How might we create a secure and trusted repository of digital files that will facilitate efficient, on-demand and quality assured printing of marine parts?
Key Focus Area:
Smart Maritime Services and Logistics
Having a standardised repository of digital files reduces the complexity and duplication associated with silo digital storages by shipowners, printing/service bureaus and other stakeholders. Standardisation of digital files can help the industry achieve economies of scale and consistency in the accuracy of printed marine parts.
However, the quality of a marine part printed through additive manufacturing (AM) depends on several factors, starting from having an accurate 3D scanned digital file of the part, to ensuring that AM service bureaus following the correct practices in producing the AM parts.
Some of these factors currently still rely on human decision, for example, to determine if a 3D scanned data is a plane, curvature or point, its degree of angle etc. Technologies or tools leveraging the power of digitalisation provide potential to remove these variances.
There are still many challenges in implementing and driving adoption for a digital warehouse for industrial parts such as the ones required in the maritime industry.
The American Bureau of Shipping (ABS) is looking for an innovative solution that will increase the confidence in, and adoption of a digital warehouse so that marine parts can be printed efficiently on demand with assured quality. The solution should take into consideration the following:
Cybersecurity – prevention, recognition and alert on any unwanted alterations to digital files
Intellectual Property – transparency on the ownership of digital files, with clear terms of usage and/or amendments by other stakeholders
Usability – cost effective and accurate way of digitising and storing computer-aided design (CAD) data
Connectivity – wide access to printing/service bureaus and marine part files
Quality assurance – digital files produce the right final 3D printed parts independent of the AM facility/machine
