Korall, HP, and partners: Secure remote 3D printing of replacement parts for the energy industry

The oil and gas industry has been testing additive manufacturing for years, but mostly in pilot projects. Now a scalable scenario is emerging: Korall Engineering, HP, Assembrix, and Sparely have implemented a series of secure remote print jobs in which valve handwheels for ships and offshore installations were additively manufactured. The goal is to produce certified spare parts on demand close to where they are needed, instead of procuring and storing them in the traditional way.

Korall is a Norwegian design and engineering company specializing in parameterized spare parts families and digital warehouses for heavy industries. The team identifies critical components such as handwheels, models modular systems from them, and automates the derivation of variants. These data sets are then made available to certified manufacturing partners via Korall’s own Oktopus platform. Korall expects to produce several thousand 3D-printed parts per year for valve handwheels in the Norwegian market in the long term.

Technically, the solution relies on HP’s Multi Jet Fusion systems and various PA12 variants, including PA12 ESD and other types adapted for offshore use. Together with DNV and Norner, Korall is working to officially qualify these polymers as the first AM materials for the offshore sector. At the same time, the first qualified AM spare parts family for field use is being developed. Tests address long-term strength, chemical resistance, and aging, among other things. According to Korall, the CO₂ emissions of the handwheels can be reduced by more than 90 percent compared to steel variants, as less material is required and transport distances are shorter.

Assembrix integrates the printers into a secure data chain. Construction jobs are transmitted in encrypted form, approved centrally, and monitored in real time. This allows rights holders to retain control over geometries and process parameters. Sparely connects the digital parts to a network of qualified printing service providers and enables local production within a few days. Internal calculations by Korall show that the replacement time for a handwheel can be reduced from up to twelve months with traditional procurement processes to around one week.

Korall has refined its approach in programs. Now comes the industrial test: Starting at the end of 2025, around 1,000 polymer-based handwheels in various sizes will initially be used in onshore and offshore facilities. If the transition is successful, the model could be transferred to other component families – and gradually transform spare parts supply in the energy industry into digital, distributed workflows.