Image: Aaron Sneed during laboratory work supporting pilot deployments of TITAN-AI, focused on controlled, compliant pharmaceutical manufacturing | LinkedIn
Aaron Sneed spent years leading complex defense programs before founding Defense Operations & Engineering Solutions (DOES) in 2022. Now headquartered on Florida’s Space Coast, the company is focused on strengthening domestic production through disciplined, compliant manufacturing systems. DOES’s flagship product, TITAN-AI, is a manufacturing platform developed to support the secure production of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) and Essential Medicines. After extensive engineering and validation work, the platform moved into pilot deployment in 2025.
In this interview, Sneed reflects on what made this year pivotal and shares how he sees reshoring efforts evolving as the work moves from strategy to implementation.
Image: A pharmaceutical manufacturing line illustrating the digital thread behind TITAN-AI | DOES
Q: What prompted you to leave defense and launch DOES?
Sneed: Over time, I saw the same vulnerability repeat itself. We were building advanced aircraft and secure systems, but the supply chains supporting them lacked resilience. Because I had worked across engineering, manufacturing, program leadership, and compliance, I could see how handoffs and blind spots created structural risk. Eventually, I stopped asking how to manage that risk and started asking why we kept tolerating it. That realization made me want to build a company that addressed it directly.
Image: Sneed at the PMI Space Coast Chapter dinner | LinkedIn
Q: Why start with pharmaceutical manufacturing?
Sneed: Because it’s critical and under-produced in the United States. We depend heavily on imported APIs. That becomes a national security issue during supply shocks or crises. I saw an opportunity to apply the same discipline we use in defense programs to the production of essential drugs. If we get that right, we could apply the same approach to other sectors that face similar constraints.
Q: What were the most important lessons from 2025?
Sneed: First, we had to focus. There are many problems to solve in defense and manufacturing, but trying to tackle them all at once doesn’t work. We picked one mission: to secure, compliant production of APIs and Essential Medicines, and committed to proving it could work. That gave us clarity.
Second, we had to deliver under pressure. Talking about resilience is easy. Building systems that perform under regulatory scrutiny is not. We built TITAN-AI so every input, adjustment, and output is tracked and auditable. That level of traceability earned us trust.
Third, credibility came from execution, not vision. In this space, people want working systems, not slide decks. We invested in real engineering, real documentation, and operational learnings from pilot deployments.
Image: Sneed admiring a Grumman A-6 Intruder up close | LinkedIn
Image: Aaron Sneed reviewing production data with operators during a regulated manufacturing workflow | LinkedIn
Q: What makes TITAN-AI different on the ground?
Sneed: It combines process control, secure data handling, and full traceability. It monitors production equipment and parameters in real time and stores that data in a way that supports cGMP workflows and FDA-ready auditability (including 21 CFR Part 11 expectations where applicable). It also gives operators clear insight into system performance so they can act early, not just react after the fact. That kind of visibility helps avoid failures and supports inspections without manual rework.
In practice, TITAN-AI is designed to reduce validation timelines, lower deviation risk, reduce the time spent compiling audit evidence, increase manufacturing throughput, reduce scrap, improve quality, and lower overall production costs by giving operators and quality teams real-time, traceable insight into how processes behave before issues become failures, depending on process and deployment context.
It achieves this by integrating environmental data, equipment parameters, process KPIs, and quality data into a secure digital thread—linking sources such as PAT and historian data, batch records, and quality events—and applying risk-tiered, explainable analytics that support operator-in-the-loop decisions and maintain audit-ready traceability and data integrity.
Image: A comparison of traditional manufacturing workflows and TITAN-AI–enabled, digitally integrated production | DOES
Q: Why base DOES in Florida’s Space Coast?
Sneed: The technical talent here is exceptional. People have worked on rockets, aircraft, and satellites. They understand precision. At the same time, the region is looking to grow its role in advanced manufacturing. That gave us a chance to contribute to something bigger than just our company.
We also wanted to prove that serious industrial capability can grow in places that haven’t traditionally been seen as tech hubs. Florida has the people and the infrastructure. Our job is to turn that into long-term capability.
Q: Who are your key partners as you scale?
Sneed: We are working with manufacturing firms, healthcare providers, and national security stakeholders to expand deployment of TITAN-AI. The goal is to create repeatable, compliant production capacity in places that need both supply security and good jobs. DOES is building TITAN-AI as a deployable platform that can be licensed into regulated manufacturing environments, with implementation support where needed.
We also collaborate with colleges and technical schools to prepare the workforce. It is not enough to install new technology. People have to be trained to use it safely and effectively. We treat that as essential, not secondary.
Q: What changes do you expect in 2026?
Sneed: I expect three major shifts.
First, digital engineering and Model-Based Systems Engineering will have to show real results. These tools are only valuable if they link design, production, and sustainment in measurable ways, such as cycle time, deviations/defects, audit effort, and sustainment readiness. Otherwise, people will stop funding them.
Second, reshoring will move upstream. We’re no longer just talking about assembling finished products. The conversation is shifting toward inputs such as APIs, semiconductors, and high-power electronics. That’s where capacity really matters.
Third, compliance will no longer be a bolt-on. Systems that cannot prove what happened during production will not be accepted. That means auditability, data integrity, and control need to be built in from day one.
Q: Do you think the national conversation about manufacturing is changing?
Image: Sneed at the lug and Play NeoCityFL Selection Day 2025 | LinkedIn
Sneed: It is. The conversation has moved from “should we reshore?” to “how do we make it work?” That’s a good shift.
There is also growing recognition that we have to include more people and places. You can’t rebuild American industry by relying on the same few regions or companies. You need to bring in new operators, new entrepreneurs, and new communities. That creates strength, not dilution.
Final Thoughts
Aaron Sneed’s move from big defense to building a manufacturing company from the ground up reflects a more profound shift in industrial strategy. He’s not trying to chase trends. He’s trying to build infrastructure: systems that hold up under pressure, meet regulatory standards, and create value at scale.
In 2025, DOES moved from concept to pilot deployments of TITAN-AI. The platform is live in pilot deployments, producing operational data and demonstrating that secure, compliant pharmaceutical manufacturing workflows can be supported reliably in the United States.
Looking ahead, DOES is betting on Florida’s Space Coast as more than a launchpad. The goal is to make it a hub for advanced manufacturing, starting with pharmaceuticals and expanding into critical hardware.
Sneed is not aiming for a quick exit. He’s building for the long term. That means turning one county’s success story into a national pattern, one factory, one operator, and one system at a time.
Connect with Aaron Sneed on LinkedIn to learn more about DOES, TITAN-AI, and his work to strengthen domestic manufacturing.
About the Author
Jessie Kim is a technology and policy writer focused on the intersection of innovation, national security, and industrial strategy. With a background in advanced manufacturing and a passion for reshoring narratives, she covers founders and companies reshaping America’s critical infrastructure. Her work has appeared in publications on tech, defense, and economic development.
