VulcanForms Taps Aerospace Veteran to Scale an American Factory of the Future

DEVENS, MA – June 26, 2026 – In a move that signals a deliberate escalation in the race to redefine American manufacturing, VulcanForms has appointed Michael Kenworthy as its new Chief Technology Officer. The hire is more than a simple executive shuffle; it is a strategic acquisition of talent aimed squarely at scaling a new paradigm of industrial production at a moment of critical geopolitical and economic realignment.

Kenworthy, a seasoned leader fresh from Relativity Space and with a deep resume spanning the most innovative names in advanced manufacturing, joins the well-capitalized unicorn as it works to meet surging demand. His appointment underscores a powerful convergence: a company with a radical, integrated approach to making things, a market clamoring for secure domestic supply chains, and an expert who has spent his career turning disruptive technologies into production-scale realities.

The Strategic Rationale: Scaling a 'First-Principles' Platform

At the heart of VulcanForms' strategy is a concept CEO Kevin Kassekert describes as a "first-principles platform." The company has not just adopted additive manufacturing; it has built an entire ecosystem from the ground up. This unified system, housed in facilities like its flagship VulcanOne factory in Devens, integrates proprietary metal 3D printing technology with precision machining, robotic automation, and a sophisticated AI-powered software layer. The result is a seamless digital thread from design file to finished, inspected part.

"VulcanForms was founded to rethink how products are made," said Kassekert. "By combining production systems, automation, software, quality, and operations into a single manufacturing ecosystem, we've built a first-principles platform capable of solving some of the most challenging production problems in the industry."

The company's proprietary Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) systems are a core differentiator, boasting up to 100kW of laser power—an order of magnitude greater than many commercial systems. This allows for the rapid, high-volume production of complex metal components. But unlike many technology developers, VulcanForms doesn't sell its machines. It operates as a manufacturing service, pairing its advanced additive capabilities with a fleet of over 60 advanced CNC machines for subtractive finishing. This hybrid approach allows it to deliver parts with the complex geometries enabled by 3D printing and the tight tolerances required for critical applications in aerospace, defense, medical, and semiconductor industries.

This is where Kenworthy's role becomes pivotal. With the technology foundation laid and billions in commercial programs secured, VulcanForms' primary challenge is now scale. The task is to transition from demonstrating capability to delivering millions of parts with flawless consistency and efficiency. Kenworthy's mandate is to lead this charge, refining the technology roadmap and driving the automation and process efficiency needed to meet a customer demand that already exceeds the company's current capacity.

"Mike has spent his career building and scaling engineering organizations across aerospace, energy, and advanced manufacturing, and he knows what it takes to push production technology forward at scale," Kassekert noted. "His leadership will help us accelerate innovation and create even greater value for our customers."

A Veteran of Industrial Disruption Takes the Helm

Michael Kenworthy is no stranger to the bleeding edge of manufacturing. His career is a tour of the companies that have sought to upend how complex hardware is built. Before his most recent role as VP of Engineering at Relativity Space, he was Chief Product Officer at Seurat Technologies, focusing on scaling its high-throughput Area Printing process. Prior to that, he spent over six years as CTO at Divergent, where he was instrumental in developing the Divergent Adaptive Production System (DAPS) for industrializing additive manufacturing in the automotive sector.

His foundational experience was forged at industrial giants like GE Aviation and Honeywell Aerospace, where he pioneered some of the world's first flight-critical 3D-printed metal components. With a background from MIT and over 250 patents to his name, Kenworthy has a proven track record of not just inventing, but industrializing. He understands the immense challenge of moving a technology from the lab to a reliable, high-volume production line.

"Joining VulcanForms is an opportunity to work on something rare," Kenworthy stated. "The foundation that has been built here lets customers solve problems that conventional manufacturing simply can't. I'm excited to work with the team to advance the technology, expand what the platform can do, and help customers manufacture increasingly complex products with greater speed, consistency, and scale."

Riding the Wave of Domestic Manufacturing's Resurgence

Kenworthy's appointment arrives at a uniquely opportune time. The fragility of global supply chains, exposed by the pandemic and exacerbated by ongoing geopolitical tensions, has created a powerful tailwind for domestic manufacturing. The U.S. government has amplified this momentum with landmark legislation like the CHIPS and Science Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, injecting hundreds of billions of dollars into rebuilding the nation's industrial base.

Companies in critical sectors are actively seeking to de-risk their supply chains by reshoring production. They require partners who can not only provide secure, domestic capacity but also shorten brutal lead times and accelerate innovation cycles. This is precisely the value proposition VulcanForms offers. Its digital-first approach slashes the time from design to production, while its U.S.-based factories offer a resilient alternative to overseas suppliers.

The demand is particularly acute in the aerospace and defense industry, a market projected to grow its use of additive manufacturing to over $17 billion by 2031. For these customers, the ability to produce lightweight, high-strength, and novel components on-demand is a significant strategic advantage. VulcanForms is positioning itself as the key enabler of this shift.

Fueling the Factory of the Future

Executing such an ambitious vision requires immense capital, and VulcanForms is well-fortified. The company, which achieved a valuation of over $1 billion in 2022, has raised a total of $575 million. This includes a recent, oversubscribed $220 million Series D round led by Eclipse and 1789 Capital, funding earmarked specifically for capacity expansion.

This capital is being deployed to build out its digital production facilities. The VulcanOne factory in Devens, MA, is the blueprint—a sprawling, integrated facility where raw metal powder enters one end and finished, qualified parts emerge from the other. The funding will also complete its VulcanTwo facility in Newburyport, MA, and establish a third factory, with a larger campus-style location already in the design phase.

By hiring a CTO with Kenworthy's specific expertise in scaling, VulcanForms is making a clear statement. It has the technology, it has the capital, and it has the market demand. Now, it has brought in a proven leader to orchestrate the complex task of turning that potential into a dominant, at-scale manufacturing powerhouse on American soil.