Additive Manufacturing and Maritime Spare Parts: Benefits and Obstacles for the End-Users

Abstract

3D printing or additive manufacturing (AM) (in the industrial context) is an innovative, as opposed to subtractive, technology, bringing new opportunities and benefits to the spare part supply chain (SPSC). The aim of this work is to capture the views of the stakeholders at the end of the chain, extruding factors that will benefit the end-user and the factors that are likely to be an obstacle, by employing the questionnaire method. Company objectives regarding spares (cost reductions, improvement of services, space reduction) have been prioritized differently by the stakeholders. The most important barriers according to the participants are the quality assurance of the spare parts made by the new technology followed by the know-how and skills of staff. Other views such as suitable parts are suggested. The practical value of this work, in addition to assessing the readiness of the industry, is that it provides guidance for the successful implementation of AM in the maritime industry.

Impact of additive manufacturing on maritime transportation: a review

“…Studies that incorporate the two key terms “AM (or 3DP)” and “maritime industry” were focused on exploring the potential of AM technology in supplying spare parts to the maritime industry rather than the future of the world trade network (Jha, 2016; Junghans et al. , 2021; Kostidi and Nikitakos, 2017; Kostidi et al. , 2021; Sanchez-Gonzalez et al.…”

“…Another study identified the limited effectiveness of 3DP for spare part industries under the conditions of high-demand and multi-item scenarios wherein printing is performed in-house (Arbabian and Wagner, 2020). Other studies explored the potential of 3DP technology in maritime spare part manufacturing (Kostidi and Nikitakos, 2017;Kostidi et al, 2021;Tas ¸and S ¸ener, 2019;Vujovic et al, 2018). Impact on global trade Globalization is the process of integrating national economies into a global economic system (Feenstra, 1998).…”

“…Nevertheless, the existing literature on the impact of AM on the maritime transport industry is limited. Studies that incorporate the two key terms "AM (or 3DP)" and "maritime industry" were focused on Additive manufacturing exploring the potential of AM technology in supplying spare parts to the maritime industry rather than the future of the world trade network (Jha, 2016;Junghans et al, 2021;Kostidi and Nikitakos, 2017;Kostidi et al, 2021;Sanchez-Gonzalez et al, 2019;Tas ¸and S ¸ener, 2019;Vishnukumar et al, 2021;Vujovic et al, 2018). As for the automobile and aircraft industries, AM technology has the potential to transform the industry's operation and introduce a new approach to manufacture the required spare parts (Cunningham and Marro, 2014;Kunovjanek et al, 2022).…”

Additive Manufacturing of Ti-Alloys for Aerospace, Naval and Offshore Applications

“…The benefits from this approach can improve operational efficiency in areas of spare parts and tooling. However, there are some technical concerns regarding the static environment that those AM techniques require for quality of deposited or printed material (Strickland [2016], Kostidi et al [2021]).…”

Influence of 3D printing properties on relative dielectric constant in PLA and ABS materials

“…Benefits and barriers for end users of spare parts printing are discussed in Ref. [ 3 ]. 3D-printing of spare parts is considered in the training of marine engineers [ 4 ].…”