework to address common sustainment challenges. Its comprehensive data layer optimizes maintenance scheduling and tasking, avoiding rework, resolving conflicts in support equipment, and closing gaps in work package data. By guiding maintainers through optimized workflows, it improves consistency, enhances safety, and reduces dependence on scarce subject matter experts. Additionally, its modular architecture allows flexible integration with legacy systems while accommodating variations in data quality.
GelSight’s Modulus Extended uses a proprietary elastomeric sensor and computer vision to capture objective, micron-scale, traceable 3D topography on virtually any surface, including metals, composites, and transparent materials. It offers a modular platform with interchangeable optics and a rigid extension arm that carries the sensor inside bores, pipes, and tanks. Modulus Extended enables confined-space inspections, measurement of 3D surface topography in narrow-diameter tubes, and more. It replaces subjective calls with objective, repeatable data and a digital record that supports condition-based maintenance and digital-twin programs.
Titomic USA’s Titomic Kinetic Fusion™ (TKF™) is a solid-state, non-thermal cold spray additive manufacturing process that accelerates metal powders to supersonic velocity and bonds them through kinetic energy rather than melting. It enables rapid design iteration and life extension of mission-critical metallic components with minimal distortion and no heat-affected zones. TKF is capable of direct bonding of dissimilar metals, precision metal repair and surface enhancement, robotic path planning for complex geometries, and more. The demonstrated program showed approximately 95% deposition efficiency, reducing waste while supporting lower fabrication cost and shorter production times.
The three finalists will conduct presentations on September 24 for attendees at the 2026 CTMA Partners Meeting in Jacksonville, FL. NCMS will award the winner $100,000 in support funding to be provided toward a future CTMA project.
For more information about the CTMA Technology Competition, visit: https://ncms.org/ctma-technology-competition. To attend the Finalist Presentations, register for the CTMA Partners Meeting here: https://ncms.org/events/2026-ctma-partners-meeting/.
About NCMS
NCMS is a cross-industry technology development consortium dedicated to improving the competitiveness and strength of the US industrial base. NCMS leverages a network of industry, government, and university partners to develop, demonstrate, and transition innovative technologies efficiently, with less risk and lower cost. NCMS enables world-class companies to work effectively with other members on new opportunities—matching highly capable companies with the providers and end users who need their innovations and technology solutions. The NCMS network benefits from an accelerated progression of idea creation through execution. Learn more at ncms.org, and at NCMS's LinkedIn, Twitter/X and Facebook pages.
Media Contact: Pam Hurt, NCMS Chief Communications Officer Pam.Hurt@ncms.org
