You Caught It. Your Last Supplier Didn’t.

The supplier quoted it, built it, and shipped it without reading the drawing carefully enough, and you spent two weeks in a corrective action loop on a part that was not even flight critical. Fathom reads the drawing before the machine runs so your program keeps moving.

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The Numbers That Keep Your Program Moving

Not marketing claims. Proof points from aerospace and defense programs where the tolerances were unforgiving, the schedules were real, and stopping wasn’t an option.

98%

On-time delivery – because a program that passes first article still needs to keep moving

25+

Manufacturing technologies – the right process chosen for your design intent, not the shop’s convenience

7

U.S. production locations coordinated as one engineering partner – so your program never stops waiting on a handoff between vendors

1

Engineering partner from first prototype to production ramp – no handoff, no knowledge lost, no reason for the program to stop

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General Support Overview

Every Engineer Has a Supplier Story That Stopped the Program.

Your Problem

You Knew Exactly Where It Was Going to Fail. They Didn’t Tell You Until It Did.

The drawing was clean. The tolerances were called out. The material was specified. You’d done the work. You sent it out. They quoted it fast – which should have been the first sign. No questions. No DFM feedback. No “hey, this wall section is going to be difficult to hold at this tolerance in this material.” Just a quote number and a lead time.

Three weeks later – first article failure. The exact feature you knew was going to be the problem. The one that was clearly called out on the print. Now you’re in a corrective action cycle. The program manager wants a root cause. Your schedule buffer is gone. And you’re re-explaining to a supplier why the tolerance on the print is the tolerance on the part – not a suggestion.

You’ve had this conversation before. More than once. With more than one supplier. Every time, the failure point was the same – the DFM conversation that should have happened at the quote stage happened at the corrective action stage instead. By then, it costs everyone. And the program stops.

Fathom’s Solution

The Engineer Who Keeps It Moving – Starting at the Quote.

At Fathom, the quote doesn’t start when the drawing arrives. It starts when an engineer reads it. Not scans it. Reads it. The tolerances. The geometries. The material callouts. The features that are easy to specify and hard to hold. The stack-ups that look fine on paper and cause problems on the floor.

That engineer flags what needs flagging – before the machine runs, before the setup is done, before the first article is the moment you find out the supplier didn’t understand the drawing. An issue caught at the quote stage costs you nothing. An issue caught at first article costs you the schedule you didn’t have to spare. A program that stops waiting for a re-run costs everyone.

Speed means nothing if quality slows approvals. Fathom moves fast and arrives right – DFM before every quote, first article documentation built to your quality team’s standard, audit-ready from the first delivery. CNC machining, sheet metal, additive, and injection molding across 7 U.S. locations – coordinated as one engineering partner, not seven separate vendors. When your design needs to iterate – days, not weeks. When it needs to scale – the same engineer, the same documentation trail, the same understanding of your program f

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Program Outcomes

Every quote starts with an engineering review – so the program doesn’t stop at first article

DFM First
The right process for your design intent – not the most convenient one for the shop

25+ Technologies
Because keeping the program moving doesn’t end at first article approval

98% OTD

The Conversation That Keeps the Program Moving – Happens at the Quote

You’ve reverse-engineered enough first article failures to know exactly where they start.

Not at the machine. Not at inspection. At the quote – when a supplier looked at a feature that was going to be difficult to hold and said nothing. Quoted it. Built it. Sent it. And left you with the corrective action, the re-run cost, and the conversation with the program manager that stopped everything for two weeks.

You already know this. It always starts at the quote.

At Fathom, the engineer who reviews your drawing at the quote stage is the same one who owns the outcome through first article, bridge production, and ramp. They saw the drawing on day one. They know why the tolerance is what it is. They know what changed in the last revision and why.

When something doesn’t look right – you hear about it before the machine runs. Not after. Not when the program has already stopped.

Tolerance and geometry review at quote stage – the difficult feature flagged before setup, not after first article stops the program 
Material and process fit assessed against your design intent – not shop floor convenience 
ECO management that doesn’t restart the clock – revision control built in so a drawing change doesn’t stop the program

The DFM conversation your last supplier should have had on day one – Fathom has it before the quote goes out. The engineer who flagged it is the same one who builds it. So the program keeps moving from the first drawing to the last delivery.

Every Engineering Pressure Your Program Is Under Right Now – And How Fathom Keeps It Moving

You’re not managing one program. You’re managing several – at different stages, with different pressures, all running simultaneously. The LEAP ramp. The Collins integration. The defense NPI cycle. The interiors reveal schedule.

Each one has an engineering layer that needs to move fast, iterate clean, and scale without losing the knowledge that built it. And across every one of those programs – the same layer needs to keep moving.

That’s where Fathom operates.

Prototype-to-Production Transitions

You’ve been here – the prototype supplier who built a beautiful first article and couldn’t hold the same tolerance at ten pieces. The NPI cycle that restarted because the production source required full re-qualification. The schedule impact of a knowledge transfer that should have been seamless and wasn’t. That gap is where programs stop. Fathom closes it. The engineer who built your prototype scales it – same tolerances, same documentation standard, same understanding of why the geometry is what it is. The program keeps moving.

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First Article & FAI Integrity

First article failures don’t come from nowhere. They come from a supplier who didn’t flag a manufacturability concern at the quote stage and hoped it would work out at the machine. By the time it doesn’t – the program has stopped. At Fathom, the FAI package is built the way your quality team expects it – dimensional inspection, traceability, serialized lots, receiving-ready documentation. Not because it’s required. Because a clean FAI is the fastest path to production approval. And the fastest path to keeping the program moving.

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Tight Tolerance & Complex Geometry

The features that stop programs are rarely the obvious ones. Thin walls. Multi-axis geometries. GD&T stack-ups that leave no room for process variation. Materials that machine differently than they specify. You’ve seen what happens when a supplier quotes these features without reading them – and finds out at the machine what you knew at the drawing. Fathom’s engineers read those features at the quote stage. They flag the stack-up. They recommend the process change. They hold the tolerance. The program keeps moving.

Can We Help Your Program?

Military Vehicle at Sunset in the Desert

ECO Management Without Schedule Impact

The ECO that should have taken three days and took three weeks – you know that story. The change that triggered a full re-quote, restarted the documentation trail, and stopped the program while everyone waited for a new lead time. Fathom’s revision control is built for programs that evolve. The change gets absorbed. The documentation gets updated. The engineering continuity holds. The program keeps moving.

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Rapid Iteration When Stopping Isn’t an Option

Defense programs are doubling. Safran Seats is in active NPI. The Collins integration is generating new part families faster than any supply chain anticipated. When your design needs another iteration – you need the part back in days, with the same engineering team who built the last revision and already knows where the critical features are. Not two weeks for a re-quote and a new setup. Days. An engineering extension that iterates in days when the design changes – then holds the line when the build scales. Because the program can’t stop waiting for a supplier to get up to speed on a drawing they should have read more carefully the first time.

Whatever the challenge. Whatever the revision. Whatever pressure the program is under right now – Fathom is the engineering partner that keeps it moving.

Can We do Something Like This For You?

What a Manufacturing Partner Looks Like When It Actually Thinks Like an Engineer

Not a supplier who executes the drawing. One who understands why it’s on the drawing – flags what needs changing before the machine runs – and keeps your program moving from first drawing to last delivery.

DFM at the Quote. Not the Corrective Action.

The corrective action conversation always starts at the quote – when a supplier looked at a difficult feature and said nothing. At Fathom, that feature gets flagged before the setup is done. The tolerance gets reviewed before the machine runs. The DFM conversation happens where it costs nothing – not where it stops the program.

The Engineer Who Quoted It Is the One Who Builds It.

No handoff between a prototyping team and a production team. No moment where the engineer who understood your program is replaced by one reading the notes for the first time. The same Fathom engineer carries the knowledge from quote through first article through ramp. One documentation trail. One engineering relationship. Nothing that stops the program mid-transfer.

The Tolerance on the Print Is the Tolerance on the Part. Every Time.

AS9100D. ITAR registered. ISO 9001. Tight tolerances. Complex geometries. Programs where the print is unforgiving and stopping for a re-run isn’t an option. Fathom has held the line on exactly these programs – 98% OTD across aerospace and defense programs where the schedule had no room for a supplier who almost met the requirement. Because an engineer who reads your drawing the way you do understands that the tolerance isn’t a target. It’s what keeps the program moving.

Fathom Has Already Kept Safran Engineering Programs Moving

Two programs. Two different engineering pressures. One result – the part was right, the documentation passed, and nothing stopped.

RAM Air Turbine

Engineering Continuity Across a Rapid Iteration Cycle

Safran’s RAT program needed hardware fast – mounting frames, covers, cable-routing brackets, and interface plates around a safety-critical emergency power system. The challenge wasn’t just speed. It was maintaining revision control and documentation integrity across an iteration cycle where changes were coming faster than a traditional supplier workflow could absorb. Fathom compressed prototype-to-test timing without losing the traceability thread. Every revision tracked. Every part documented. The program kept moving – and so did the FAI package.

Safran Seats

From First Prototype to Bridge Production Without the Gap That Stops Programs

Safran Seating’s NPI cycle moved fast – first prototype for design validation, then immediate bridge quantities as the design matured. The engineering challenge was the gap that normally opens between prototype and production: the new supplier who hasn’t read the revision history, doesn’t know why the tolerance is what it is, and finds out at first article what the previous team already knew. That gap stops programs. Fathom closed it. Same engineer. Same drawing knowledge. Same documentation standard. The program kept moving.

Certified to the Standard That Keeps Your Programs Moving.

You don’t have time to qualify a supplier who almost holds the tolerance. Fathom is certified to the standards Safran’s aerospace and defense programs demand – and delivers to those standards on every part, every run, every revision. Because a certification that doesn’t hold on the floor doesn’t keep the program moving. Disclaimer: Certifications vary by facility. Contact us to confirm coverage for your specific program requirements.

AS9100D

ITAR Registered

ISO 9001

Send Us the Drawing Your Last Supplier Didn’t Read Carefully Enough.

A Fathom engineer will review it – tell you exactly what they see – and make sure nothing stops your program before the machine runs.

Tight tolerances. Complex geometry. A revision history that matters. A program that can’t afford to find out at first article what should have been caught at the quote.

That’s exactly the drawing Fathom was built for.

One conversation. One engineer who reads it the way you do. One partner who flags the issue before it costs you the schedule – holds the tolerance when it’s time to build – and keeps your program moving from first drawing to last delivery.

Keep Moving – Start Here

Which Program Is at Risk Right Now?

Tell us. We’ll show you exactly where Fathom fits.

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Which Program Is at Risk Right Now?

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AS9100D Certified · ITAR Registered · 100% On-Time Delivery · Already inside Leonardo DRS