Category: Press Release

Cookeville, TN, December 2023 – On top of being one of the fastest growing and premier aerospace welded bellows companies, Flexial is expanding our onsite core competencies by launching a new product line.  We can now add formed bellows to our portfolio of products being fabricated at our site in Cookeville, TN. 

New space and equipment have been added, expanding our total footprint to over 50,000 square feet.  We are now in production on over 50 formed bellows part numbers for customers across the  automotive and industrial markets. 

Our plan is to be a one stop bellows solution across most markets. 

We are off to a fast start as we are also pleased to announce a new multiyear contract with one of the premier defense OEM companies utilizing formed bellows.  The agreement is for hardware production over the next 3-4 years.   

In addition, we are in the process of qualifying formed bellows hardware for several of the largest space companies.  Plans are to be adding more equipment, capability, and personnel over the next two years to continue to grow and diversify.

Flexial bellows will play a major role in maintaining the interior climate of the spacecraft. Continuing our partnership with a key player in the space market, we will supply two bellows assemblies for two unique applications within the spacecraft. The first bellows will be used in an accumulator that stores a coolant liquid, Galden. The accumulator will act as a thermal expansion device for the active thermal control system. The second bellows will be used in an accumulator that stores water for the craft sublimator. It will cool systems during launch and re-entry. Our business relationship with key industry partners allows us to remain on the forefront of space technology and continually provides our products with a manifest in space!

Flexial Corporation is happy to announce that it has been selected by the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s as the featured company in the monthly NASA SLS (Space Launch Systems) Highlights publication. Each month, NASA selects one aerospace industry partner who is part of the SLS development team and provides a highlight of their contribution to the program and the industry.

NASA’s Space Launch System is an advanced, heavy-lift launch vehicle which will provide an entirely new capability for science and human exploration beyond Earth’s orbit. The SLS will be NASA’s first exploration-class vehicle since the Saturn V took astronauts to the moon over 40 years ago. With its superior lift capability, the SLS will expand our reach to explore multiple, deep-space destinations including near-Earth asteroids, Lagrange points, the moon, and ultimately Mars.130-Metric-Ton Evolved Rocket DevelopmentThe massive 130-metric-ton-configuration will be the most capable, powerful launch vehicle in history. Towering a staggering 384 feet tall, it will provide 9.2 million pounds of thrust at liftoff and weigh 6.5 million pounds. It will be able to carry payloads weighing 286,000 pounds to orbit. This configuration will use the same core stage, with four RS-25 engines, as previous configurations.Upper Stage and J-2X EngineThe 130-metric-ton-SLS will include an upper stage to provide additional power needed to travel to deep space. The upper stage, built by Boeing, will share common attributes with the core stage such as its outer diameter, material composition, subsystem components and tooling to save cost and design time.

Developed by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne two J-2X engines will power the upper stage. The J-2X is a highly efficient and versatile rocket engine — the first liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen rocket engine to be developed in 40 years that will be certified to transport humans.Flexial’s J-2X Turbopump SealFor NASA’s Space Launch System, Flexial designs and builds the J-2X turbopump liftoff seal. This is a high-performance sealing technology to prevent leakage of hydrogen while the engine turbopump spins at up to 30,000 revolutions per minute; perhaps one of the most demanding face seal applications ever.

BOA aerospace is proud of its exceptional technology and proven capabilities in this challenging industry.

Started in 1994, Flexial was the world’s first welded bellows company to become a certified supplier listed in the International Aerospace Quality Group (IAQG) OASIS database, and has since risen to become the preferred supplier of accumulators, seals, sensors, and other products for today’s commercial and military aircraft and spacecraft.

Flexial Corporation is enjoying strong, strategically managed growth in its key markets – and it’s not by accident. Flexial brings the industry’s highest technology approach to product development and design, program management and process control, quality assurance, information systems, and precision manufacturing.

Download NASA – Space Launch Systems Monthly Highlights – January 2013 (PDF, 4.0 Mb)

Download printable press release (PDF, 0.2 Mb)

Hamilton Sundstrand Operations Director for Energy, Space, and Defense, and Hamilton’s Quality \ ACE Manager for Space Systems cited Flexial as being their first supplier to implement

On Thursday, May 05, 2011, Mr. Frank Guimond, Hamilton Sundstrand Operations Director for Energy, Space, and Defense, and Mr. Gary Cronin, Hamilton’s Quality \ ACE Manager for Space Systems, visited Flexial Corporation’s Cookeville, TN facility to present the organization with an award recognizing Flexial’s successful implementation of the Ito Quality Clinic.

Yuzuru Ito was the founder of Achieving Competitive Excellence (ACE) and Ito University, established by United Technologies Corporation (UTC) as a material means to create a network to educate and promote Quality, Lean, and Positive Thinking Philosophies. The Quality Clinic is one of the major tool sets leveraged to drive continuous improvement and Total Quality Management. Flexial’s commitment to implementation is a testament not only to their competitive excellence, but to their commitment to customer satisfaction. Led by Flexial engineers Seth Johnson, Jamie Terral, and Jarrod Goodwin, Flexial executed the Ito Quality Clinic process exceptionally well, effectively integrating it into its own systems underpinned by Flexial’s web-based Business Management System, FlexNet. According to Mr. Guimond of Hamilton Sundstrand, Flexial was their division’s first supplier to achieve the award.

Hamilton Sundstrand Space Systems International, a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp., is a world leader in designing and building space-qualified equipment. Hamilton Sundstrand Space Systems has not only supplied the Apollo lunar space suit portable life support system and the Lunar Module environmental control system, but also produces the space suit for NASA space walks and has a number of mission critical subsystems on the Space Shuttle and International Space Station (ISS).

Flexial Corporation, is a key supplier to Hamilton Sundstrand, providing highly engineered edge-welded metal bellows, accumulators, reservoirs, and other products for fluid management applications onboard numerous space systems, including the International Space Station.