The ‘Maritime 3D Printing Show Area’ creates for the first time a stage to present the innovative production technology, that will “forever change the global flow of products and revolutionise shipping in many aspects”, says the show organiser.
Massive time savings, reduced construction and material costs, as well as significant weight reductions are just some of the benefits of 3D printing, whose potential ranges from just-in-time parts supply to the manufacturing of entire ships.
In addition to the project partner Maritimes Cluster Norddeutschland (MCN), experts from Rolf Lenk, Gefertec, MMG, Treo, SLM Solutions and others will answer trade visitors’ questions.
The production of ships’ propellers has already been shown feasible by Rotterdam’s RAMLab, using wire-arc additive manufacturing (WAAM), with this effort supported by Autodesk software, while Australia’s AML Technologies recently claimed a world-first with its Lloyd’s Register-accredited WAAM operation.
And in In April 2018, Technical Research Centre of Finland, VTT succeeded in 3D-printing a smart metal shaft using a brand new overall process management chain: 3D printing, sensor technology, wireless data transfer and condition monitoring all came in the same package. The new manufacturing methods will, it says, hopefully enable the creation of new business models and provide a competitive edge in developing artificial intelligence.
Finish company Wärtsilä reports that it is already using 3D-printing. Rosario Sommonte, manager, strategic purchasing at Wärtsilä Trieste, says the rapid development of 3D metal printing opens new opportunities for te company.
“We are now starting our journey with 3D metal printing of spare parts. The first 3D-printed materials are in production and we will soon deliver them to the market,” she is reported as saying in a July article.
