Additive manufacturing for the maritime industry

Header image: The collaboration will strengthen the additive manufacturing (AM) ecosystem for commercially viable maritime services globally.

Thyssenkrupp has announced its collaboration with Wilhelmsen, one of the largest maritime products and services provider in the world, to jointly develop Additive Manufacturing (AM)-enabled commercial solutions for the maritime industry.

Under the Memorandum of Agreement signed by both companies, thyssenkrupp and Wilhelmsen’s Marine Products division will collaborate on providing 3D-printed components for maritime vessels, leveraging on thyssenkrupp’s expertise in AM alongside Wilhelmsen’s maritime expertise and direct ongoing experience of developing 3D printing as a service for vessels.

The collaboration will also leverage on the capabilities of the recently inaugurated thyssenkrupp Tech Centre in Singapore and its Global Additive Manufacturing Tech Centre in Mulheim, which has been awarded the Approval of Manufacturer certificate by quality assurance and risk management firm, DNV GL. 

“This high-level certification, which allows us to supply metal 3D products for application in maritime and other industrial sectors, further cements our distinctive capabilities to design and fabricate metal parts and components utilising additive manufacturing,” commented thyssenkrupp.

“We are extremely excited with this new milestone for us in the arena of Additive Manufacturing,” said Jan Lueder, CEO of thyssenkrupp Asia Pacific. “After securing the world’s first certified facility for marine 3D printing, we are now partnering with one of the biggest shipping companies in the world to deliver our AM expertise to our marine customers across the globe.”

“Wilhelmsen is built on innovation, and our partnership with thyssenkrupp once again shows how we are leveraging technology to further elevate the maritime industry,” shared Kjell André Engen, Executive Vice President, Marine Products, Wilhelmsen. “AM offers a lot of advantages, and we can clearly demonstrate to our customers how they will benefit from on-demand manufacturing of spare parts.”

Joining the collaboration is start-up company Ivaldi Group, a technology partner partly owned by Wilhelmsen that utilises its platform to market and offer 3D products for the maritime industry. 

“Formalising this partnership here in Singapore is only natural, given the size of the maritime industry here and the vibrant innovation ecosystem which Singapore offers,” noted Lueder. “We look forward to introducing our deep engineering expertise and solutions to customers here in Asia Pacific and potentially the rest of the world to the wonders of AM for the marine industry.”