Additive manufacturing offers a way to keep ageing ships and offshore assets in service while protecting one of the OEM’s most exposed revenue streams
The maritime sector, like any industry, has vendors selling cheaper alternatives to OEM spare parts. The industry knows the arguments for and against this approach.
Pelagus is a 50/50 joint venture between thyssenkrupp and Wilhelmsen. Its proposition to OEMs is “We will not undercut you. We will protect you” from grey market imitators eroding revenue on product lines where long lead times drive customers to alternative suppliers.
“We are not trying to replace the existing supply chain. We are an add on: agile, small-volume production with fast lead times,” said Pelagus chief commercial officer Bjorn Madsen. “We sell to the OEM so the OEM can offer its customers an on-demand option, a life extension, a fast alternative.”
Back in September 2023, when it was first established, the company imagined 3D printers at strategic ports: press print, part ready. Reality intervened. The components that actually strand a vessel are the complex, critical ones such as pump impellers and engine blocks that only the maker can build to the tolerances and operating conditions required. The model therefore shifted from serving ships to supplying the makers.
Two design choices followed. First, manufacture nothing in house, instead tapping a global network of specialist service bureaux built for small batches. Second, replace physical inventory with digital inventory, with parts held as digital assets that can be produced on demand anywhere in the network.
