Control Technology of Redmond, Washington, are experts in precise motion control of aerospace equipment and tooling, in addition to being a woman-owned, small business.
In the Pacific Northwest’s aerospace industry, massive airplane parts are built and moved among Boeing-owned facilities. To move those parts in and out, control systems open the doors of the world’s largest facility and its counterpart locations — some 90 feet wide, 60 feet tall, and all motorized. These systems also support the wings during construction. Control Technology, with the tagline “Turning your automation concepts into reality,” develops engineered systems for factory automation, facilities, infrastructure, test equipment, and build-to-print projects.
Started by Vern Braly in 1990, the business is small by design. Braly said they take on high-tech, interesting projects with their 10 employees, comprising engineers and technicians. “While the team is small, we work on large technical projects that are critical to our customers’ success. The majority of our engineers have master’s degrees in electrical or mechanical engineering, 15-30 years of aerospace engineering experience, and deep domain expertise in machine motion control.” Braly himself holds two master’s degrees, one in electrical engineering and one in business management.
Some important projects have included automation systems at the Target Center in Minneapolis that lift and retract a five-million-pound floor that can shift between ice hockey and basketball applications. They also recently worked on a seismic reinforcement project at Boeing to ensure that the “lifts” that hold the wings in place remain secure during an active earthquake.
Most of their systems include a Human-Machine Interface (HMI) and a customer-designed software system that allows the customer to control the systems with the touch of a button. Steven Lee, a 12-year veteran of the company, is a controls engineer with a background in materials science and engineering. Lee said, “We design and build automated solutions. We aim to help our clients achieve their goals through motion controls of large structures. But as engineers, we are problem solvers.”
Through a synergistic relationship with two other companies, Control Technology partners on aerospace and defense projects — consulting engineers at KPFF work on infrastructure projects of all varieties, according to Dan Hartford, principal engineer. He said the company, comprising 1,600 employees nationwide, works on Boeing infrastructure projects and space launch complexes. Another collaborator is Steel-Fab, whose President, Rob Matter, shared that they work on tooling and fixtures for the aerospace industry, including work stands and transportation parts. He noted they also produce racks for transportation and assembly tooling, wing fixtures, and dollies for moving the 737 around the plant. Control Technology is a consulting partner with both companies.
Braly is still active in the business; he started it because, after working at other engineering firms, he saw both advantages and disadvantages. While Braly has had a long career, he observed, “I love engineering, and always have, and I love projects. Control Technology is involved in some incredibly exciting projects. I’ll probably always be around doing something.” He has moved out of direct management today, but is still advisory.
When customers approach Control Technology, Braly stated they talk logistics: what it needs to do, how it will work, when they want it, cost, how they want to control it, features, etc. “I think the thing that makes us unique and differentiates us from electrical and controls is that we tend to specialize in designing automated equipment and tooling. A car, boat, or airplane is a lot of mechanical, hydraulics, and airframes, but the heart of these systems is the electrical, control, and software.”
Dan Hartford, principal at KPFF Consulting Engineers, routinely partners with Control Technology. Hartford has personally worked with Braly since 1996, starting at a different company and returning to him when he moved to KPFF. The two companies work together on the MAPS tooling, a series of 14 articulated tools that control and set the wings’ articulation and contour.
Hartford explained, “The value we see in Control Tech is the intellectual property and talents that they bring as far as integrating heavy machinery with electronic control systems. It’s a unique specialty. There are not many control designers who can collaborate with us on heavy, movable structures. They have 10 engineers in their team working on heavy moveable structures. Vern’s team can collaborate with us on controlling these structures.”
Boeing is their longest-term customer, according to engineer Lee. “Boeing — that relationship existed before my time and is still ongoing. Back then, this company was involved in implementing the moving line, did bots, and other moving work stands. That project has helped us land other projects, including transporters. We’ve worked on most aspects of the airplane production process, including the moving work stands and automated test equipment, as well as systems that interface with their facilities. We’ve touched all of the main production areas of that enterprise.” Lee said the recent seismic work, in collaboration with KPFF, with the large-format doors at the Everett facility, has become a priority for Boeing. He said, per the Washington State Legislature, RCW 70.86.020, manufacturing facilities must meet standards of earthquake resistance. “The doors are so they can get airplanes in and out of buildings; it is a two-step door: they come up, fold in half, and then roll up.”
He stated they are working on a variety of projects for Boeing at any given time. They take on the smaller one-off projects as needed for Boeing or other customers. He also added that they are able to provide prototyping or engineering services before implementing a final solution. “You can throw an engineer on a project, and they can get stuff done; it is project-dependent, but one engineer can handle a big portion of any engineering task.” Regarding bidding, they review potential projects as a team: “We download files and distribute. Sometimes we sit down together and discuss; sometimes we review independently.”
Their facility in Redmond, Washington, is relatively small according to Braly — about 10,000-12,000 square feet. He noted that most of their work is done at customer facilities or involves using fabricators to produce their designs. Therefore, he said their most important facility assets are engineers, technicians, and leadership. The equipment at the Redmond facility involves designing, programming, and testing the electrical and control systems. Otherwise, he said a forklift is their main tool for moving control panels — everything else is hand and wiring tools.
Their fabrication partners include Steel-Fab and ABW Technologies, who, Braly said, “Have a lot of big tooling to join, weld, cut, and position — really large tooling — to lift an airplane wing, which is very big. When we deliver our system to a company like that, we work to get the control system set up and wired and test it there; we adjust and modify the software and invite the customer in and run through an acceptance test procedure and show them everything in the spec they asked for.” He shared that they also go over the Human Machine Interface (HMI) that they’ve programmed and ask for feedback and modifications. All final testing is completed at the customer’s location.
Matter with Steel-Fab has worked with Braly and team for 30 years. He remarked that they were paired up by Boeing. “They do controls; we do the fab.” He also said they conduct the testing and ensure everything functions properly. Matter added, “Those guys seem to know what they are doing. You get a good product from them. They are great people to work with, very knowledgeable.” Matter’s business has 48 employees in a 50,000-square-foot facility on five acres. “We build large tools for the aerospace industry,” he said, adding that they build to print. If the project includes electrical or controls work and software requirements, he sends it to Control Tech.
“We build a lot of big work stands with sliders that move in and out. Work stands will be near the airplane, with cranes on them. Control Tech does all the controls and software, often including a safety fixture that goes around the wing. Once it is set up at Boeing, Control Tech goes in, gets it operating, and performs the training and a functional test,” Matter said, adding that Braly and team go in and train on automation at the Boeing facilities.
While the word “control” might suggest singular ownership (i.e., one person owning or dominating a project), Control Technology is expert in tooling and machinery motion control systems and is highly collaborative with aerospace industry partners. The key takeaway is that their strength lies in both technical control and close partnership.
Braly concluded that their main focus has been on making the customer happy. He said they are a service-oriented business, “bidding and winning and performing on those applications.” He said it also comes down to having good management skills and the “business things” to make projects work — the ability to plan, organize, staff, and control the work. “Having the right individual skills and the right pieces of the business; having the right focus; and staying committed over time” have been the keys to success for Control Technology.
