Safer Work
Move people away from the most dangerous, repetitive welding.
ABOUT
About Catfish Vanguard
Connecting Digital Engineering to Physical Steel
Robots, motion systems and software for shipbuilding, structural steel and heavy fabrication, built and tested at our Rio Vista lab.
OUR STORY
Built From Heavy Steel Experience
Catfish Vanguard was founded by a structural engineer who spent his career designing offshore and industrial steel. The welding behind those structures is still done largely by hand, by a workforce that is hard to grow. We started the company to build robots and software that can handle high-mix structural work as it really arrives on the shop floor.
“Technology alone isn't enough, because engineering judgment comes from years of experience. The real opportunity is using AI to capture that knowledge and help people make better decisions on the factory floor.”
Van Vu
MISSION
Make Hard Work Safer and American Industry Stronger
Heavy structural welding is dangerous, skilled and hard to staff. We build machines that take on the heaviest, most repetitive work so people can focus on what only people can do.
Higher Productivity
Give every skilled hour more output.
Domestic Capacity
Help rebuild American manufacturing capacity.
WHAT WE BUILD
Robot, System and Software
HOW WE WORK
Principles
Engineering Honesty
Specifications are engineering targets until confirmed at acceptance. Nothing is claimed before it is validated.
Customer-Owned Data
Programs, weld records and machine data belong to the manufacturer.
Build in America
Design and build for American shipyards and fabricators.
Independent Safety
AI plans, deterministic control moves and an independent safety layer stops.
LEADERSHIP
Led by Heavy Steel Engineering
Van Vu
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Van Vu is the founder and chief executive officer of Catfish Vanguard. He is a structural engineer and engineering manager with nearly three decades in heavy steel design for offshore and industrial structures. He has led structural engineering and naval architecture at Valaris plc in Houston since 2008, where his work centers on offshore steel design, structural optimization and the teams that deliver safe, fit-for-purpose solutions. Earlier he founded and ran VN & Unique Solutions, a structural engineering consultancy; served as project engineer and structural engineering consultant to Noble Corporation; and began his career as a structural engineer at LeTourneau in Vicksburg, Mississippi. He studied at the University of Houston.
TALK TO US
Build With Us
Bring a part, a process and a production constraint.