Aalborg/Copenhagen – December 13 , 2017 – Create it REAL CEO, Jeremie Pierre GAY, announce today the first secured 3D print pilot project with Green Ship of the Future consortium in Denmark. The project is part of the Green Ship of the future project portfolio: The maritime opportunity space of 3D print, and specifically explores on board printing and related challenges in the current supply chain, as well as existing technology. Accordingly, the partners represent the majority of the supply chain around spare parts and include J. Lauritzen, Maersk Line, Maersk Tankers, Maersk Drilling, MAN Diesel & Turbo, DNV GL, Copenhagen Business School and Create it real. The project is financed by the Danish Maritime Fund.

The vision for onboard printing is to limit the amount of spare parts carried on board, and allow for an as-needed repair and production. But also, the possibility to get/make the latest updated version of a spare part “instantly” as designed by the maker is expected to be an improvement of the current spare part supply. Sverre Patursson Vange from J. Lauritzen says: “3D printing technology is developing rapidly and we believe it is ready for utilization in the maritime industry. However, the harsh environment and the top priority to safety calls for precautions why we are very pleased to have DNV GL, MAN Diesel & Turbo and Create it REAL participating in the project to address these issues.”, The savings potential in terms of CO2 and cost are substantial if e.g. spare part deliveries by launch boats or helicopters can be avoided.

Besides reduction of lead times, costs and CO2 emission, IP and safe transmission of files are also among the key questions to address, when discussion a wider adoption of 3D print in the supply chain. By placing printers on board a number of ships and get practical experience, this project will try to address the challenges in practice as they appear. For create it real, it has been important to address some of these challenges in the solutions that they contribute with in this project. Based on the worldwide first real-time processor dedicated to 3D printing, developed by the team, Create it REAL platform can be integrated into any FFF 3D printer. It is providing higher print speed (up to 5 times faster than current standards) and secured file decryption directly on the printer. Nobody can access the original files, but the crews on board will be able to print them as needed.

The collaboration will start by delivering secured 3D printers in different locations (ships and drilling stations) as well as training tools and videos, so each crew can be self-sufficient and learn the whole process independently.

Jeremie added “we believe many companies are facing the same problem: how to share my files with my partners or customers while being sure to keep my intellectual property safe. The business model we are creating thanks to our technology is a bit like listening to music on online platforms. You do not access the mp3s but you can still listen to the music depending on your subscription. We aim to create the same positive environment where end-users will have access to high quality branded content and IP owners keep what they worked for”.

Such protected platform could have avoided Disney to take down some models from a popular online platform recently (news source). By making branded or sensitive 3D files available to the public to print (for free or not is another debate) while being sure end users do not get the source file would open the market even more and speed up the consumer market adoption.

This should not be opposed to the open source world where thousands of designers are creating and happy to share their files with others. Creative Commons licenses are here to help people to understand what they can or cannot do. This should be seen more as a complementary approach for specific applications and allow more people, brands, companies to enter the 3D printing revolution.

The debate is open, but if you are willing to test Create it REAL technology, please contact us.

Create it REAL platform features:
– Up to 5 times faster print speed than standard FDM printers
– Compatible with FDM and SLA 3D printers
– End-to end encryption support to secure designer’s intellectual property
– Augmented reality feature to preview real size projects
– REALvision slicer supports STL and G-code files
– Developed and produced in Denmark