3D Printing Metal Spare Parts On-board: The Implementation of Additive Manufacturing on-board Heerema Vessels

Abstract

In this Master Thesis the potential of Additive Manufacturing on-board vessels of Heerema Marine Contractors is looked into, with the goal to design a recommendation for implementing this technology. Heerema is an offshore construction company that is intrinsically motivated to improve their sustainability. They transport, install and remove all types of offshore facilities. All Heerema vessels have a warehouse on-board, containing spare parts. Spare parts are parts in-stock that will be used to maintain the vessel or execute projects. In total the warehouse contains 300.000 parts, with an average value of 13.000.000 US$. The total weight of the stored material is 1.400.000 kg. If a needed spare part is not in-stock, it is ordered and brought to the vessel. Both actions take up a lot of time and could risk a project being stopped, which influences the economic pillar of the Triple Bottom Line consisting of people, planet and profit. Having this many parts on-board, and always ordering a ‘new part’ when something breaks, is not seen as a sustainable project execution. Especially taking into account the possibility of repairing. Next to that, extra transports or air freights are needed to get parts on-board, which influences the sustainable pillar of the Triple Bottom Line. In some cases, parts used to be produced by suppliers that do not exist anymore, which makes it hard to order new ones or obligated to purchase packages. The preferred situation for Heerema would be to use Additive Manufacturing as an additional production method for spare parts. For the implementation of this technology, a sufficient quality of the printed parts is desired. Sufficiency for critical parts has to be qualified by external certification organizations. Sufficiency for non-critical parts is reached once it functions within the used application. Next to the quality of the prints, the time it takes to print a part is important. Both quality and time depend on the performance of the 3D printer, which will influence the adoption of the crew. The preferred situation can be seen as the goal Heerema if aiming for. To reach this goal, a Roadmap is recommended. This Roadmap is designed as being the most suitable way of implementing and using 3D printing on-board of their vessels. The Roadmap is based on three different phases: The Research phase, The Printing phase and The Opportunities phase. Within these phases, the printing phase exists of two sub-phases: a plastic and a metal print phase. Each printing phase exists of a testing phase, a limited use phase and an expansion phase. The transition from one phase to another is based on a stepwise approach to lower the risks that could occur while implementing a complex innovation. The stepwise approach is based on the level of trust among the vessel crew towards the level of complexity of the implemented innovation. The conducted research supports the proposed solution that leads to the preferred situation. The solution is assessed according the three aspects of the Industrial Design Engineering domain: Technology, Human Values and Business.The solution is shown to be feasible due to the chosen hardware, the study on printable spare parts, 3D print studies and mechanical tests at the TU Delft.Additionally, the solution is shown to be viable due to relative low investment costs, a decrease in man-hours and transports and a waste reduction based on Value Stream Mapping. Also, the solution is shown to be desirable due to the collaboration with current users, a promising partnership with Layertec and the fit with the sustainability aims of Heerema. The thesis is enclosed by mentioning the research limitations, reflections, recommendations and further research for Heerema.Integrated Product Desig