Singapore chooses Wilhelmsen Consortium for Ship Parts 3D Printing Project

Additive manufacturing offers clear benefits in performance, lead times and enables more resilient distributed supply chains.

Singapore chooses Wilhelmsen Consortium for Ship Parts 3D Printing Project

Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. announced today that the Wilhelmsen consortium, of which Kawasaki is a part, has been selected by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) in Singapore for participation in a Joint Industry Project (JIP) to continue to unlock the value of 3D printing technology for the maritime industry.

The Wilhelmsen-led JIP is one of the 11 projects awarded by MPA under its Maritime Innovation and Technology (MINT) Fund, sharing a total of S$1.625 million in co-funding, where the Wilhelmsen consortium will continue to develop its marine specific, additive manufacturing offering.

The consortium is led by Wilhelmsen, a leading global maritime company, and includes marine equipment manufacturers Kawasaki, Wärtsila and Hamworthy Pumps, class society DNV GL, technology partners thyssenkrupp, Ivaldi Group and Tytus3D, and a number of forward-leaning end users already part of Wilhelmsen’s 3D printing customer program: OSM, Gearbulk, Thome Group, Berge Bulk, Wilhelmsen Ship Management, BW Group, Executive Group, Carnival Maritime and Yinson.

Through the "Business Idea Challenge"* in-house idea submission framework, Kawasaki is pursuing a new approach that involves digitalizing spare ship parts and using 3D printers at ports to print said parts. This will make it possible to enhance spare parts availability in times of emergency and maximize safe ship operating times. While taking part in tests to determine compatibility and suitability of 3D-printed parts in actual usage, Kawasaki hopes to develop new business models.

Atsushi Ogura, Project Leader, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, said:

“Through the JIP, Kawasaki will establish technologies for fabricating spare ship parts by additive manufacturing and contribute to enhancing spare parts availability in times of emergency and maximize safe ship operating times. We’ll accelerate the feasibility study of additive manufacturing for spare ship parts.”

Hussain Quraishi, Strategic Innovation Manager, Wärtsila, said:

“For the right parts, additive manufacturing offers clear benefits in performance, lead times and enables more resilient distributed supply chains.”

Jerald Yun, CEO of Tytus3D System Inc, said:

“Today’s economy demand companies to leap beyond themselves and make a significant paradigm shift in their thinking and how they operate. On-demand manufacturing, enabled with additive manufacturing, allows successful companies to do just that. It is a perfect solution for the unique demands of maritime spare parts market.”

Espen Sivertsen, CEO of Ivaldi, said:

“This is an important milestone for maritime adoption of digital distribution. Up until now, certification of critical parts has been very costly and time-consuming because each part has to cover new ground. By working together on key part categories, we aim to remove some of the remaining barriers for mass adoption.”

While taking part in tests to determine compatibility and suitability of 3D-printed parts in actual usage, Kawasaki hopes to develop new business models by pursuing a new approach that involves digitalizing spare ship parts and using 3D printers at ports to print said parts to enhance spare parts availability in times of emergency and maximize safe ship operating times.