Phase3D has named Phillips Federal its exclusive Channel Partner for the North American defense market, giving U.S. defense manufacturers a direct procurement route to Phase3D's Fringe Inspection platform, a real-time, in-situ inspection system for additive manufacturing. The partnership pairs Phase3D's quantitative monitoring technology with Phillips Federal's six-decade history supporting federal manufacturing programs through equipment sales, contracting, and lifecycle support.
Fringe Inspection measures the manufacturing process as a part is built, rather than waiting for post-process inspection once a build finishes. That distinction matters in additive manufacturing, where a defect that goes undetected until the end of a build has already consumed the machine time and material needed to produce it. Phase3D says the platform generates quantitative process data throughout a build, giving engineers a layer of visibility between raw machine process data and final part inspection.
What's new here is the scale Phillips Federal can offer. Michael Brennen, Commercial Director at Phase3D, said the company has had "good early success in defense" but needs a partner with existing relationships to reach more depots, bases, laboratories, and manufacturing programs. Tim McClanahan, President of Phillips Federal, said real-time inspection gives defense customers "greater visibility into the manufacturing process and the ability to catch defects before they consume additional machine time and material."
Phase3D's defense footprint already includes the U.S. Navy's Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence in Danville, Virginia, and the Commonwealth Center for Advanced Manufacturing. The Phillips Federal deal is meant to extend that reach across more defense organizations facing pressure to reduce dependence on constrained supply chains and produce critical parts faster.
Both companies are appearing together at J-DAMMIT 2026, running August 25 to 27 at Harrisburg University, where Phillips Federal is exhibiting and attendees can see the partnership in person.
