Creating Distributed Production in the Submarine Industrial Base

Conference Abstract: The ability of the Submarine Industrial Base (SIB) to deliver components and parts in the quantities needed, on time is critical to meeting production schedules when the Columbia and Virginia class programs enter the “1‐plus‐2” construction years in 2026. Additive manufacturing, which is not a mainstream manufacturing capability in the SIB today, offers an opportunity for adding significant production capacity to conventional manufacturing supply chains for these hard‐to‐source parts. As an enabling technology for digital manufacturing (i.e., distributed production), AM acts as a “force multiplier” to give the Navy a dedicated, agile and responsive capability to cut manufacturing lead‐times, surge production to meet aggressive timelines, reduce reliance on sole‐source supply points, and keep production of critical parts on schedule, on performance and on cost.
Austal USA Advanced Technologies is leading a consortium of partners at the U.S. Navy’s AM Center of Excellence (CoE) to create a pathway for adoption of AM in the SIB. This talk will provide an overview of the work being performed by the consortium, both at the CoE and in the submarine industrial base.