Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore Chooses Wilhelmsen Consortium That Includes Kawasaki for Ship Parts 3D Printing Project

Tokyo, December 16, 2020 — 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.

Primary members of the Wilhelmsen consortium have made the following comments.

“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.”

Atsushi Ogura, Project Leader, Kawasaki Heavy Industries

“We are very excited and proud to have established a strong and end-to-end ecosystem of partners, bringing down the barriers for AM adoption in the maritime industry. Through the JIP and with the support of MPA, we look forward to unlocking the value of additive manufacturing with our consortium partners.”

Hakon Ellekjaer, Head of Venture, 3D Printing, Wilhelmsen

“For the right parts, additive manufacturing offers clear benefits in performance, lead times and enables more resilient distributed supply chains. We are very excited to be joining the Wilhelmsen consortium, and we see the JIP as a great opportunity to collaborate with key AM players in the marine ecosystem to print, assure, test, and install printed parts onboard vessels.”

Hussain Quraishi, Strategic Innovation Manager, Wärtsila

“Together with Wilhelmsen and the other partners, we are moving from theory to practice and showing that AM can be done in a quality assured and safe manner.”

Brice Le Gallo, Country Chair Singapore, DNV GL

“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. This consortium, led by world’s leading maritime company, Wilhelmsen, will provide a unique platform where participating companies can share ideas and leverage work across the entire maritime industry. Tytus3D is proud to be part of this great consortium and we’re eager to provide our value add to the team.”

Jerald Yun, CEO of Tytus3D System Inc

“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.”

Espen Sivertsen, CEO of Ivaldi

“This past year has been tumultuous in terms of global manufacturing logistics, as borders are closed and the flow of goods disrupted. Supply chain resilience has become, and will remain, a white-hot topic for years to come. Additive manufacturing is a key piece to solving the puzzle and MPA's JIP is a very good start to this effort.”

Kenlip Ong, Head of Additive Manufacturing, thyssenkrupp Innovations

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.

* "Business Idea Challenge" In-house Idea Recruiting Program
Business Idea Challenge was launched in April 2020 with the goals of further accelerating open innovation efforts and discovering and utilizing dormant ideas from Kawasaki personnel. This program is used to gather wide-ranging business idea submissions, not limited to existing product lines and business areas and in ways that utilize the skills and strengths of idea applicants and the company overall, in order to better adapt to rapidly changing market environments and customer needs. The program also promotes joint ventures with startups, large corporations and other companies as needed to create a diverse range of new products and business ventures. Rapid, short-term, repeated planning and testing operations are carried out using an agile approach that enables both efficient and fast creation of new value. Additionally, education and training in financial accounting, management strategy and other fields required for building business models are provided to idea submitters with the goal of fostering stronger human resources and thus enabling sustained growth for the company overall.

Related Link

11 Joint Industry Projects Awarded S$1.625 million to Drive Maritime Innovation：
(URL) https://www.mpa.gov.sg/web/portal/home/media-centre/news-releases/detail/5ebfc211-3696-4a28-b39e-7749485f6747