Manufacturing Efforts News

Aberdeen-headquarted, Hydro Group plc is recognised as a finalist at the 2016 Made in Scotland Awards for the categories Manufacturer of the Year and Exporter of the Year. The subsea cable and connector specialist is at the forefront in the development and innovation of subsea product technologies, with involvement from prototype concept through to design, manufacture and project management. The company has been named as a finalist for the Manufacturer of the Year as a result of its continued, and outstanding manufacturing efforts. From its state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities in Scotland, Hydro Group develops the complete subsea electrical and optical interconnect package, built to withstand the harshest environmental conditions.

Vice Adm. Phillip Cullom
Chief of Fleet Readiness & Logistics, lead coordinator on the Navy's additive manufacturing efforts, explains for those new to 3D printing why the Navy is interested in this technology, and what it is already contributing. Norfolk Naval Shipyard’s Rapid Prototype Lab is saving the Navy thousands of dollars on the Gerald R. Ford-class of aircraft carriers. Instead of traditional wood or metal mockups of ship alterations, which help to prevent expensive rework, the lab prints much cheaper plastic polymer models – in hours, rather than days or weeks. Now all four Navy shipyards have 3D printers working on similar, and other, ways to benefit the Navy.

Huntington Ingalls Industries' Newport News Shipbuilding Division receives a $407 million contract extension to a previously awarded John F. Kennedy (CVN 79) contract. The award of the contract extends the period of performance, adds additional efforts for engineering, planning and material procurement through Oct. 31, and authorizes additional manufacturing efforts. NNS is performing work on CVN 79 under a construction preparation contract that allows for engineering, planning…

When contractors Brasfield & Gorrie accepted a job to rehabilitate a dam for a local power company, their first foray into marine work was far from routine. With no navigable passage into the deep-water side of the 150-ft. tall dam, most workboats couldn't even reach the job site. The Birmingham, Ala.-based company decided a new equipment purchase was their best option. They bought a 25.3 x 14 x 4.5 ft. tugboat and transported it in two pieces that were offloaded by crane and assembled on site. What this job required was a truckable tug. And as the company soon learned there were many more jobs that could take advantage of such a tug.