A Greater Latrobe alumna has gained recognition for founding a 100% woman-owned company that is helping the Air Force update its maintenance process.
Milissa Pavlik, a member of the Class of 1993, has 25 years of experience in Department of Defense contracting. Drawing upon that background, she founded PavCon in 2012, began working with the Air Force three years later and landed a contract with the military branch in 2018.
She discussed her firm’s work during a virtual presentation at the recent Amazon Web Services Summit in Washington, D.C.
Pavlik explained PavCon, as a partner network member, uses the AWS government Cloud to work with the data of its Air Force client. “It’s cyber secure, like Fort Knox,” she said.
She said PavCon has been tasked with improving the Air Force’s predictive maintenance capabilities, working to update a system that had its origins in the World War II era and has involved manual entry of large amounts of data.
“The Air Force was contemplating, ‘How do we get ahead of unscheduled maintenance? How do we improve maintenance?’ ” she said.
Pavlik said the firm has responded by applying data analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence in its work to help the Air Force keep its assets ready to answer the call of duty.
“We’re making use of algorithms focused on aircraft,” she said.
PavCon has worked mostly on military projects but also has provided consulting services to clients in the entertainment and commercial distribution industries. While based in Pavlik’s hometown of Latrobe and having a brick-and-mortar location in Pittsburgh, the company has expanded its presence to 25 states, she said.
Because most of its work is done remotely, Pavlik said the firm has experienced little impact from the covid-19 pandemic.
Pavlik, who is the president and CEO of PavCon, holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and a master’s degree in business leadership and ethics from Duquesne University.
PavCon is registered with the U.S. Small Business Administration and is a recipient of Women Business Enterprise National Council certification.