After the cheering was over and the press had cleared, the employees at Sentient Science were left in their new Buffalo, New York, facility to do what they do best: apply the science behind equipment and component failure.
The company has now set up shop in the former Butler Mansion on the campus of the University of Buffalo, where it will put to good use the millions of dollars it has received in federal and state grants to conduct its research and development. The facility will be used as an advanced manufacturing, materials genome and next-generation computational testing laboratory, where scientists with the company will focus some of the most difficult design problems in the country.
The Joint Strike Fighter, as well as the BlackHawk/SeakHawk and Apache Helicopters, are certainly a few of the showiest projects the company is taking on, but it’s not stopping there. The testing will also effect design of orthopedic implants, which have been the focus of many recalls and lawsuits recently because of their premature failure rates.
“These Small Business Innovation Research contracts paved the way and resulted in 10 successful validations with some of the largest and most successful companies in their respective markets, including Boeing, GE, Zimmer, Sikorsky and Honeywell,” said Sentient Science President Ward Thomas. “The validation proved that Sentient’s patent-pending technology and business model was accurate and would significantly reduce physical testing costs and time, while improving accuracy. The capability, which Sentient calls DigitalClone, is now ready for commercial use.”
Top of the line testing facility
The company decided to partner with the University of Buffalo to take full advantage of the advanced infrastructure at its disposal, including a custom-built 8,000-processor, cloud-based system that will service some of the largest material genome and advanced manufacturing companies in the world. The new laboratory will help Sentient’s clients on two fronts.
The first will be to give companies the right equipment and knowledge that will enable them to build unique DigitalClone models, allowing them to test their equipment on-site. The second goal is to use these same models over and over again, thereby driving down the cost of ownership when assets hit the aftermarket.
According to the Niagara Gazette, Thomas says that the first order of business is to satisfy customers, but he’s already thinking long-term. Once a customer base is set, he said, the company will move more offices into an area along the Niagara Gorge.
“Who wouldn’t want to be in that beautiful building?” Thomas quipped. “It’s a key part of our business plan.”