ATI Inc., the Dallas-based producer of steel powders, introduced that the corporate has gained a contract from Bechtel Plant Equipment Inc. (BPMI) to assist improvement of superior manufacturing options for the US Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program. As a part of its work on the contract, ATI will construct an additive manufacturing (AM) facility within the Ft. Lauderdale, Florida space, which is predicted to return on-line in the midst of 2024.
That is the second contract that BPMI, a subsidiary of Bechtel (the US’s second largest development firm), has awarded in 2023 for a steel AM facility within the Ft. Lauderdale space devoted to the navy’s nuclear program. In March 2023, BPMI awarded a contract to Sintavia to construct an AM facility that was slated to return on-line in Q2 of this 12 months. It isn’t clear if the ATI facility is a part of the identical venture, or just a associated one.
In any case, the contract reinforces southeastern Florida’s standing as a steel AM hub, a state-of-affairs which ought to have long-term implications for the evolving dynamics of US provide chains. In accordance with ATI, each the ATI Solid Merchandise and ATI Specialty Supplies divisions will work side-by-side within the new facility, which the corporate additionally notes is “designed for growth”.
In a press launch in regards to the contract from BPMI to construct a steel AM facility for the US Navy, Kim Fields, ATI’s president and chief working officer, mentioned, “With this facility, ATI will maximize its capability to ship superior additively manufactured supplies and parts by turning them into elements that additional the protection trade. …Inside one facility, we’re combining the most recent additive and superior manufacturing applied sciences and ATI’s novel powder alloys.” Barb Staniscia, the president and basic supervisor of BPMI, mentioned, “[AM] provides great benefits to our Program, together with accelerating ship development, bettering operational readiness, lowering prices, and a rise in warfighting functionality. Steel [AM] is driving needed enhancements in lead time, design, and efficiency for the US Navy.”
At the very least by way of something publicly recognized, the US Navy’s success with AM during the last couple of years has been one of many international financial system’s largest triumphs of innovation throughout that timeframe. Whereas it’s nonetheless too early to quantify any broader results, nobody ought to overlook the symbolic significance of the truth that there have now been 3D printers completely put in on US Navy floor vessels and submarines for the higher a part of a 12 months.
But additionally, by way of quantifiable results, these ought to actually be anticipated, as a result of the potential affect of possessing deployable floating factories actually can’t have been misplaced on the Chinese language authorities. In that sense, we’re probably already seeing the results by way of all of the examples of progress in steel AM subsequently introduced by Chinese language corporations. And, we’re more likely to see extra progress from each nations in steel AM earlier than the 12 months is even over, given the worldwide tech conflict that has solely simply began ramping up.
This basic dynamic is what the US navy alludes to when it refers to China as “the pacing problem”. The world’s two wealthiest nations are setting the tempo for one another by way of technological progress, which is in flip shaping the financial insurance policies enacted by all the planet’s many different governments. Concrete examples like this one assist illustrate the final type that each one these insurance policies are collectively taking.
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