Global maritime industry group Wilhelmsen are looking at alternative ways to lower supply chain costs for maritime companies. The solution? Additive manufacturing.

Wilhelmsen has partnered with Ivaldi Group, a company using additive manufacturing and metal fabrication solutions to provide in-port parts on demand. This partnerships hopes to allow Wilhelmsen to reduce their supply chain costs, their environmental footprint, and service their customers more efficiently. Using existing infrastructure and new technology the two believe that the current supply chain can be revolutionised.

Challenges maritime industries face include extensive logistics, limited availability of parts and the need for marine parts to be customised and delivered efficiently. The advancements in 3D printing technology will allow for the production of parts from a diverse range of materials. Versatility and customisable design of parts all contribute to the attract prospect of working with additive manufacturing.

Other customers eager to avail of this innovative opportunity Wilhelmsen and Ivaldi Group are ready to deploy, are excited by the possibility that quality parts, on demand will have an overall lower cost. This is the primary incentive to subscribe to the project.

CEO of Ivaldi Group, Espen Sivertsen explains why this development has excited the maritime industry: ‘Using the Ivaldi Group system is already proving cost-effective. Instead of having to buy a new welding mask because of a broken clip, a new clip was printed for one-tenth of the price. It was also delivered within 24 hours as opposed to having to wait the 3-4 weeks it would otherwise take to ship to the customer.’