Intervening at the head office of Imabari Shipbuilding's Marugame Site presented an opportunity to reorganize the working environment of multiple parties involved in the construction of large tankers, formerly scattered across a vast industrial area of 0.88 km.
The US Navy is betting on 3D printing parts to speed up work on the fleet while also cutting costs after two wins last year, the service said recently. A Naval Sea Systems Command release said that additive manufacturing moved "from a promising capability to a warfighting capability in 2025." Two examples the Navy said were among the service's most significant achievements last year involved putting 3D-printed parts on its most in-demand and complex vessels.
The Navy is pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into an artificial intelligence system that it says has sped up key shipbuilding processes. In one case, the AI cut painstaking processes of submarine schedule planning - mapping out how the many pieces of construction fit together and making sure people, parts, and yard space are available at the right time - from many hours to only minutes.
Convincing workers to spend their days welding at a shipyard, when they could earn a similar amount of money working behind the counter of an air-conditioned Buc-ee's, is one of the biggest obstacles to reviving the country's lagging $37 billion shipbuilding industry. At least that's the theory of U.S. Navy Secretary John Phelan, who, during his confirmation hearing in February, said he was handed down a mandate of " shipbuilding, shipbuilding, shipbuilding " by President Donald Trump.
"The Solano Shipyard is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to restore America's maritime leadership, revitalize our county's shipbuilding heritage, and bring tens of thousands of good jobs to the area."
