When it comes to advanced manufacturing, Frank Beafore has been around the block more than once.

Beafore, 58, has joined SelectTech GeoSpatial as executive director, responsible for overseeing the company’s Advanced Manufacturing Facility (AMF) at Springfield-Beckley Airport.

Beafore, of Bellbrook, is perhaps best known locally as the vice president of operations for UltraCell, which makes fuel cells at the company’s plant near Dayton International Airport.

In an interview Wednesday, July 29, Beafore noted that his career recently has involved starting operations.

That’s what he’ll do at SelectTech — “standing up” a renovated, 17,000-square-foot hangar.

“I’m literally on the flight line,” Beafore said. “In fact, I can sit in the office in the morning and watch the F-16s take off.”

Today, the company is working on laying out the plant, which will build “Distinguished Visitor pallets” — secure communication suites that can be rolled on (and off) airplanes, letting government officials stay on the job during long flights.

The AMF will focus on electronic systems, avionics, sensors, hardware fabrications, frames and more, Beafore said.

DV pallets are aimed squarely at the government — the Air Force is Centerville-based SelectTech Services Corp.’s biggest customer — but Beafore hinted that some possible product lines may have applicability for civilian markets, in the world of secure communication. Beafore declined to say more, noting that he has been at his new job only three days.

Today, there are two people at the AMF, who are working with about six others at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Beafore foresees a day when the AMF will have about 100 employees, but he declined to say when that might be.

“That’s a too-early stage question,” he said.

Added Beafore, “I think the key, from what I can see right now, is that we have some very special relations with DoD (Department of Defense) people. We understand how they operate. We understand how they think.”

He recognizes that the federal government will be cost-conscious in years ahead, particularly in the defense realm. That doesn’t necessarily worry SelectTech, he said.

“I don’t like to use the term ‘low-cost,’” Beafore said. “I like to use the term ‘high-value.’”

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2390 or tgnau@DaytonDailyNews.com.