David Preiss is the founder and CEO of Variable Machines, a start-up developing programmable tooling for the composites manufacturing industry and beyond. He holds a master’s degree from MIT, where his research focused on precision machine design and laser machining diamond rotors for use in nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Before that, David worked for 5 years developing next-generation digital fabrication tools at companies, including Formlabs and ShopBot Tools. David is passionate about developing robotics and automation tools that will shape the future of domestic manufacturing and enable a more resilient, adaptable, and distributed manufacturing ecosystem.
Represented Organization
Variable Machines
Key Innovation
Variable Machines is developing a low-cost, programmable mold system that replaces single-use composite tooling with a digitally reconfigurable surface formed by an array of precision actuators. Conventional tooling remains one of manufacturing’s greatest bottlenecks. It’s slow, expensive, and wasteful, particularly in high-mix, low-volume industries such as aerospace and maritime. Our actuator architecture delivers the accuracy and service life of a conventional tool at a fraction of the cost and time, which enables rapid reconfiguration between geometries without fabricating new tools. This approach dramatically reduces the time, cost, and material waste associated with conventional tooling, transforming how advanced composite parts are fabricated. By leveraging ORNL’s resources in digital manufacturing, metrology, and advanced composites, this project will establish reconfigurable tooling as foundational infrastructure for agile, low-carbon domestic manufacturing and will stir innovation in industries essential to our transition to electrification.
ORNL Principal Investigator
- Alex Roschli - R&D Staff, System Automation and Monitoring Research, Manufacturing Science Division, Energy Science and Technology Directorate