A Dutch consortium, recently formed by 27 marine related companies, is going to explore the possibility of additive manufacturing of maritime spare parts.
The project is led by InnovationQuarters in cooperation with Havenbedrijf Rotterdam, RDM Makerspace and AEGIR-Marine. All 27 participating companies will contribute not only financially but also by sharing their expertise. The team has so far selected 4 out of 30 possible spare parts for 3D printing. Final testing, to see how the parts perform compared to conventionally manufactured ones, will take place this autumn. Eventually, the consortium is going to establish a database with spare parts for 3D printing.
Robert van Herwaarden, General Manager of AEGIR-Marine Production: “Innovation is one of our priorities and we were already exploring 3D printing for our business. Joining this consortium was, therefore, a natural thing to do. I found that the selection of the final 4 products was a learning process by itself. What can be 3D printed? When is it profitable and what are the benefits.”
At Rotterdam’s World Port Days, first results will be revealed, while the main findings of the project will be presented at the 3D printing conference in Rotterdam later this year.
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