Technological change in many industries is often driven by advances in basic science, a move to digital transformation or simply the disruption of the status quo.

Sintavia LLC, a provider of metal additive-manufacturing services for the aerospace and defense industries, achieved Nadcap (National Aerospace and Defense Contractors Accreditation Program) approval for heat treatment at both its Hollywood, Fla., and Davie, Fla., locations. According to Sintavia, it is the only company in the world with Nadcap approvals for laser additive manufacturing, electron-beam additive manufacturing and in-house heat treatment.

Advanced Heat Treat Corp. (AHT) added gas nitriding to its Nadcap accreditation. The Waterloo, Iowa-based heat-treat service provider has held Nadcap accreditation for ion nitriding since 2013.

United Process Controls (UPC) upgraded the vacuum furnace controls and automation platform for Woodward Inc., a U.S.-based provider of fuel and control systems for aircraft engines. The new-generation controls provide streamlined reporting for Nadcap compliance as well as seamless integration with the company’s enterprise planning (ERP) system. UPC also equipped a number of new air drying ovens with Protherm 470 programmable controllers with onboard input and output capabilities.

Solar Atmospheres of Western PA continued its merit status for Nadcap Nondestructive Testing for penetrant inspection. Solar Atmospheres specializes in Method A (water washable) Fluorescent Penetrant inspection and is able to accommodate parts of varying sizes in their NDT cell. The company has its own in-house Level 3 inspector as well as six Level 2 inspectors and one Level 1 inspector. Solar Atmospheres is on Boeing’s approved supplier list and typically inspects three linear miles of vacuum stress-relieved weldments for the 787 Dreamliner per month.