What Fatigue Technology Inc. does

Fatigue Technology Inc. (FTI) is a privately held aerospace engineering and manufacturing company founded in 1969 and headquartered in a 120,000 sq ft facility in Tukwila, WA, with approximately 190 employees. FTI is a subsidiary of Precision Castparts Corp. (PCC), acquired in 2008 and operating within PCC's Engineered Products Division. The company pioneered the hole cold expansion process in collaboration with Boeing and holds a license for sale and distribution of the tooling; cold expansion creates residual compressive stress zones around fastener holes to dramatically extend fatigue life in metallic structures. Its product portfolio spans seven registered proprietary lines: Split Sleeve Cold Expansion (the foundational process), ForceTec Rivetless Nut Plates, ForceMate Bushings, TukLoc Blind Fasteners, FleXmate Fittings, GromEx Composite Liners, RailTec (railroad), and StopCrackEX (bridge repair), supported by a family of capital tooling (PowerPaks, puller units) and a dedicated materials testing facility.

The company sells custom-built products and tooling primarily to commercial aerospace OEMs (Boeing, Airbus, Bombardier, Bell, Sikorsky, Northrop Grumman), military customers (US Air Force), helicopter/rotorcraft manufacturers, and—via product extensions—railroads (Network Rail, Union Pacific), civil infrastructure agencies (NJDOT, NYSDOT, NJTA), space programs, medical device manufacturers (Smith and Nephew), and marine/energy markets. Pricing is quote-based on custom builds with standard lead times and expedite options; revenue streams include product sales, on-site certified installation and repair services (including F-16 wing repairs saving over $250M in replacement costs), technical training, and contract materials testing. Distribution combines direct global field service teams with preferred stocking distributor Wencor Group for the FTI-8101 tooling line and authorized tooling repair partners in the US and Europe.

FTI operates with ISO 9001:2015/AS9100D certification, has received 13 Northrop Grumman Platinum Source Preferred Awards (5 consecutive as of 2014), and reports documented technical outcomes including 60x improvement in crack growth life (StopCrackEX) and 3:1 fatigue life extension in rail applications (RailTec). Revenue is not publicly disclosed and no funding events are recorded.

Name

Fatigue Technology Inc.

Legal name

Fatigue Technology Inc.

Website

https://fatiguetech.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1969

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Fatigue Technology Inc. manufactures cold expansion tooling and patented aerospace fastener products (ForceMate, ForceTec, TukLoc, FleXmate) that extend fatigue life in metal structures. It serves major commercial and military aerospace OEMs, with adjacent applications in railroad, bridge infrastructure, and medical devices. Founded in 1969 in Seattle and now a subsidiary of Precision Castparts Corp.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Aerospace Fasteners & Cold Expansion Products

NAICS

Metalworking Machinery Manufacturing (33351), Cutting Tool and Machine Tool Accessory Manufacturing (333515)

SIC

Screw Machine Products (3451), Metalworkg Machinery & Equipment (3540), Railroad Equipment (3743), Aircraft Engines & Engine Parts (3724)

akta.pro primary industry

Composite Structures & Layup Manufacturing (IMABAEAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Welding, Fabrication & Field Machining Services (On-site) (IMAIACAD), Aircraft Structures, Sheet Metal & Composites Repair (EDAOAFAD)

Keywords

• Cold expansion tooling
• Aerospace fasteners
• Fatigue mitigation
• Bushing installations
• Metal fatigue repair

Headquarters

HQ city

Seattle

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Cold Expansion Products and Tooling: FTI manufactures and sells cold expansion products including split sleeves, bushings, nut plates, fasteners, fittings, and composite liners. Tooling products include puller units, power paks, and mandrels. Products are custom designed and built to order with standard lead times.
2. On-Site Installation and Repair Services: Certified service teams perform product installation and repairs on military or commercial aircraft globally. Services include F-16 wing repairs and custom field repair kits.
3. Technical Training Services: On-site training on products and tooling at customer facilities or Seattle headquarters. Includes process training, trainer training, and application-specific courses with certificates issued upon completion.
4. Materials Testing Services: FTI's Materials Testing Facility offers static, fatigue and fracture testing of metals and composites. Services include fatigue and crack growth testing, fracture toughness tests, static testing, environmental conditioning, and custom test procedure development.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Fatigue Technology Inc. (FTI) designs, manufactures, and sells proprietary cold expansion tooling, bushings, fasteners, nut plates, fittings, and composite liners that create zones of residual compressive stress around holes in metallic and composite structures to prevent fatigue cracking. The company also operates certified on-site installation/repair service teams worldwide for military and commercial aircraft, an in-house materials testing facility, and an on-site training program covering its cold expansion processes and tooling.

Product overview

Fatigue Technology Inc. (FTI) offers a comprehensive portfolio of cold expansion-based products and tooling systems for aerospace, infrastructure, and industrial applications. The core technology creates zones of residual compressive stress around holes to prevent metal fatigue cracking. The product line includes: Split Sleeve Cold Expansion (the foundational process); ForceTec Rivetless Nut Plates and ForceMate Bushings (for bushing and nut plate installations); TukLoc Blind Fasteners (blind fastening system); FlexMate Fittings (for fluid and hardware fittings); GromEx Composite Liner (for composite structures); RailTec (for railroad track applications); and StopCrackEX (for bridge and infrastructure crack repair). FTI also provides comprehensive tooling including PowerPaks (FT-20, FT-200), puller units (Hand Puller, Little Brute, Medium Brute, Big Brute, Jumbo Brute, Super Brute), and supporting equipment. The company offers training services, a materials testing facility for fatigue and fracture testing, and on-site installation/repair service teams worldwide.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• ForceMate: Bushing installation system with high interference fit for fatigue life enhancement
• ForceTec
• TukLoc
• GromEx
• FleXmate
• RailTec
• StopCrackEX

Products and services

• Split Sleeve Cold Expansion The foundational FTI product family: a process in which an oversized tapered mandrel is pulled through a pre-lubricated split sleeve in a hole, yielding the surrounding material and inducing residual compressive stresses that prevent fatigue crack initiation and growth. Available with associated tooling (puller units, power paks, mandrels) and used across aerospace, defense, rail, bridge, marine, energy, and medical applications.
• ForceTec Rivetless Nut Plates Patented rivetless nut plate installation system using cold expansion technology to provide permanent, vibration-resistant fastening in aerospace structures including transmissions, rotating components, and swash plates.
• ForceMate Bushings High-interference-fit bushing installation system that combines mechanical locking with induced residual compressive stress to achieve flaw-tolerant design criteria without weight or size penalty; used in highly loaded rotor components and other aerospace primary structures.
• TukLoc Blind Fasteners Mechanically attached blind fastening system for primary and secondary aerospace structures that uses cold expansion to create an interference fit resistant to torque and pushout; available in sealed and non-sealed versions.
• FleXmate Fittings Advanced aerospace fitting installation system providing structural durability, weight reduction, and simplified assembly for fuel, gas, hydraulic, electrical, and drain fittings through interference-fit installation; delivers a typical 2:1 life improvement of the host structure.
• GromEx Composite Liner Cost-effective method for reinforcing fastener holes in composite materials using thin interference-fit metal sleeves that provide lightning strike protection, hole wear protection, and reliable fastener installation.
• RailTec Cold expansion system based on FTI's Split Sleeve Cold Expansion, adapted for railroad track bolt holes in rails, frogs, and switches; delivers at least 3:1 increase in fatigue life and approximately a 10-fold reduction in crack growth rate for pre-cracked rail specimens.
• StopCrackEX (Bridge Repair) Bridge repair system that cold expands a bushing into a drill stop, imparting residual compressive stresses to arrest fatigue crack growth in steel bridge structures; independent third-party testing showed over 60 times improvement in crack growth life compared to conventional crack arrest holes.
• Materials Testing Services (FTI Test Lab) FTI's Materials Testing Facility provides static, fatigue and fracture testing of metals and composites, including fatigue and crack growth testing, fracture toughness tests, static testing, environmental conditioning, and custom test procedure development.
• On-Site & HQ Technical Training On-site training on FTI products and tooling at customer facilities or at FTI's Seattle/Tukwila headquarters; includes process training, trainer training, and application-specific courses, with certificates issued upon completion.
• On-Site Installation & Repair Service Teams Certified FTI service teams perform product installation and repairs on military or commercial aircraft globally, including custom field repair kits (e.g., USAF F-16 pylon rib wing repair) and AOG emergency support outside business hours.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 60 times improvement in crack growth life for StopCrackEX compared to conventional crack arrest holes
• +7 more outcomes

Named customers15 records

Segments9 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature8 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• University of Washington Formula Motorsports TeamminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2014FTI is a returning top tier sponsor for the UW Formula Motorsports Team consisting of over 80 mechanical engineering students. The team uses FTI's ForceMate bushings in their vehicle. Team took first place in 2013 Formula SAE Lincoln Airpark competition.
• Wencor GroupcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorWencor Group serves as FTI's preferred stocking distributor for the FTI-8101 Split Sleeve Cold Expansion tooling line. Wencor is stocked and ready to fulfill requirements for OEM service bulletins and MRO customer requirements for cold expansion tooling and split sleeve products. Contact: [email protected]
• Aero Tool ServicesminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorUS-based capital tooling repair partner providing repair and rental services for FTI capital equipment. Contact: (833) 283-2376, www.aerotoolservices.com
• Forind Avio Elettronica s.r.l.minorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorEuropean capital tooling repair partner providing repair services for FTI capital equipment. Contact: (+39) 02 95343080, www.forind.it

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Vossloh: Vossloh is a leading global supplier of rail infrastructure products, including rail fastening systems. It is the most direct competitor to FTI's RailTec product line in the railroad vertical, addressing the same bolt-hole fatigue problem in rail joints, frogs, and switches.
• Pandrol: Pandrol (Delachaux Group) is a global leader in rail fastening systems and track products, directly competing with FTI's RailTec cold expansion solution for railroad bolt hole fatigue mitigation across the same freight and transit rail customer base.
• LISI Aerospace: LISI Aerospace is one of the world's largest manufacturers of aerospace fasteners, fittings, and structural components — directly competing with FTI's ForceTec, ForceMate, and FleXmate product lines across the same commercial and military OEM customers (Boeing, Airbus, Safran).
• SPS Technologies: SPS Technologies, also a Precision Castparts subsidiary, manufactures aerospace fasteners and specialty components — a sister company within the same parent that competes with FTI in the same aerospace fastening category on Boeing/Airbus platforms.

Broad incumbents

• Hexcel: Hexcel is a leading manufacturer of advanced composites for commercial aerospace, defense, and space — directly adjacent to FTI's GromEx composite liner product, which addresses the same composite fastener hole reinforcement challenge that Hexcel's materials also target.
• Triumph Group: Triumph Group designs, engineers, and manufactures aerospace structural components, systems, and aftermarket parts — competing with FTI across structural installation products (ForceMate, TukLoc) and providing MRO services to the same aerospace OEM and military customers.
• TransDigm Group: TransDigm is a specialty aerospace component manufacturer with a portfolio of proprietary, sole-source aerospace parts — sharing FTI's model of highly engineered, IP-protected products sold to aerospace OEMs and MROs, though spanning a much broader range of aircraft systems.
• Arconic: Arconic supplies aluminum sheet, plate, and engineered products to aerospace and industrial markets, including aerospace structural components that compete with FTI's metal cold expansion solutions in adjacent structural applications.
• Howmet Aerospace: Howmet Aerospace (formerly Arconic) produces aerospace engine and structural components, including fastener systems for commercial and defense aerospace. It competes with FTI in adjacent structural installation and fastening categories while serving a much broader portfolio of aerospace customers.
• Melrose Industries (GKN Aerospace): GKN Aerospace, part of Melrose Industries, is a tier-one supplier of aerostructures, engine components, and fastener systems — competing with FTI in aerospace structural components and serving overlapping OEM customer relationships.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/fatiguetechnology
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/fatigue-technology-inc.

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Fatigue Technology Inc.