Ivaldi is excited to announce that, as part of a Joint Industry Project (JIP) with class authority DNV and maritime industrial leaders, we have taken part in developing industry standards that enable the maritime industry to leverage the benefits of on-demand additive manufacturing of spare parts. 

Overall, the JIP took two years to develop before the first standard was published. Since then, things have moved swiftly, with more production options available, parts being manufactured and implemented in operations, and additional partners certified as approved manufacturers. 

Design optimization, weight reduction in parts, and price decreases have been achieved. More specifically, 40% weight reduction, 25% cost savings, and lead time savings of 7 weeks have been identified on average for the parts investigated in the project.

“Broad industry collaboration is crucial in the development of standards and recommended practices intended to forward the use of additive manufacturing. By leveraging the knowledge and experience from companies with different perspectives, we ensure a practical outcome that also satisfy the quality demands”.  Ole-Bjørn Moe, senior AM project manager, DNV.

The challenges that traditional manufacturing methods represent vary across industries and geographies. Some long lead times for critical parts and components and minimum order quantity (MOQ) requirements result in high costs or production halts. Others share stories about having to replace entire systems instead of spare parts. For them, systems were easier to procure and sometimes even cheaper compared to individual parts. Another inefficiency in traditional manufacturing processes is the need to keep physical inventory. This represents extensive carry costs that could have been activated using on-demand manufacturing as an alternative.

Ivaldi’s vision is a global digital supply chain of spare parts where the right parts are manufactured locally on demand, saving time, costs, and carbon footprint while delivering safe and durable parts. A common standard that confirms the quality of parts, process, and players is essential, not only for Ivaldi’s vision to come true but for the maritime ecosystem who can now leverage the benefits that this new technology represents. Standards create a common language for the value chain and create a critical trust that eventually gives multiplied return on investment for the users. More and more parts are digitized and certified, and more and more companies order on demand and manufacture locally. For our planet, the significant gain is reduced carbon emissions, one of the significant benefits of on-demand manufacturing.

“We see the interest in AM growing, both in maritime and other industries. With the strong focus on carbon emissions that is required going forward, we expect the interest to grow. Sufficient growth is, however not possible without a common understanding of quality, which a standard provides”.  Ole-Bjørn Moe, senior AM project manager, DNV.

With joint standards and the Ivaldi software and services suite, maritime players can leverage available designs of certified parts, processes, and manufacturing partners to gain and leverage the advantages of on-demand manufacturing without substantial initial capital investment. Similarly, they can take advantage of new developments in materials and designs to optimize products and spare parts.

“Standards are the first step to wide-scale adoption of new technologies like additive manufacturing. We have chosen to contribute to standard development to focus requirements on practical practices that benefit the entire ecosystem. Additive manufacturing is still new in this industry and we’re excited to be part of programs like the DNV JIP setting the stage for manufacturers and users.” Anna D’Alessio director of engineering, Ivaldi.