VulcanForms, an MIT-born company that builds and operates advanced digital manufacturing infrastructure, announced that Kevin Kassekert has been appointed Chief Executive Officer. Additionally, Jay Martin has joined VulcanForms as President. In joining the VulcanForms team, Kassekert and Martin will lead the company’s efforts to deliver solutions for customers across critically important industries, and continue to scale its technology and operations.
Since its founding in 2015, VulcanForms has built advanced technology and digital workflows tailored for production of advanced metal components that drive pace-setting products, such as orthopedic implants, jet engines, supercomputers, and consumer devices. The cornerstone of VulcanForms production system is a proprietary laser additive manufacturing technology, which offers a breakthrough combination of quality, efficiency, and speed. VulcanForms integrates additive manufacturing with heat treatment, surface processing, precision machining, and metrology, delivering a full-stack solution for its customers. The automated production system is driven by advanced software capabilities and AI-based methods that enable predictive simulation and data-driven process control.
The VulcanForms team, first led by Co-Founder Martin Feldmann, developed the company’s core technology that now underpins an integrated manufacturing solution. With its offering now embedded into select customers’ workflows, VulcanForms is transitioning from pilot-scale manufacturing to high volume production. The company’s strategic shift in leadership comes at a time when the U.S. and the world recognize the urgent need for industrial technologies that integrate digital and physical approaches to manufacturing, and both Kassekert and Jay Martin are well-versed in deploying complex technologies into entrenched industries.
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Kevin Kassekert: A Seasoned Leader of Fast-Growing Organizations
Kassekert brings over 25 years of people-centric and seasoned leadership experience in high-tech, high-volume manufacturing environments. With a passion for sustainability and disruptive technology, Kassekert has devoted his career to growing organizations with a focus on leaving the world a better place.
Kassekert joins VulcanForms following over four years as Chief Operating Officer of Redwood Materials. As COO, Kassekert played a pivotal role in growing the company from a young startup to a world leader in Li-Ion battery recycling, refining, and battery materials manufacturing. Redwood Materials has localized the global battery supply and established the world’s first fully circular domestic supply chain for Li-Ion battery materials to meet the growing Li-Ion battery manufacturing demand.
Prior to Redwood Materials, Kassekert spent seven plus years at Tesla Inc., where he led Global Infrastructure Development (Superchargers, Factories), People (HR, Recruiting, Total Rewards), and Places (Real Estate, Construction, Facility Operations). Some notable achievements include completion of the nation’s first U.S. cross-country Supercharger network and the design, construction, and operational ramp of the world’s first — and at the time largest — Li-Ion battery Gigafactory in Nevada, U.S. This team then went on to lead the engineering, procurement, and construction of additional Gigafactories and manufacturing facilities located in Shanghai, Berlin, and Austin, TX. Prior to Tesla, Kevin spent 13 years in the semiconductor industry at Cypress Semiconductor and Silicon Valley Technology Center (SVTC) in leadership roles ranging from production operations to process engineering and product commercialization. Kevin holds a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and a master’s degree in business administration and global management.
SOURCE: PRNewswire