October 20, 2025 • 40 mins
In this episode of Inside IALR, host Caleb Ayers is joined by Ereina Avery (Austal USA), Jon Harrison (Phillips Corporation), and Jason Wells (IALR) for a deep dive into the Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence (AM CoE). Together, they explore how this unique public-private consortium is transforming the Navy’s supply chain by developing and deploying 3D-printed parts for ships and submarines. From powder bed fusion to wire arc deposition, the team breaks down the technologies, the challenges of scaling additive manufacturing and the mission-driven collaboration that makes it all possible.
Hear how the AM CoE has delivered critical parts in record time, created transferable technical data packages, and built a model for innovation that supports both the warfighter and the future of manufacturing.
The Institute for Advanced Learning and Research serves as a regional catalyst for economic transformation in Southern Virginia. Our services, programs and offerings are diverse, impactful and far reaching.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jon Harrison (00:00):
There's a big difference in my opinion of
whether you can print a partversus whether you can
manufacture it a part andinspect a part.
And that's the valueproposition of the COE in this
consortium.
Caleb Ayers (00:20):
Welcome to another episode of Inside IALR.
Thanks for being here today andthanks for joining us for our
first episode that we haverecorded virtually.
This is uh much more or muchdifferent than we normally do.
Normally we're all in personand together.
Now we are uh staring at eachother on our computer screens.
So we have three guests withus.
We have Ereina Avery, who's theprogram manager for the
(00:41):
Additive Manufacturing Center ofExcellence with Austel USA.
We have John Harrison, who'sthe president of Global Additive
for Phillips Corporation, andwe have Jason Wells, the
Executive Vice President forManufacturing Advancement here
at IALR.
So thank you guys for beinghere.
So we're here to talk about theAM CoE, the Additive
(01:01):
Manufacturing Center ofExcellence.
Um, I think some of ouraudience has probably heard
about this.
So we'll kind of do a briefoverview at the beginning, but
really want to get into some ofthe kind of the primary
technologies that we've beenusing, the primary uh lessons
that have been learned by thisuh very unique public-private
consortium over the past fewyears.
So I'll just kind of open it upto start whoever wants to give
(01:23):
the one-minute rundown of whatis the AM CoE, what is its
mission, and who is involved.
Ereina Avery (01:29):
So I'll take that one.
Uh the AM CoE was a programthat started a couple years ago
foundationally because of um thework that ILAR's doing with the
ATDM program.
Uh, we were able to get abuilding over there, the Center
for Manufacturing Advancement.
We have uh various partners, aconsortium model inside the
(01:50):
walls.
And the idea was that we wouldconvert parts that uh
traditionally are causing supplychain issues for castings and
be able to make them additively.
So uh we have a partnershipwith uh Phillips, who is doing
all of the design and additivemanufacturing in the bay, and we
have um the institute providingall of their metrology and
(02:12):
machining um experience.
We have the industrialinspection analysis, we call
them IIA.
Um they're doing all of thedestructive testing, NDT, and um
other types of Navy testingwithin the walls, and then some
other partners in the group umin order to make parts in
additive.
Caleb Ayers (02:29):
Awesome.
John or Jason, anything to tackonto that?
Jon Harrison (02:33):
I think Arena really nailed it.
We we do have a vision andmission statement for the COE,
and Arena described it, but wewant to be the go-to and the
thought and the tech thoughtleader and the technical
resource for the Navy as theyoperationalize, advance, and
additive manufacturing.
And I think bringing togetherthis unique consortium helps us
(02:55):
do that because every componentof the COE is important from you
know printing the part tofiguring out how to machine the
part, how to make sure thepart's good through NDT.
Uh all those components lead toa quicker uh supply chain that
can address some of the issuesthat the Navy's having in uh
(03:18):
their critical castings part.
But it also uh projects intoserial production.
And the goal is to come throughthese these technical
challenges quickly for the firsttime so that they can scale for
serial production later.
Jason Wells (03:32):
I guess I would uh just add, Caleb, that uh what's
really unique value propositionuh with this particular
consortium is the fact that wehave end-to-end capabilities
within the program.
Um so we're able to actually gofrom a traditionally like 2D
drawing, traditional partconcept, and then mature that
all the way through to afinished product and hit all the
(03:55):
steps and stages between.
So it really allows us tomature the technology through
the entire ecosystem that a partwould have to travel through in
order to go from concept to toactually being put into uh put
into production or put intoaction.
So um that's what really,really truly I think bring makes
(04:16):
this consortium uh unique.
And then also each partnerwithin that consortium has that
ability to really lean in hardon their area of expertise and
really bring that to the tablein a in a shared format.
So um there's a there's anoverarching goal also of
creating this one factory flowfrom a 2D drawing to a dynamic
(04:38):
part that's uh able to be putinto service at the end of this.
Caleb Ayers (04:42):
That's yeah, really cool.
And really cool to see, I mean,exactly what you're saying.
One, that it's all of thesedifferent organizations and
companies working together intothat end-to-end capability of,
you know, this isn't just it'snot just figuring out the 3D
printing part of it.
It's figuring out the wholeprocess from end to end, um,
which obviously is what you knowthe companies who are going to
be making these parts wouldneed.
(05:02):
So can you all talk about kindof the, and this is a very broad
question, so take this atwhatever direction you would
like, but kind of the evolutionof additive manufacturing and
how we got here to the pointthat the US Navy is trying to
implement this technology asmuch as it can within its own
fleet production andsustainment.
Jon Harrison (05:21):
Yeah, it's an interesting challenge.
I'll I'll take a crack at it.
Additive manufacturing showed alot of promise in a bunch of
industries.
And initially it was prototypework, and then it started
getting embraced by these uhthese OEMs that were trying to
make parts better or uh morelightweight.
(05:41):
So design challenges that goalong with traditional
manufacturing can be alleviatedthrough additive manufacturing.
But then it's it's applied tothis challenge where you have
casting issues, especially inlow-run, uh high value castings,
additive manufacturing canoffer uh speed to execution.
(06:03):
So a traditional casting um fora component might take 50 weeks
to get, and you might need toorder 200 of them.
And that's great for likeengine manufacturing when you
know you have a constantproduction line, but let's say
you needed one or you needed 10.
Additive manufacturing can canuh short fuse the production of
(06:26):
that that near net part to getit into the production line a
lot quicker, and it makes a lotmore sense in these high value
parts when you're having uh, youknow, for example, a submarine
waiting on one particularcomponent and you can make it a
lot quicker.
Jason Wells (06:42):
I would just echo what um John was saying in the
sense that you know this thisopens up um additional
opportunity.
Um there's always that dynamicin any kind of market, as he was
talking about, you know,between uh short run needs or
special tailored uh situationsum that are time constrained and
(07:05):
uh need a really expedited typeof lead time.
Um so additive brings a wholenother dimension in being able
to be respon responsive to toyou know the broader market
needs, you know, and and thatthat's a real opportunity for
the Navy to mobilize um whennecessary, when needed.
Caleb Ayers (07:26):
Can you guys kind of break down the main, I guess
the primary types of additivemanufacturing we're talking
about?
I know, I mean, 3D printing isobviously kind of the broader
word, but there's lots ofdifferent ways to do that.
Um, so kind of explainpowderbed, wire arc, and
friction stir.
I know it's correct that we'reworking with all of those,
(07:46):
right?
Jon Harrison (07:46):
Yeah, I think primarily we're working uh with
the most mature technologies outthere.
And um, Navy right now isfocused on powderbed fusion and
direct energy deposition.
And powderbed fusion basicallytakes um powder and scrapes it
over a build plate and thenburns uh a certain shape into it
(08:08):
and then lowers, scrapes somemore powder, so it produces a
part layer by layer.
Um, it allows for very complexparts to be made with internal
channels.
Uh, and quite frankly, is theone technology when you look at
metal uh part production throughadditive, it's it's the most
adopted technology because it'sbeen embraced by the aerospace
(08:29):
and space industry.
Direct energy deposition issort of like welding.
Uh, so you have a welding headthat's uniquely positioned
around a part to add materialrather than just weld two pieces
together.
So you basically are weldinglayer by layer into a unique
shape.
(08:50):
And the the Navy's primaryfocus right now is on wire arc
direct energy deposition.
Navy has a ton of experiencewith welding, so they're
leveraging that technology toproduce parts.
Now there are two differenttechnologies, and they they both
have um pluses and minuses, ifyou will.
I think uh powderbed fusion isreally good at intricate parts
(09:13):
and probably the most maturetechnology out there that's been
used for many, many years.
Direct energy deposition allowsyou to make bigger parts, um,
maybe with less complexity, butvery large parts, um, you know,
thousand-pound parts, uh, verylarge um valve bodies or or uh
near net shapes, if you will.
(09:35):
But you know, both of themoffer and present challenges
which in the COE we areaddressing with this unique
consortium.
So machining a powder bed partis a lot different than
machining a direct energydeposition part uh and requires
special considerations fortooling, uh, feeds and speeds,
(09:58):
and that's where uh IALR comesin with uh some unique solutions
on how to machine each one ofthem that we can pass along the
industry for for scale.
They also require somedifferent uh NDT uh inspection
uh approaches that uh our otherpartners, IIA, are are uh are
(10:21):
addressing and looking at so wecan make sure that the parts
we're producing are good becausea lot of the times these parts
go into critical areas.
And you know, the I guess whenyou look at the entire
consortium, Austel is bringingall these unique things together
and managing and making surethat you know the parts printed
on time and we're connectingwith the machining person and
(10:43):
the team over there to make surethat they understand what they
have to do and and coordinatingshipments to heat treat, all
this stuff has to be puttogether, and and Austel has the
responsibility of of hurtingthe cats, if you will, to make
sure that at the end of the daywe're beating the traditional
supply chain.
Caleb Ayers (11:02):
No, I appreciate that that explanation of those
different methods, um, and kindof yeah, that breakdown that you
know DED is more um sort oflike welding and and better for
the larger parts and the powderbed fusion, you know, better for
those more intricate parts.
Can you all kind of talk aboutthe process of deciding what
(11:24):
parts get sent to the AM CoE tofor you all to develop these 3D,
basically these recipes for howto 3D print these parts?
Uh, what is that process like?
How is how is the Navyselecting what parts you all
receive?
Ereina Avery (11:37):
Yeah, so I'm primarily the person who um has
that responsibility.
Um we are funded by the DERPAMIB and um they work with all
the different um shipyards thatneed repair, with electric boat,
with the uh Newport News, allthe people who need parts.
And um, we are getting floodedwith requests um to support.
And so the the projects arevery wide.
(12:01):
Um, a lot of them, the emergentneeds are for, like John said,
a submarine that is coming in uhand it's gonna start install in
April, and they send us thedrawings and they say, hey, this
material is the same assomething you might have at the
AM CoE.
Can you make that part anadditive?
And so uh the Phillips team andthe um institute team and our
(12:23):
IA team will all gathertogether, including Austel as
well, and we will look at thatpart and see if it is something
that is doable.
And a lot of times it is,especially if it's a casting
replacement.
Um, and going back to what youyou were saying about castings,
you know, there's only so manyuh foundries that are in uh in
our disposal.
And so that's kind of like thevalue of additive.
(12:45):
And we also have some networksof suppliers that might not have
exactly what we have, they havesomething um supplemental.
So we have an evaluationprocess where we gather all the
consortium partners together, welook at the design, and we'll
see if we have that capability.
And a lot of times we do.
Um, there are some newer partsthat are coming because we have
(13:06):
been able to solve a lot ofchallenges and get installed
parts.
Um, we're starting to get intohow to partner with um valve
manufacturers who can assembleand do that further testing to
get it on the ships.
Um, but that is primarily howit goes.
We've got a website, uh, NavyDigitalC.com.
There's a support request form,and you can just anybody in the
(13:29):
Navy can uh fill in a request,send us the files, and we will
take a look and evaluate.
Jon Harrison (13:35):
This is the coolest part of it, and this is
why the consortium is so cool.
I've only been a part of a fewof these, and arena, you you're
a part of many more than I am.
But these experts that are onthe line get in the room of this
consortium and someone puts apart and says, Hey, we need a
part by this date.
Can we make it?
And the print guys are get inthere, and the guys and the
(13:57):
girls will start looking andsay, All right, we can print it
on a powderbed fusion.
Um, and you know, we'd orientit this way.
And the ILR team will go, hey,but if we do that, I'm not sure
if I can machine this feature.
Can you add 30,000ths ofmaterial on the left side of it
so I have something to clamp on?
And the designers will be like,Yeah, we can put more material
(14:18):
here, and then the NDT guys willgo, like, all right, well, how
am I going to inspect this?
You know, like, am I gonna beable to see in this?
All these, all these uh expertscome together to solve this
problem and bring their ownexpertise and collectively find
the right solution so it'smanufacturable.
There's a big difference, in myopinion, of whether you can
(14:40):
print a part versus whether youcan manufacture it apart and
inspect a part.
And that's the valueproposition of the COE in this
consortium.
Jason Wells (14:48):
That's a great point that John makes.
You know, we're um that's whythe that's so unique what we do
here of uh taking the wholeecosystem into consideration.
Because I think one of thechallenges you would have is
sure, you can go out and you canbuy 3D technology and you can
figure out how to printsomething, but then what do you
do with it?
And how do you get it to thatfinal destination?
(15:10):
Um, and you know, that havingthis collective here really
helps us uh define that.
And again, as as was mentionedby both Irina and John, you
know, that's all part of ofreally being a force multiplier
to the supply chain, trying tohelp them mobilize and and push
out and you know, taking allthose lessons learned and
(15:31):
combining them for to theadvantage of making parts
quickly and getting past allthat initial engineering and
first article bumps and bruises.
Caleb Ayers (15:41):
Jason, you just mentioned the supply chain.
So I know the original missionof the AM CoE was very much to
make recipes or the technicaldata packages for to then be
able to pass off to the supplychain so that these companies
would have these recipes andcould could reference those and
how to create these parts withadditive manufacturing, with
(16:01):
that being sort of the baselinethat you know there might be
tweaks they could make andthings like that, but that that
would be the baseline, thisworks.
I know, and we've I mean we hadthe guys from the the maritime
industrial base on the podcastseveral months ago, and they
they told those stories ofpretty quickly transition to not
just making recipes, but oh, weneed this part and as soon as
you are able to print it for us.
(16:22):
Um so talk about kind of thatthose dual missions of yes, you
all are making the recipes forother companies to then be able
to manufacture those parts whenthey're needed, but also
basically getting the deadlineof, hey, we need this part as
soon as you are possibly able toget it so that the ship can go
back in the water.
Ereina Avery (16:40):
I don't know that they're separate missions.
I just feel like it's anevolved um mission.
So originally we were doingthese technical data packages
for new construction, which haslead time.
And so that immediate needisn't need, but isn't there, but
we knew we would need to makeat least one part and prove that
we could make it end-to-end anddo the testing.
(17:00):
Um, but then there were theseneeds uh at the waterfront that
they need a part right now.
And so our TDPs have um evolvedto a place where we actually
have proven that the part canactually make it to the boat.
And we have all this additionalfeedback from the Navy saying,
hey, we're gonna need you guysto do welding verification,
(17:22):
we're gonna need you guys toprovide qualification
documentation, you need to markthem a certain way, they need to
be uh surface finished acertain way, they need to be
hydro tested a certain way.
And uh, so it's grown into uhprobably what we originally
thought was like a simple thing.
Um, and that is the supplychain challenge is it is not
easy to get a part onto the boatwithout understanding the full
(17:46):
requirements.
And uh, like both have said,like that's the value
proposition, is is we aregetting all of that stuff
together.
So you're getting a morecomplete, what they call a
ready-for-install part um outthere instead of just an AM
preform.
Jon Harrison (18:30):
I'll tell a story and I'll I'll try to make it
transferable to something youmight see in your own house
rather than get into specificsof a military part.
But this one ship was having aproblem with one of their garage
door openers and they couldn'tget their vehicles out of it.
So they looked in their supplychain, and the only way to get
(18:51):
the part that was broken was tobuy the whole garage door opener
frame and springs and all that.
But all they needed was thislittle bracket that held the
sensor that made sure that thegarage door opener was open or
closed.
And this boat needed to go outin 30 days.
Um, so the COE stepped in andwas able to reverse engineer and
(19:14):
design a new bracket for thissensor, print it, machine it,
inspect it, and ship it within19 days.
And it's something that theVice Chief of Naval Operations
carries around this this bracketas an example of how fast the
COE can can move to respond tothese sustainment style parts.
(19:35):
Now, if that same bracket wasrequested today, they actually
have used our technical datapackage to create an NSN number
in their supply chain.
The the procurement system canorder just that specific bracket
now, and you know, the COE canproduce it in five days.
We did the first one in 19days, which we thought was
(19:56):
quick, but now because we'vegone through all that
engineering and figured out howto print it and provided that
recipe to someone, you canproduce it in five days or less.
Caleb Ayers (20:05):
Yeah, no, that's that's such a cool story of kind
of the yeah, I guess the impactthat the COE is having.
And obviously that was not theexpected impact when you all
started this, that there wouldbe those rapid turnaround parts.
But clearly that has become ahuge part of what you guys do is
making those sustainment partsto keep these ships online, uh,
(20:26):
to keep these, make sure theseships and submarines can get
back in onto their mission as asquickly as possible.
Jon Harrison (20:32):
I think we have a bunch of dedicated folks down
there had by this mission.
And, you know, on that story,that part uh request came over
December 19th.
Uh in the US, that's rightaround Christmas time when we're
all trying to find time withour families, and the print was
done on Christmas Eve.
Members of this this consortiumwere were at our facility on
(20:55):
Christmas Eve, working thispart, machining this part,
shipping this part out to makesure we're on the mission.
Jason Wells (21:01):
As Irena pointed out, you know, the you know,
even though this is a differentdimension to the original scope
of the TDPs, as you mentioned,it's incredibly beneficial to
us.
So, you know, it we get gain atremendous amount of lessons
learned on each time we push outon these requests.
And that feeds back into, youknow, the the science that we're
(21:25):
gathering and the data thatwe're gathering.
It also, you know, reallyaccelerates the whole process of
the impact of the COE as well.
So um I don't think thatthey're uh exclusive of each
other because they definitelyfeed each other, as Irena
pointed out.
Caleb Ayers (21:41):
And just as a follow-up question to all of
this, I mean, how manysustainment parts have we
produced that have actually goneon to be put in into action in
ships and submarines?
And then how many of thesetechnical data packages have
been created to date?
And that's a that's a veryspecific question.
So if we don't know the exactanswer, that's fine.
Ereina Avery (22:00):
No, I do know the exact answer.
So we have uh 22 installedright now.
Um we've got um they're ondestroyers for surface fleet.
We've got a couple on Ohio andVirginia class uh submarines.
Uh we actually have one on anaircraft carrier.
Um, and then we have um aspecific project right now with
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, wherewe will have another 10 by the
(22:23):
end of the year.
Um, and then we also work withuh Surface Fleet.
So we have a bunch of differentparts, and um just all of the
work that we've been doing overthe past few years has gotten to
us to a point where we are verygood at figuring out how to
make a part um that iscompatible to the original
design uh using its current umtechnical uh requirements.
(22:45):
Um so as we do that, we areable to network with suppliers.
We will be able to give thoseTDPs.
Everything we do at the COEgets a TDP.
Um and as we get those thelearnings about how to do
markings or how to get them ontothe boat or anything like that,
we we have that available um toyou know the next person who
will be producing those parts.
Caleb Ayers (23:07):
What is in a TDP?
So you know, you guys createthis this technical data
package, this um essentially therecipe for how to create this
part.
What exactly is in there?
What does that look like forthe suppliers who then get that?
Jon Harrison (23:20):
There's a bunch of instructions.
Um, you know, some of them arerelated to how to print the part
or best suggestions on how toprint the part because there is
some uniqueness in eachtechnology on on how to print
the part.
There's also instructions on onuh some best practices on how
to fixture the part orapproaches that could be taken
(23:40):
to accelerate that.
There's specifics about thematerials and the testing
requirements that go along withthat.
Um and it's a very standardizedform that is is now universal
across the supply chain thatthat we're plugging information
on to try to reduce the amountof non-recurring engineering
that can be can be done.
(24:01):
Because I think if you give itthe same challenge to two
different people, yeah, they canboth figure it out.
They're gonna come up withslightly different approaches,
um, but they're also in thatquoting effort and that bidding
effort, they're going to have toput engineering hours into that
and charge for thoseengineering hours.
And if we've already done that,then speed the execution and
(24:24):
eventually cost goes down.
Ereina Avery (24:26):
Yeah, I actually have a good news story on that.
Um we recently gave a coupleTDPs to a few suppliers that are
in our network.
And um, I didn't get chargedany NRE uh for these, by the
way.
Um, and so we were able toquickly get quotes, they're on
the printers.
There's about eight differentsuppliers working on parts, and
(24:46):
um, I was very happy to learnthat they were using different
machines than the ones we have.
Um, so a couple of them areusing the EOS M300s, which are a
little bit smaller but machinebigger or laser.
Uh we have a couple that arebeing printed on a Nikon uh
SLM280s with two lasers, um, andthen some different DED
(25:07):
machines.
Um and it was one of theconcerns early in the program
that the things that we did inin-house would be very machine
specific.
And we assured them that thatwould not be the case.
Um, and it's proven now thatthat is absolutely not the case,
that the work that we do at theCOE is transferable to the
supply base.
So I was very encouraged bythat.
(25:29):
Um, and um, so I just think itjust helps the Navy mission to
scale additive uh even more thatwe are able to transfer our
technical data packages out toindustry.
Caleb Ayers (25:40):
And Jason, can you talk a little bit about so this
the additive manufacturingcenter of excellence is hosted
within the Center forManufacturing Advancement here
at IALR.
Jason, can you talk a littlebit about um just kind of
briefly what is the CMA and kindof how that creates the
ecosystem where all of this workcan happen?
Jason Wells (25:59):
Yeah, certainly.
So the original vision of theCMA was to uh set up the uh a
center that would uh basicallyfocus on optimization efforts.
And what I mean by that is takecurrent and relevant existing
technologies, uh become verygood practitioners at applying
(26:19):
those technologies, and thenhelping to push those
technologies out into industryin order to help uh expedite the
adoption of those uhtechnologies, minimize the
disruption uh in order for ourindustries to stay competitive
and to stay very robust and moveout, move forward and progress.
(26:41):
That was the original vision.
Um, as Irena mentioned earlyon, as we were standing that up
and communicating that vision,at the same time in the
background, we had uh engagementwith the Navy around the
accelerated training and defensemanufacturing program, uh the
ATDM program, which is ourworkforce training program.
And when they learned aboutwhat our vision was for the CMA,
(27:03):
it aligned perfectly with theirconcept or their motive of
wanting to uh bring in newtechnology in the form of
additive manufacturing intotheir supply chain.
So fortunately, we had createda facility that was intended to
host or house multiple bays thatwould allow for different
(27:25):
technologies to be brought intothe space and then uh explored.
Um, it aligned fairly well.
And luckily, we had the squarefootage available that uh from
the very beginning, uh, beforethe facility was actually uh
able to be occupied and had a COattached to it, we had already
engaged in an agreement with umthe Navy and the various
(27:48):
partners.
Austel is the prime, Phillipsuh leading the additive efforts
to start to bring technologiesinto those various bays that we
had created in the CMA.
And that started the initialconcept and structure of the
CMA.
Um in the two and a half yearsor so that it's been here, uh it
(28:10):
started out with a bunch ofempty bays, and and now I'm I'm
happy to report that we arepretty much at full occupancy in
this building.
So uh we are definitely filledup and and looking for
opportunities to expand outfurther on the campus here.
But um, I can say that we'rewe're very honored and grateful
to host it here on campus.
Um we uh also are uh we createsome connective tissue between
(28:35):
our workforce training programfor the Navy, which is the ATDM
program, and the COE.
And because they coexist on thesame campus next to each other,
(29:04):
that's a really unique valueproposition for the future
workforce that we're training,um, as well as the future
technologies that we'reexploring, you know, on the COE
side.
So uh some really goodsynergies there.
Um and it's it's been fantasticbecause it teaches our team
also how to collaborate andcooperate and coexist with other
(29:27):
organizations within the COEspace.
Um, so it's been a fantasticexperience thus far.
Jon Harrison (29:33):
There were some really smart Navy leaders,
whether it was Admiral Papano orMatt Sermon or Whitney Jones,
that recognized something uniqueabout Danville and something
that we had seen from ourpartnership with uh the Danville
Community College and the IALRteam to locate this AM Center of
Excellence adjacent to theAccelerated Training for Defense
(29:55):
Manufacturing Program.
Why I say that is workforce isvery critical, and uh we've had
the good fortune of uh havingsome interns that were graduates
of the ATDM program work withinour base on some of the
additive equipment, and what wefind uh the graduates um are
(30:15):
motivated graduates, uh theyhave good work ethics, they
understand um how to communicateand how to learn.
And we we've been fortunateenough to hire a few of them.
I know that every partner inthe consortium has hired at
least one ATDM graduate for forthe efforts that we're doing
down there, and and uh it's atestament to that program and
(30:38):
the foresight of the Navy tolocate the COE right next to the
ATDM program.
Jason Wells (30:44):
No, I appreciate you uh recognizing that, John,
and we definitely appreciate uhall the partners.
Hiring our students for sure,but um it it you know, like they
say, it takes a village.
So, you know, everybody who's apartner in the COE is very much
has a hand and an influence inour workforce training program
and ATDM as well.
(31:05):
So again, going back to theearlier statement of everybody
bringing a a level of expertiseto the table, that's uh also a
huge advantage to have thoseexperts to tap into on
curriculum and training anddifferent things like that.
And we learn things in the COEthat really benefit us in then
(31:25):
pushing that into curriculum aswe're discovering things that we
feel are gonna be important forthese students to succeed when
they get out into the workspace.
Caleb Ayers (31:33):
ATDM is the coolest.
And I the more the more that Ithink about that program, that's
that's my conclusion.
Um I think what you guys aredoing in the AM CoE is also the
coolest.
We'll put those right here.
Jason Wells (31:45):
The COE is super cool.
We just got to be a little morequiet about it.
Sure.
Caleb Ayers (31:50):
So just for the last few minutes before we go,
what have been wait, becauseJason, you said it's been two
two and a half years roughlysince so what what have been
kind of the biggest lessonslearned, challenges faced, um,
those those types of things forthe COE during that time,
whether that be somethingtechnical, whether that be
(32:10):
something in learning how towork together as a as a group of
companies.
I mean, what have been some ofthe kind of the biggest lessons
learned takeaways over theselast two and a half years?
Jon Harrison (32:20):
I think you identified, Caleb, challenges of
five companies coming togetherwith different cultures and
different approaches.
But you know, my takeaway isthat um we're all had by this
mission to help the Navy supportuh production of submarines and
(32:42):
in-service parts and componentsacross the marine industrial
base.
And whenever there's conflict,we always remember that our real
mission is to support thatwarfighter and provide them the
best technology, uh, equipmentthat's in good working condition
to make sure that they havewhat they need to complete their
(33:06):
mission.
And as long as we continue touh remember that that's the most
important thing we do, theconflicts that we have seem very
minor and we work through them.
Jason Wells (33:16):
That's an excellent point, John.
I mean, I think you know, whenyou have uh a mission and when
you know you're doing the rightthings for the right reasons,
um, it's a lot easier to createthat, you know, collaborative
environment and set aside, youknow, any kind of um selfish
wants and needs because you knowthe mission is much bigger than
(33:37):
any of us.
And you know, that's that's areal kind of North Star that we
can all point towards for sure.
Ereina Avery (33:43):
You know, back to the whole force side of the the
Navy in in starting this missiontwo and a half years ago, they
knew that it would not be easy,right?
They needed an an incubationspace with the right partners to
start it.
And it's a small example oflike the the global mission of
this, right?
Is supporting the warfighter.
(34:04):
Um, and so we test it in thissmall little environment, and we
you realize the breadth of it,the amount of people that it
takes, right?
We didn't even talk about theamount of welding engineers and
material scientists that are inthe background trying to figure
out like whether this is anequivalent technology.
They're they're out there, theyare feeding us all this
information, they're asking usto make test samples.
(34:24):
You know, of course we'remaking parts too, but we're also
um making a lot of differentshapes and coupons and things
that have to go through testsbecause it's not just the part.
Everybody on the waterfront andeverybody in new construction,
they need to know that this isnot going to endanger all of the
people who are on board theseships and boats.
And so there is a much largereffort in order to make this um
(34:47):
scale and it is working.
Um, but it is a challenge, andit's not easy for it to have
happened um with all these smallgroups working outside of
Danville.
And so I think that that islike the takeaway here is that
all the work that we're doing,it might be on a small scale,
but it is going to reach out andsupport the U.S.
Navy.
Jason Wells (35:08):
I think uh one of the things Irina just said
that's really important is umthis isn't an RD effort.
You know, this isn't a scienceproject.
Uh, this isn't, you know, ustrying to, you know, chase
moonshots or reinvent things.
You know, in a traditional RDenvironment where you may take
years to mature something, wedon't really have that luxury.
(35:30):
So um we're very much flyingthe plane, we're building the
plane as we're flying it, Iguess is the best way to put it.
Um, but it's it's this is youknow, we're operationalizing,
you know, the technologyimmediately and then trying to
push it out into industry inreal time.
So um that requires our teamshere, which are phenomenally
(35:54):
talented and phenomenallydedicated, as John pointed out,
the the whole venture over aChristmas break of getting a
part out.
But um it's just thatoperationalizing technology on
behalf of our of the Navy andthe nation, it really um takes a
special group of people.
So um, and then capturing, youknow, I'll go back to what I
(36:15):
said earlier about having thatend-to-end capability.
I can't express how importantthat is um because there, you
you know, as John indicatedearlier, you can print something
and think, okay, this looksgreat.
It looks like it's supposed tolook, and then you go and
machine it and it's absolutemission failure.
You know, so it's that havingthat whole ecosystem to take
into account so that you don'tonly get partway down the road.
(36:38):
We're getting to the wholedestination.
So again, we can operationalizethis technology.
Caleb, I'm reminded of a quote.
Jon Harrison (36:45):
Uh, I think, Jason, you were in this meeting.
Um, Arena, you might have beenthere as well.
Rear Admiral Papano is in witha bunch of the engineers from
the Navy, and we're in the room,and we're trying to figure out
how to come through proving thatthis additive part is as good
as a casting part.
And there were some skeptics inthe room saying, No, we can't
(37:07):
do this.
Uh, well, we'd have to do this,and it would take this much
longer.
And you could see AdmiralPapano's frustration, and
finally he slams his hand on thedesk and says, damn it, don't
tell me no.
Tell me how.
And, you know, that quote nowhangs in the COE as a reminder
that we're there to help findsolutions to problems, find ways
(37:31):
around roadblocks, um, and nottell people no, figure out a way
to get the how.
Caleb Ayers (37:38):
That's awesome.
What a great, what a greatmission to not tell anyone no,
to just tell them how.
I like that.
On that note, I think that isall the questions that I have.
But I really appreciate youguys being here today.
I think this is such a um sucha cool project, I guess it would
would be the word for it, thatthat you guys are involved in to
um ensure as you said, it's allabout it's all about the
(38:00):
warfighter.
It's all about making sure thatthese Navy personnel have
adequate ships and submarinesthat will keep them safe,
protect them, and and um remainin use as long as they should.
So um just such a cool, such acool project that you guys are
involved in.
But is there anything else thatthat you would want to add or
think it's important that peopleknow before we go?
Jason Wells (38:18):
I'd like to add one thing, Caleb, is just to
emphasize the talent that's inthis uh building.
Um, you know, there's folkslike uh Jared Springer and Phil
Burton and uh Jeremiah Williams,and you know, the list goes on
and on of folks that just whenyou combine the actual years of
(38:40):
hands-on experience.
I'm not talking in labs, butI'm talking working uh in the
trades and in the variousdisciplines that they're in.
It is hundreds of years ofexperience um that are being
brought together and applied inthis particular effort.
And um, it's just realinspiring to work around people
(39:01):
like that that are bringing uhall the a lifetime of experience
to the table to try to putbehind this mission and help
with this mission.
So um just really want toemphasize that because uh it's
just a real honor to to have myoffice here in this building and
be able to interact with thosefolks on a regular basis.
Jon Harrison (39:23):
Appreciate the opportunity to to speak with
you, Caleb, and uh alwaysappreciate the partnership of
the the group of speakers onthis on this call.
Caleb Ayers (39:31):
Well, thank you guys for being here.
We appreciate it.
Jon Harrison (39:33):
Thank you.
Caleb Ayers (39:34):
Thank you, Caleb.
Appreciate it.
There's a big difference in my opinion of
whether you can print a partversus whether you can
manufacture it a part andinspect a part.
And that's the valueproposition of the COE in this
consortium.
Caleb Ayers (00:20):
Welcome to another episode of Inside IALR.
Thanks for being here today andthanks for joining us for our
first episode that we haverecorded virtually.
This is uh much more or muchdifferent than we normally do.
Normally we're all in personand together.
Now we are uh staring at eachother on our computer screens.
So we have three guests withus.
We have Ereina Avery, who's theprogram manager for the
(00:41):
Additive Manufacturing Center ofExcellence with Austel USA.
We have John Harrison, who'sthe president of Global Additive
for Phillips Corporation, andwe have Jason Wells, the
Executive Vice President forManufacturing Advancement here
at IALR.
So thank you guys for beinghere.
So we're here to talk about theAM CoE, the Additive
(01:01):
Manufacturing Center ofExcellence.
Um, I think some of ouraudience has probably heard
about this.
So we'll kind of do a briefoverview at the beginning, but
really want to get into some ofthe kind of the primary
technologies that we've beenusing, the primary uh lessons
that have been learned by thisuh very unique public-private
consortium over the past fewyears.
So I'll just kind of open it upto start whoever wants to give
(01:23):
the one-minute rundown of whatis the AM CoE, what is its
mission, and who is involved.
Ereina Avery (01:29):
So I'll take that one.
Uh the AM CoE was a programthat started a couple years ago
foundationally because of um thework that ILAR's doing with the
ATDM program.
Uh, we were able to get abuilding over there, the Center
for Manufacturing Advancement.
We have uh various partners, aconsortium model inside the
(01:50):
walls.
And the idea was that we wouldconvert parts that uh
traditionally are causing supplychain issues for castings and
be able to make them additively.
So uh we have a partnershipwith uh Phillips, who is doing
all of the design and additivemanufacturing in the bay, and we
have um the institute providingall of their metrology and
(02:12):
machining um experience.
We have the industrialinspection analysis, we call
them IIA.
Um they're doing all of thedestructive testing, NDT, and um
other types of Navy testingwithin the walls, and then some
other partners in the group umin order to make parts in
additive.
Caleb Ayers (02:29):
Awesome.
John or Jason, anything to tackonto that?
Jon Harrison (02:33):
I think Arena really nailed it.
We we do have a vision andmission statement for the COE,
and Arena described it, but wewant to be the go-to and the
thought and the tech thoughtleader and the technical
resource for the Navy as theyoperationalize, advance, and
additive manufacturing.
And I think bringing togetherthis unique consortium helps us
(02:55):
do that because every componentof the COE is important from you
know printing the part tofiguring out how to machine the
part, how to make sure thepart's good through NDT.
Uh all those components lead toa quicker uh supply chain that
can address some of the issuesthat the Navy's having in uh
(03:18):
their critical castings part.
But it also uh projects intoserial production.
And the goal is to come throughthese these technical
challenges quickly for the firsttime so that they can scale for
serial production later.
Jason Wells (03:32):
I guess I would uh just add, Caleb, that uh what's
really unique value propositionuh with this particular
consortium is the fact that wehave end-to-end capabilities
within the program.
Um so we're able to actually gofrom a traditionally like 2D
drawing, traditional partconcept, and then mature that
all the way through to afinished product and hit all the
(03:55):
steps and stages between.
So it really allows us tomature the technology through
the entire ecosystem that a partwould have to travel through in
order to go from concept to toactually being put into uh put
into production or put intoaction.
So um that's what really,really truly I think bring makes
(04:16):
this consortium uh unique.
And then also each partnerwithin that consortium has that
ability to really lean in hardon their area of expertise and
really bring that to the tablein a in a shared format.
So um there's a there's anoverarching goal also of
creating this one factory flowfrom a 2D drawing to a dynamic
(04:38):
part that's uh able to be putinto service at the end of this.
Caleb Ayers (04:42):
That's yeah, really cool.
And really cool to see, I mean,exactly what you're saying.
One, that it's all of thesedifferent organizations and
companies working together intothat end-to-end capability of,
you know, this isn't just it'snot just figuring out the 3D
printing part of it.
It's figuring out the wholeprocess from end to end, um,
which obviously is what you knowthe companies who are going to
be making these parts wouldneed.
(05:02):
So can you all talk about kindof the, and this is a very broad
question, so take this atwhatever direction you would
like, but kind of the evolutionof additive manufacturing and
how we got here to the pointthat the US Navy is trying to
implement this technology asmuch as it can within its own
fleet production andsustainment.
Jon Harrison (05:21):
Yeah, it's an interesting challenge.
I'll I'll take a crack at it.
Additive manufacturing showed alot of promise in a bunch of
industries.
And initially it was prototypework, and then it started
getting embraced by these uhthese OEMs that were trying to
make parts better or uh morelightweight.
(05:41):
So design challenges that goalong with traditional
manufacturing can be alleviatedthrough additive manufacturing.
But then it's it's applied tothis challenge where you have
casting issues, especially inlow-run, uh high value castings,
additive manufacturing canoffer uh speed to execution.
(06:03):
So a traditional casting um fora component might take 50 weeks
to get, and you might need toorder 200 of them.
And that's great for likeengine manufacturing when you
know you have a constantproduction line, but let's say
you needed one or you needed 10.
Additive manufacturing can canuh short fuse the production of
(06:26):
that that near net part to getit into the production line a
lot quicker, and it makes a lotmore sense in these high value
parts when you're having uh, youknow, for example, a submarine
waiting on one particularcomponent and you can make it a
lot quicker.
Jason Wells (06:42):
I would just echo what um John was saying in the
sense that you know this thisopens up um additional
opportunity.
Um there's always that dynamicin any kind of market, as he was
talking about, you know,between uh short run needs or
special tailored uh situationsum that are time constrained and
(07:05):
uh need a really expedited typeof lead time.
Um so additive brings a wholenother dimension in being able
to be respon responsive to toyou know the broader market
needs, you know, and and thatthat's a real opportunity for
the Navy to mobilize um whennecessary, when needed.
Caleb Ayers (07:26):
Can you guys kind of break down the main, I guess
the primary types of additivemanufacturing we're talking
about?
I know, I mean, 3D printing isobviously kind of the broader
word, but there's lots ofdifferent ways to do that.
Um, so kind of explainpowderbed, wire arc, and
friction stir.
I know it's correct that we'reworking with all of those,
(07:46):
right?
Jon Harrison (07:46):
Yeah, I think primarily we're working uh with
the most mature technologies outthere.
And um, Navy right now isfocused on powderbed fusion and
direct energy deposition.
And powderbed fusion basicallytakes um powder and scrapes it
over a build plate and thenburns uh a certain shape into it
(08:08):
and then lowers, scrapes somemore powder, so it produces a
part layer by layer.
Um, it allows for very complexparts to be made with internal
channels.
Uh, and quite frankly, is theone technology when you look at
metal uh part production throughadditive, it's it's the most
adopted technology because it'sbeen embraced by the aerospace
(08:29):
and space industry.
Direct energy deposition issort of like welding.
Uh, so you have a welding headthat's uniquely positioned
around a part to add materialrather than just weld two pieces
together.
So you basically are weldinglayer by layer into a unique
shape.
(08:50):
And the the Navy's primaryfocus right now is on wire arc
direct energy deposition.
Navy has a ton of experiencewith welding, so they're
leveraging that technology toproduce parts.
Now there are two differenttechnologies, and they they both
have um pluses and minuses, ifyou will.
I think uh powderbed fusion isreally good at intricate parts
(09:13):
and probably the most maturetechnology out there that's been
used for many, many years.
Direct energy deposition allowsyou to make bigger parts, um,
maybe with less complexity, butvery large parts, um, you know,
thousand-pound parts, uh, verylarge um valve bodies or or uh
near net shapes, if you will.
(09:35):
But you know, both of themoffer and present challenges
which in the COE we areaddressing with this unique
consortium.
So machining a powder bed partis a lot different than
machining a direct energydeposition part uh and requires
special considerations fortooling, uh, feeds and speeds,
(09:58):
and that's where uh IALR comesin with uh some unique solutions
on how to machine each one ofthem that we can pass along the
industry for for scale.
They also require somedifferent uh NDT uh inspection
uh approaches that uh our otherpartners, IIA, are are uh are
(10:21):
addressing and looking at so wecan make sure that the parts
we're producing are good becausea lot of the times these parts
go into critical areas.
And you know, the I guess whenyou look at the entire
consortium, Austel is bringingall these unique things together
and managing and making surethat you know the parts printed
on time and we're connectingwith the machining person and
(10:43):
the team over there to make surethat they understand what they
have to do and and coordinatingshipments to heat treat, all
this stuff has to be puttogether, and and Austel has the
responsibility of of hurtingthe cats, if you will, to make
sure that at the end of the daywe're beating the traditional
supply chain.
Caleb Ayers (11:02):
No, I appreciate that that explanation of those
different methods, um, and kindof yeah, that breakdown that you
know DED is more um sort oflike welding and and better for
the larger parts and the powderbed fusion, you know, better for
those more intricate parts.
Can you all kind of talk aboutthe process of deciding what
(11:24):
parts get sent to the AM CoE tofor you all to develop these 3D,
basically these recipes for howto 3D print these parts?
Uh, what is that process like?
How is how is the Navyselecting what parts you all
receive?
Ereina Avery (11:37):
Yeah, so I'm primarily the person who um has
that responsibility.
Um we are funded by the DERPAMIB and um they work with all
the different um shipyards thatneed repair, with electric boat,
with the uh Newport News, allthe people who need parts.
And um, we are getting floodedwith requests um to support.
And so the the projects arevery wide.
(12:01):
Um, a lot of them, the emergentneeds are for, like John said,
a submarine that is coming in uhand it's gonna start install in
April, and they send us thedrawings and they say, hey, this
material is the same assomething you might have at the
AM CoE.
Can you make that part anadditive?
And so uh the Phillips team andthe um institute team and our
(12:23):
IA team will all gathertogether, including Austel as
well, and we will look at thatpart and see if it is something
that is doable.
And a lot of times it is,especially if it's a casting
replacement.
Um, and going back to what youyou were saying about castings,
you know, there's only so manyuh foundries that are in uh in
our disposal.
And so that's kind of like thevalue of additive.
(12:45):
And we also have some networksof suppliers that might not have
exactly what we have, they havesomething um supplemental.
So we have an evaluationprocess where we gather all the
consortium partners together, welook at the design, and we'll
see if we have that capability.
And a lot of times we do.
Um, there are some newer partsthat are coming because we have
(13:06):
been able to solve a lot ofchallenges and get installed
parts.
Um, we're starting to get intohow to partner with um valve
manufacturers who can assembleand do that further testing to
get it on the ships.
Um, but that is primarily howit goes.
We've got a website, uh, NavyDigitalC.com.
There's a support request form,and you can just anybody in the
(13:29):
Navy can uh fill in a request,send us the files, and we will
take a look and evaluate.
Jon Harrison (13:35):
This is the coolest part of it, and this is
why the consortium is so cool.
I've only been a part of a fewof these, and arena, you you're
a part of many more than I am.
But these experts that are onthe line get in the room of this
consortium and someone puts apart and says, Hey, we need a
part by this date.
Can we make it?
And the print guys are get inthere, and the guys and the
(13:57):
girls will start looking andsay, All right, we can print it
on a powderbed fusion.
Um, and you know, we'd orientit this way.
And the ILR team will go, hey,but if we do that, I'm not sure
if I can machine this feature.
Can you add 30,000ths ofmaterial on the left side of it
so I have something to clamp on?
And the designers will be like,Yeah, we can put more material
(14:18):
here, and then the NDT guys willgo, like, all right, well, how
am I going to inspect this?
You know, like, am I gonna beable to see in this?
All these, all these uh expertscome together to solve this
problem and bring their ownexpertise and collectively find
the right solution so it'smanufacturable.
There's a big difference, in myopinion, of whether you can
(14:40):
print a part versus whether youcan manufacture it apart and
inspect a part.
And that's the valueproposition of the COE in this
consortium.
Jason Wells (14:48):
That's a great point that John makes.
You know, we're um that's whythe that's so unique what we do
here of uh taking the wholeecosystem into consideration.
Because I think one of thechallenges you would have is
sure, you can go out and you canbuy 3D technology and you can
figure out how to printsomething, but then what do you
do with it?
And how do you get it to thatfinal destination?
(15:10):
Um, and you know, that havingthis collective here really
helps us uh define that.
And again, as as was mentionedby both Irina and John, you
know, that's all part of ofreally being a force multiplier
to the supply chain, trying tohelp them mobilize and and push
out and you know, taking allthose lessons learned and
(15:31):
combining them for to theadvantage of making parts
quickly and getting past allthat initial engineering and
first article bumps and bruises.
Caleb Ayers (15:41):
Jason, you just mentioned the supply chain.
So I know the original missionof the AM CoE was very much to
make recipes or the technicaldata packages for to then be
able to pass off to the supplychain so that these companies
would have these recipes andcould could reference those and
how to create these parts withadditive manufacturing, with
(16:01):
that being sort of the baselinethat you know there might be
tweaks they could make andthings like that, but that that
would be the baseline, thisworks.
I know, and we've I mean we hadthe guys from the the maritime
industrial base on the podcastseveral months ago, and they
they told those stories ofpretty quickly transition to not
just making recipes, but oh, weneed this part and as soon as
you are able to print it for us.
(16:22):
Um so talk about kind of thatthose dual missions of yes, you
all are making the recipes forother companies to then be able
to manufacture those parts whenthey're needed, but also
basically getting the deadlineof, hey, we need this part as
soon as you are possibly able toget it so that the ship can go
back in the water.
Ereina Avery (16:40):
I don't know that they're separate missions.
I just feel like it's anevolved um mission.
So originally we were doingthese technical data packages
for new construction, which haslead time.
And so that immediate needisn't need, but isn't there, but
we knew we would need to makeat least one part and prove that
we could make it end-to-end anddo the testing.
(17:00):
Um, but then there were theseneeds uh at the waterfront that
they need a part right now.
And so our TDPs have um evolvedto a place where we actually
have proven that the part canactually make it to the boat.
And we have all this additionalfeedback from the Navy saying,
hey, we're gonna need you guysto do welding verification,
(17:22):
we're gonna need you guys toprovide qualification
documentation, you need to markthem a certain way, they need to
be uh surface finished acertain way, they need to be
hydro tested a certain way.
And uh, so it's grown into uhprobably what we originally
thought was like a simple thing.
Um, and that is the supplychain challenge is it is not
easy to get a part onto the boatwithout understanding the full
(17:46):
requirements.
And uh, like both have said,like that's the value
proposition, is is we aregetting all of that stuff
together.
So you're getting a morecomplete, what they call a
ready-for-install part um outthere instead of just an AM
preform.
Jon Harrison (18:30):
I'll tell a story and I'll I'll try to make it
transferable to something youmight see in your own house
rather than get into specificsof a military part.
But this one ship was having aproblem with one of their garage
door openers and they couldn'tget their vehicles out of it.
So they looked in their supplychain, and the only way to get
(18:51):
the part that was broken was tobuy the whole garage door opener
frame and springs and all that.
But all they needed was thislittle bracket that held the
sensor that made sure that thegarage door opener was open or
closed.
And this boat needed to go outin 30 days.
Um, so the COE stepped in andwas able to reverse engineer and
(19:14):
design a new bracket for thissensor, print it, machine it,
inspect it, and ship it within19 days.
And it's something that theVice Chief of Naval Operations
carries around this this bracketas an example of how fast the
COE can can move to respond tothese sustainment style parts.
(19:35):
Now, if that same bracket wasrequested today, they actually
have used our technical datapackage to create an NSN number
in their supply chain.
The the procurement system canorder just that specific bracket
now, and you know, the COE canproduce it in five days.
We did the first one in 19days, which we thought was
(19:56):
quick, but now because we'vegone through all that
engineering and figured out howto print it and provided that
recipe to someone, you canproduce it in five days or less.
Caleb Ayers (20:05):
Yeah, no, that's that's such a cool story of kind
of the yeah, I guess the impactthat the COE is having.
And obviously that was not theexpected impact when you all
started this, that there wouldbe those rapid turnaround parts.
But clearly that has become ahuge part of what you guys do is
making those sustainment partsto keep these ships online, uh,
(20:26):
to keep these, make sure theseships and submarines can get
back in onto their mission as asquickly as possible.
Jon Harrison (20:32):
I think we have a bunch of dedicated folks down
there had by this mission.
And, you know, on that story,that part uh request came over
December 19th.
Uh in the US, that's rightaround Christmas time when we're
all trying to find time withour families, and the print was
done on Christmas Eve.
Members of this this consortiumwere were at our facility on
(20:55):
Christmas Eve, working thispart, machining this part,
shipping this part out to makesure we're on the mission.
Jason Wells (21:01):
As Irena pointed out, you know, the you know,
even though this is a differentdimension to the original scope
of the TDPs, as you mentioned,it's incredibly beneficial to
us.
So, you know, it we get gain atremendous amount of lessons
learned on each time we push outon these requests.
And that feeds back into, youknow, the the science that we're
(21:25):
gathering and the data thatwe're gathering.
It also, you know, reallyaccelerates the whole process of
the impact of the COE as well.
So um I don't think thatthey're uh exclusive of each
other because they definitelyfeed each other, as Irena
pointed out.
Caleb Ayers (21:41):
And just as a follow-up question to all of
this, I mean, how manysustainment parts have we
produced that have actually goneon to be put in into action in
ships and submarines?
And then how many of thesetechnical data packages have
been created to date?
And that's a that's a veryspecific question.
So if we don't know the exactanswer, that's fine.
Ereina Avery (22:00):
No, I do know the exact answer.
So we have uh 22 installedright now.
Um we've got um they're ondestroyers for surface fleet.
We've got a couple on Ohio andVirginia class uh submarines.
Uh we actually have one on anaircraft carrier.
Um, and then we have um aspecific project right now with
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, wherewe will have another 10 by the
(22:23):
end of the year.
Um, and then we also work withuh Surface Fleet.
So we have a bunch of differentparts, and um just all of the
work that we've been doing overthe past few years has gotten to
us to a point where we are verygood at figuring out how to
make a part um that iscompatible to the original
design uh using its current umtechnical uh requirements.
(22:45):
Um so as we do that, we areable to network with suppliers.
We will be able to give thoseTDPs.
Everything we do at the COEgets a TDP.
Um and as we get those thelearnings about how to do
markings or how to get them ontothe boat or anything like that,
we we have that available um toyou know the next person who
will be producing those parts.
Caleb Ayers (23:07):
What is in a TDP?
So you know, you guys createthis this technical data
package, this um essentially therecipe for how to create this
part.
What exactly is in there?
What does that look like forthe suppliers who then get that?
Jon Harrison (23:20):
There's a bunch of instructions.
Um, you know, some of them arerelated to how to print the part
or best suggestions on how toprint the part because there is
some uniqueness in eachtechnology on on how to print
the part.
There's also instructions on onuh some best practices on how
to fixture the part orapproaches that could be taken
(23:40):
to accelerate that.
There's specifics about thematerials and the testing
requirements that go along withthat.
Um and it's a very standardizedform that is is now universal
across the supply chain thatthat we're plugging information
on to try to reduce the amountof non-recurring engineering
that can be can be done.
(24:01):
Because I think if you give itthe same challenge to two
different people, yeah, they canboth figure it out.
They're gonna come up withslightly different approaches,
um, but they're also in thatquoting effort and that bidding
effort, they're going to have toput engineering hours into that
and charge for thoseengineering hours.
And if we've already done that,then speed the execution and
(24:24):
eventually cost goes down.
Ereina Avery (24:26):
Yeah, I actually have a good news story on that.
Um we recently gave a coupleTDPs to a few suppliers that are
in our network.
And um, I didn't get chargedany NRE uh for these, by the
way.
Um, and so we were able toquickly get quotes, they're on
the printers.
There's about eight differentsuppliers working on parts, and
(24:46):
um, I was very happy to learnthat they were using different
machines than the ones we have.
Um, so a couple of them areusing the EOS M300s, which are a
little bit smaller but machinebigger or laser.
Uh we have a couple that arebeing printed on a Nikon uh
SLM280s with two lasers, um, andthen some different DED
(25:07):
machines.
Um and it was one of theconcerns early in the program
that the things that we did inin-house would be very machine
specific.
And we assured them that thatwould not be the case.
Um, and it's proven now thatthat is absolutely not the case,
that the work that we do at theCOE is transferable to the
supply base.
So I was very encouraged bythat.
(25:29):
Um, and um, so I just think itjust helps the Navy mission to
scale additive uh even more thatwe are able to transfer our
technical data packages out toindustry.
Caleb Ayers (25:40):
And Jason, can you talk a little bit about so this
the additive manufacturingcenter of excellence is hosted
within the Center forManufacturing Advancement here
at IALR.
Jason, can you talk a littlebit about um just kind of
briefly what is the CMA and kindof how that creates the
ecosystem where all of this workcan happen?
Jason Wells (25:59):
Yeah, certainly.
So the original vision of theCMA was to uh set up the uh a
center that would uh basicallyfocus on optimization efforts.
And what I mean by that is takecurrent and relevant existing
technologies, uh become verygood practitioners at applying
(26:19):
those technologies, and thenhelping to push those
technologies out into industryin order to help uh expedite the
adoption of those uhtechnologies, minimize the
disruption uh in order for ourindustries to stay competitive
and to stay very robust and moveout, move forward and progress.
(26:41):
That was the original vision.
Um, as Irena mentioned earlyon, as we were standing that up
and communicating that vision,at the same time in the
background, we had uh engagementwith the Navy around the
accelerated training and defensemanufacturing program, uh the
ATDM program, which is ourworkforce training program.
And when they learned aboutwhat our vision was for the CMA,
(27:03):
it aligned perfectly with theirconcept or their motive of
wanting to uh bring in newtechnology in the form of
additive manufacturing intotheir supply chain.
So fortunately, we had createda facility that was intended to
host or house multiple bays thatwould allow for different
(27:25):
technologies to be brought intothe space and then uh explored.
Um, it aligned fairly well.
And luckily, we had the squarefootage available that uh from
the very beginning, uh, beforethe facility was actually uh
able to be occupied and had a COattached to it, we had already
engaged in an agreement with umthe Navy and the various
(27:48):
partners.
Austel is the prime, Phillipsuh leading the additive efforts
to start to bring technologiesinto those various bays that we
had created in the CMA.
And that started the initialconcept and structure of the
CMA.
Um in the two and a half yearsor so that it's been here, uh it
(28:10):
started out with a bunch ofempty bays, and and now I'm I'm
happy to report that we arepretty much at full occupancy in
this building.
So uh we are definitely filledup and and looking for
opportunities to expand outfurther on the campus here.
But um, I can say that we'rewe're very honored and grateful
to host it here on campus.
Um we uh also are uh we createsome connective tissue between
(28:35):
our workforce training programfor the Navy, which is the ATDM
program, and the COE.
And because they coexist on thesame campus next to each other,
(29:04):
that's a really unique valueproposition for the future
workforce that we're training,um, as well as the future
technologies that we'reexploring, you know, on the COE
side.
So uh some really goodsynergies there.
Um and it's it's been fantasticbecause it teaches our team
also how to collaborate andcooperate and coexist with other
(29:27):
organizations within the COEspace.
Um, so it's been a fantasticexperience thus far.
Jon Harrison (29:33):
There were some really smart Navy leaders,
whether it was Admiral Papano orMatt Sermon or Whitney Jones,
that recognized something uniqueabout Danville and something
that we had seen from ourpartnership with uh the Danville
Community College and the IALRteam to locate this AM Center of
Excellence adjacent to theAccelerated Training for Defense
(29:55):
Manufacturing Program.
Why I say that is workforce isvery critical, and uh we've had
the good fortune of uh havingsome interns that were graduates
of the ATDM program work withinour base on some of the
additive equipment, and what wefind uh the graduates um are
(30:15):
motivated graduates, uh theyhave good work ethics, they
understand um how to communicateand how to learn.
And we we've been fortunateenough to hire a few of them.
I know that every partner inthe consortium has hired at
least one ATDM graduate for forthe efforts that we're doing
down there, and and uh it's atestament to that program and
(30:38):
the foresight of the Navy tolocate the COE right next to the
ATDM program.
Jason Wells (30:44):
No, I appreciate you uh recognizing that, John,
and we definitely appreciate uhall the partners.
Hiring our students for sure,but um it it you know, like they
say, it takes a village.
So, you know, everybody who's apartner in the COE is very much
has a hand and an influence inour workforce training program
and ATDM as well.
(31:05):
So again, going back to theearlier statement of everybody
bringing a a level of expertiseto the table, that's uh also a
huge advantage to have thoseexperts to tap into on
curriculum and training anddifferent things like that.
And we learn things in the COEthat really benefit us in then
(31:25):
pushing that into curriculum aswe're discovering things that we
feel are gonna be important forthese students to succeed when
they get out into the workspace.
Caleb Ayers (31:33):
ATDM is the coolest.
And I the more the more that Ithink about that program, that's
that's my conclusion.
Um I think what you guys aredoing in the AM CoE is also the
coolest.
We'll put those right here.
Jason Wells (31:45):
The COE is super cool.
We just got to be a little morequiet about it.
Sure.
Caleb Ayers (31:50):
So just for the last few minutes before we go,
what have been wait, becauseJason, you said it's been two
two and a half years roughlysince so what what have been
kind of the biggest lessonslearned, challenges faced, um,
those those types of things forthe COE during that time,
whether that be somethingtechnical, whether that be
(32:10):
something in learning how towork together as a as a group of
companies.
I mean, what have been some ofthe kind of the biggest lessons
learned takeaways over theselast two and a half years?
Jon Harrison (32:20):
I think you identified, Caleb, challenges of
five companies coming togetherwith different cultures and
different approaches.
But you know, my takeaway isthat um we're all had by this
mission to help the Navy supportuh production of submarines and
(32:42):
in-service parts and componentsacross the marine industrial
base.
And whenever there's conflict,we always remember that our real
mission is to support thatwarfighter and provide them the
best technology, uh, equipmentthat's in good working condition
to make sure that they havewhat they need to complete their
(33:06):
mission.
And as long as we continue touh remember that that's the most
important thing we do, theconflicts that we have seem very
minor and we work through them.
Jason Wells (33:16):
That's an excellent point, John.
I mean, I think you know, whenyou have uh a mission and when
you know you're doing the rightthings for the right reasons,
um, it's a lot easier to createthat, you know, collaborative
environment and set aside, youknow, any kind of um selfish
wants and needs because you knowthe mission is much bigger than
(33:37):
any of us.
And you know, that's that's areal kind of North Star that we
can all point towards for sure.
Ereina Avery (33:43):
You know, back to the whole force side of the the
Navy in in starting this missiontwo and a half years ago, they
knew that it would not be easy,right?
They needed an an incubationspace with the right partners to
start it.
And it's a small example oflike the the global mission of
this, right?
Is supporting the warfighter.
(34:04):
Um, and so we test it in thissmall little environment, and we
you realize the breadth of it,the amount of people that it
takes, right?
We didn't even talk about theamount of welding engineers and
material scientists that are inthe background trying to figure
out like whether this is anequivalent technology.
They're they're out there, theyare feeding us all this
information, they're asking usto make test samples.
(34:24):
You know, of course we'remaking parts too, but we're also
um making a lot of differentshapes and coupons and things
that have to go through testsbecause it's not just the part.
Everybody on the waterfront andeverybody in new construction,
they need to know that this isnot going to endanger all of the
people who are on board theseships and boats.
And so there is a much largereffort in order to make this um
(34:47):
scale and it is working.
Um, but it is a challenge, andit's not easy for it to have
happened um with all these smallgroups working outside of
Danville.
And so I think that that islike the takeaway here is that
all the work that we're doing,it might be on a small scale,
but it is going to reach out andsupport the U.S.
Navy.
Jason Wells (35:08):
I think uh one of the things Irina just said
that's really important is umthis isn't an RD effort.
You know, this isn't a scienceproject.
Uh, this isn't, you know, ustrying to, you know, chase
moonshots or reinvent things.
You know, in a traditional RDenvironment where you may take
years to mature something, wedon't really have that luxury.
(35:30):
So um we're very much flyingthe plane, we're building the
plane as we're flying it, Iguess is the best way to put it.
Um, but it's it's this is youknow, we're operationalizing,
you know, the technologyimmediately and then trying to
push it out into industry inreal time.
So um that requires our teamshere, which are phenomenally
(35:54):
talented and phenomenallydedicated, as John pointed out,
the the whole venture over aChristmas break of getting a
part out.
But um it's just thatoperationalizing technology on
behalf of our of the Navy andthe nation, it really um takes a
special group of people.
So um, and then capturing, youknow, I'll go back to what I
(36:15):
said earlier about having thatend-to-end capability.
I can't express how importantthat is um because there, you
you know, as John indicatedearlier, you can print something
and think, okay, this looksgreat.
It looks like it's supposed tolook, and then you go and
machine it and it's absolutemission failure.
You know, so it's that havingthat whole ecosystem to take
into account so that you don'tonly get partway down the road.
(36:38):
We're getting to the wholedestination.
So again, we can operationalizethis technology.
Caleb, I'm reminded of a quote.
Jon Harrison (36:45):
Uh, I think, Jason, you were in this meeting.
Um, Arena, you might have beenthere as well.
Rear Admiral Papano is in witha bunch of the engineers from
the Navy, and we're in the room,and we're trying to figure out
how to come through proving thatthis additive part is as good
as a casting part.
And there were some skeptics inthe room saying, No, we can't
(37:07):
do this.
Uh, well, we'd have to do this,and it would take this much
longer.
And you could see AdmiralPapano's frustration, and
finally he slams his hand on thedesk and says, damn it, don't
tell me no.
Tell me how.
And, you know, that quote nowhangs in the COE as a reminder
that we're there to help findsolutions to problems, find ways
(37:31):
around roadblocks, um, and nottell people no, figure out a way
to get the how.
Caleb Ayers (37:38):
That's awesome.
What a great, what a greatmission to not tell anyone no,
to just tell them how.
I like that.
On that note, I think that isall the questions that I have.
But I really appreciate youguys being here today.
I think this is such a um sucha cool project, I guess it would
would be the word for it, thatthat you guys are involved in to
um ensure as you said, it's allabout it's all about the
(38:00):
warfighter.
It's all about making sure thatthese Navy personnel have
adequate ships and submarinesthat will keep them safe,
protect them, and and um remainin use as long as they should.
So um just such a cool, such acool project that you guys are
involved in.
But is there anything else thatthat you would want to add or
think it's important that peopleknow before we go?
Jason Wells (38:18):
I'd like to add one thing, Caleb, is just to
emphasize the talent that's inthis uh building.
Um, you know, there's folkslike uh Jared Springer and Phil
Burton and uh Jeremiah Williams,and you know, the list goes on
and on of folks that just whenyou combine the actual years of
(38:40):
hands-on experience.
I'm not talking in labs, butI'm talking working uh in the
trades and in the variousdisciplines that they're in.
It is hundreds of years ofexperience um that are being
brought together and applied inthis particular effort.
And um, it's just realinspiring to work around people
(39:01):
like that that are bringing uhall the a lifetime of experience
to the table to try to putbehind this mission and help
with this mission.
So um just really want toemphasize that because uh it's
just a real honor to to have myoffice here in this building and
be able to interact with thosefolks on a regular basis.
Jon Harrison (39:23):
Appreciate the opportunity to to speak with
you, Caleb, and uh alwaysappreciate the partnership of
the the group of speakers onthis on this call.
Caleb Ayers (39:31):
Well, thank you guys for being here.
We appreciate it.
Jon Harrison (39:33):
Thank you.
Caleb Ayers (39:34):
Thank you, Caleb.
Appreciate it.
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