Our defence forces require superior platforms, reliable equipment and technology solutions that deliver a capability edge in order to protect our nation and our people.
We also need to be agile, which requires us to be innovative.
The COVID pandemic showed all too clearly the devastating impacts of supply chain disruption. As an island nation Australia was particularly vulnerable, with the overwhelming majority of trade via sea freight. The international shipping crisis, stock shortages, lockdowns, surge in sick workers and rising costs combined to cause global and domestic supply chain chaos.
We need to start building a national resilience to a future global disruptor – like another pandemic, or global conflict.
It will be difficult to source replacement parts and equipment during an armed conflict if they’re manufactured overseas and shipping lanes and trade routes are under threat or severely constrained.
We are working to address this potential problem now.
At the transformed Mitsubishi car factory in Adelaide’s south, now a thriving high-tech hub known as the Tonsley Innovation District, we are working with academics and industry to develop and trial new technologies and manufacturing methods to support the Hunter Class Frigate Program, which will deliver a fleet of formidable submarine-hunting warships to the Royal Australian Navy.
This joint collaboration is focused on driving digital transformation through advanced robotics, assistive manufacturing and the application of Industry 4.0 utilisation. At the Osborne Naval Shipyard in South Australia, where the Hunter frigates are being built, digital innovations are leading to improved efficiencies and effectiveness of the design and build of the frigates, increased competitiveness of operations, improved quality and safety outcomes.
They are also building the resilience the nation needs going forward.
Right now we are trialling the movement of data in our shipyards that will support our ‘connected shipyard, connected ship, connected fleet’ vision, giving those on-board the warships the power of instantaneous decision making, delivering the Navy a capability edge.
Recently, Adelaide-based 3D additive manufacturing business AML3D set up within Line Zero to test its advanced metal 3D Wire Additive Manufacturing (WAM) technology solution – a production process used to 3D print or repair metal parts and works by depositing layers of metal on top of each other until a desired 3D shape is created.
While 3D printing is not new, the potential benefits to the Navy of 3D metal printed parts is enormous. 3D printed parts are lighter in weight than a cast or forged item and more cost-effective. They also de-risk supply chain delays, offering a print-on-demand or ‘just-in-time’ solution, negating the need to wait for the arrival of a part and holding up construction timelines.
Trials are ongoing. What is already clear: growing the nation’s resilience to supply chain shocks while at the same time supporting a sovereign manufacturing capability that will benefit the naval ship-build programs of tomorrow isn’t a ‘nice to have’, it’s a must, to ensure the Navy’s most capable assets are readily available.
