Austal launches AUD 600K research project with Curtin University and AMCRC for maritime AM evaluation framework
Originally reported by 3Druck
Australian shipbuilder Austal has initiated an 18-month, AUD 600,000 research project with Curtin University and the Additive Manufacturing Cooperative Research Centre (AMCRC) to develop a systematic evaluation framework for industrial additive manufacturing in maritime and defense applications. The project, led by Austal R&D head Sam Abbott and Curtin research director Dr. Karl Davidson, aims to create a scalable model that can assess thousands of components across technical feasibility, economic viability, regulatory certifiability, and supply chain resilience. This is not a single-part development effort but a methodology project to determine where AM delivers the greatest value across ship manufacturing, maintenance, and operations.
This initiative addresses a persistent gap in AM adoption for maritime and defense sectors: the lack of standardized decision frameworks that balance qualification requirements, production economics, and supply chain priorities. While Austal brings practical experience from its role as the main contractor for the US Navy's Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence, the project targets the same evaluation problem that has slowed aerospace adoption for years. The maritime sector, fragmented across commercial shipbuilding, naval programs, and sustainment, lacks the concentrated demand and qualification pathways that aerospace and consumer electronics provide. By creating a repeatable evaluation model, Austal and its partners aim to move from opportunistic part selection to portfolio-level deployment decisions.
For the AM industry, this project is a pragmatic step toward institutionalizing adoption in a vertical that has remained largely peripheral to the metal AM market. The real test will be whether the framework produces actionable investment priorities that translate into sustained production volume. Austal must now demonstrate that the methodology can survive contact with real program budgets and certification authorities.
Topics