Solving Navy Manufacturing Challenges

SCRA Applied R&D operates and manages a Center of Excellence for the Office of Naval Research in support of the Navy’s ongoing effort to identify, develop and deploy advanced manufacturing technologies that will reduce the cost and time to build and repair Navy ships. The Center for Naval Shipbuilding Technology (CNST) draws on SCRA Applied R&D’s broad experience in leading government, industry and academic collaborations to extend the benefits of shipbuilding advancements across the shipbuilding enterprise. To maximize effectiveness, SCRA Applied R&D established CNST as an agile, lean organization that employs various innovative approaches to address the diverse manufacturing challenges facing naval ship construction.

Discovering New Solutions

Many of the challenges facing the shipbuilding industry are unlike those of any other industry and often require novel solutions. SCRA Applied R&D tackles these unique issues by bringing the best providers to the team, regardless of their primary industry. For instance, one shipbuilder realized they often spent dozens of labor hours relocating and connecting heavy welding machines for small welding jobs. SCRA Applied R&D formed a team that included a global leader in welding equipment technology to design and build a portable welding machine. Cooperation between the technology provider and the shipyard will produce a machine that drastically reduces hours spent using cranes and riggers to relocate heavy machines. CNST maintains an “On Demand Resource Network” of providers from industry and academia who are called in for instances just like this.

Applying Existing Technologies to Shipbuilding Applications

Often, technologies already exist that have the potential to resolve similar shipbuilding problems, but they’ve never been applied in heavy industry. As an example, shipbuilders spend millions of dollars annually to correct distortion caused by the welding process. In response to a similar need in the automobile and other heavy industries, software designers have developed packages that use finite element analysis to predict welding-induced distortion. These software packages enable welding engineers to vary welding parameters and minimize the resulting distortion. SCRA Applied R&D-managed teams are working to extend this technology to shipbuilding. Although the materials and specific applications differ, the science and engineering behind the technology are the same. Whenever possible, SCRA Applied R&D teams capitalize on successful R&D efforts from other industries and extend them to resolve shipbuilding challenges.

Rapid Deployment, Multiple Beneficiaries

Just as SCRA Applied R&D expands the use of existing technologies, we continually strive to make the most of newly developed techniques. Technologies developed and implemented at one participant’s facilities are being leveraged by other organizations to impact the broadest share of the industry, thereby, significantly and positively impacting the Navy’s return on investment. Project results are effectively communicated across the industry through existing collaborations, teaming arrangements, internet technologies and at conferences and symposia. The CNST model for selecting and executing projects has been so successful that the Office of Naval Research is expanding its use to Centers of Excellence for other manufacturing technologies.

Expanding the Use of Digital Radiography

Shipbuilders are increasingly concerned over the current methods for radiographic weld inspection. Critical welds in the hulls of ships and submarines are x-rayed to assure their integrity, but traditional x-ray methods are labor intensive, expose operators to radiation and the film development process produces hazardous chemicals. Since images must be retained for the life of the vessel, enormous storage costs are incurred simply for maintaining film archives. To resolve these issues, an SCRA Applied R&D-managed team is working to extend a technology used by the medical community to shipbuilding. The system that a dentist uses to capture and transfer dental x-rays will soon enable shipbuilders to inspect welds and store them in a digital format.
To learn more about CNST, go to: http://www.cnst.us.

“SCRA Applied R&D’s industry focused approach to operating the Center for Naval Shipbuilding Technology is innovative, effective and efficient and provides an excellent organizational model for ManTech Centers of Excellence.” - John Carney, Director, Navy Manufacturing Technology Program