Our Mission

At Craitor, we are working to revolutionize the DoD supply chain to enhance material readiness and warfighter capability.

We aspire to expand the edge manufacturing capabilities for the warfighter and de-risk additive manufacturing within the DoD and commercial markets.

Leadership

Eric Shnell / CEO

Eric is CEO and Co-Founder of Craitor. He holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, San Diego, where he researched robotics and additive manufacturing. Eric has been recognized as a Gordon Fellow for his work in engineering leadership with the UCSD and broader San Diego community.

Eric is the primary Systems Engineer and Lead Design Engineer for the FieldFab system and has spent over 2 years embedded with units from the USMC, US Army, US Navy, and USAF, deploying 3D printing capabilities in austere environments, printing mission-critical hardware in the field.

Dan Valdes / COO

Dan joined Craitor in 2020 as COO after retiring from the USMC after 21 years of service. During his service, Dan operated as a technical expert in communication maintenance and was a Communications Maintenance Chief during his tours in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Marine Corps Forces Central Command. After returning to the States, he put his knowledge of maintenance to use in the research and development of applications for Additive Manufacturing within the USMC.

Dan helped found the Additive Manufacturing Training Center at Camp Pendleton and personally developed the Additive Manufacturing Training Program that is currently used across the DoD and is recognized by the US Department of Labor. He has been a valuable contributor to the DoD Advanced Manufacturing ecosystem and has leveraged his expertise to deploy 3D printing capabilities where they are needed most.

Akhil Birlangi / CTO

Akhil Birlangi has a Masters in Electrical Engineering from the University of California, San Diego. He is CTO and Co-Founder of Craitor and is the Electrical Design Lead for FieldFab. Akhil has spent the last 4 years researching and developing 3D printing electronic hardware from military specification. This encompasses optimizing electronics for wet/dusty/humid conditions, driving PCB development, and designing and deploying ML/computer vision technologies.

Akhil has developed custom electrical hardware that allows Craitor to operate independently of other computer systems and stay operational in the harshest environments.