Inside IALR

"Don’t Tell Me No, Tell Me How:" Additive Manufacturing to Support the U.S. Navy

• Institute for Advanced Learning and Research

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In this episode of Inside IALR, host Caleb Ayers is joined by Ereina Avery (Austal USA), Jon Harrison (Phillips Corporation), and Jason Wells (IALR) for a deep dive into the Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence (AM CoE). Together, they explore how this unique public-private consortium is transforming the Navy’s supply chain by developing and deploying 3D-printed parts for ships and submarines. From powder bed fusion to wire arc deposition, the team breaks down the technologies, the challenges of scaling additive manufacturing and the mission-driven collaboration that makes it all possible. 

Hear how the AM CoE has delivered critical parts in record time, created transferable technical data packages, and built a model for innovation that supports both the warfighter and the future of manufacturing. 

The Institute for Advanced Learning and Research serves as a regional catalyst for economic transformation in Southern Virginia. Our services, programs and offerings are diverse, impactful and far reaching.

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Jon Harrison:

There's a big difference in my opinion of whether you can print a part versus whether you can manufacture it a part and inspect a part. And that's the value proposition of the COE in this consortium.

Caleb Ayers:

Welcome to another episode of Inside IALR. Thanks for being here today and thanks for joining us for our first episode that we have recorded virtually. This is uh much more or much different than we normally do. Normally we're all in person and together. Now we are uh staring at each other on our computer screens. So we have three guests with us. We have Ereina Avery, who's the program manager for the Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence with Austel USA. We have John Harrison, who's the president of Global Additive for Phillips Corporation, and we have Jason Wells, the Executive Vice President for Manufacturing Advancement here at IALR. So thank you guys for being here. So we're here to talk about the AM CoE, the Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence. Um, I think some of our audience has probably heard about this. So we'll kind of do a brief overview at the beginning, but really want to get into some of the kind of the primary technologies that we've been using, the primary uh lessons that have been learned by this uh very unique public-private consortium over the past few years. So I'll just kind of open it up to start whoever wants to give the one-minute rundown of what is the AM CoE, what is its mission, and who is involved.

Ereina Avery:

So I'll take that one. Uh the AM CoE was a program that started a couple years ago foundationally because of um the work that ILAR's doing with the ATDM program. Uh, we were able to get a building over there, the Center for Manufacturing Advancement. We have uh various partners, a consortium model inside the walls. And the idea was that we would convert parts that uh traditionally are causing supply chain issues for castings and be able to make them additively. So uh we have a partnership with uh Phillips, who is doing all of the design and additive manufacturing in the bay, and we have um the institute providing all of their metrology and machining um experience. We have the industrial inspection analysis, we call them IIA. Um they're doing all of the destructive testing, NDT, and um other types of Navy testing within the walls, and then some other partners in the group um in order to make parts in additive.

Caleb Ayers:

Awesome. John or Jason, anything to tack onto that?

Jon Harrison:

I think Arena really nailed it. We we do have a vision and mission statement for the COE, and Arena described it, but we want to be the go-to and the thought and the tech thought leader and the technical resource for the Navy as they operationalize, advance, and additive manufacturing. And I think bringing together this unique consortium helps us do that because every component of the COE is important from you know printing the part to figuring out how to machine the part, how to make sure the part's good through NDT. Uh all those components lead to a quicker uh supply chain that can address some of the issues that the Navy's having in uh their critical castings part. But it also uh projects into serial production. And the goal is to come through these these technical challenges quickly for the first time so that they can scale for serial production later.

Jason Wells:

I guess I would uh just add, Caleb, that uh what's really unique value proposition uh with this particular consortium is the fact that we have end-to-end capabilities within the program. Um so we're able to actually go from a traditionally like 2D drawing, traditional part concept, and then mature that all the way through to a finished product and hit all the steps and stages between. So it really allows us to mature the technology through the entire ecosystem that a part would have to travel through in order to go from concept to to actually being put into uh put into production or put into action. So um that's what really, really truly I think bring makes this consortium uh unique. And then also each partner within that consortium has that ability to really lean in hard on their area of expertise and really bring that to the table in a in a shared format. So um there's a there's an overarching goal also of creating this one factory flow from a 2D drawing to a dynamic part that's uh able to be put into service at the end of this.

Caleb Ayers:

That's yeah, really cool. And really cool to see, I mean, exactly what you're saying. One, that it's all of these different organizations and companies working together into that end-to-end capability of, you know, this isn't just it's not just figuring out the 3D printing part of it. It's figuring out the whole process from end to end, um, which obviously is what you know the companies who are going to be making these parts would need. So can you all talk about kind of the, and this is a very broad question, so take this at whatever direction you would like, but kind of the evolution of additive manufacturing and how we got here to the point that the US Navy is trying to implement this technology as much as it can within its own fleet production and sustainment.

Jon Harrison:

Yeah, it's an interesting challenge. I'll I'll take a crack at it. Additive manufacturing showed a lot of promise in a bunch of industries. And initially it was prototype work, and then it started getting embraced by these uh these OEMs that were trying to make parts better or uh more lightweight. So design challenges that go along with traditional manufacturing can be alleviated through additive manufacturing. But then it's it's applied to this challenge where you have casting issues, especially in low-run, uh high value castings, additive manufacturing can offer uh speed to execution. So a traditional casting um for a component might take 50 weeks to get, and you might need to order 200 of them. And that's great for like engine manufacturing when you know you have a constant production line, but let's say you needed one or you needed 10. Additive manufacturing can can uh short fuse the production of that that near net part to get it into the production line a lot quicker, and it makes a lot more sense in these high value parts when you're having uh, you know, for example, a submarine waiting on one particular component and you can make it a lot quicker.

Jason Wells:

I would just echo what um John was saying in the sense that you know this this opens up um additional opportunity. Um there's always that dynamic in any kind of market, as he was talking about, you know, between uh short run needs or special tailored uh situations um that are time constrained and uh need a really expedited type of lead time. Um so additive brings a whole nother dimension in being able to be respon responsive to to you know the broader market needs, you know, and and that that's a real opportunity for the Navy to mobilize um when necessary, when needed.

Caleb Ayers:

Can you guys kind of break down the main, I guess the primary types of additive manufacturing we're talking about? I know, I mean, 3D printing is obviously kind of the broader word, but there's lots of different ways to do that. Um, so kind of explain powderbed, wire arc, and friction stir. I know it's correct that we're working with all of those, right?

Jon Harrison:

Yeah, I think primarily we're working uh with the most mature technologies out there. And um, Navy right now is focused on powderbed fusion and direct energy deposition. And powderbed fusion basically takes um powder and scrapes it over a build plate and then burns uh a certain shape into it and then lowers, scrapes some more powder, so it produces a part layer by layer. Um, it allows for very complex parts to be made with internal channels. Uh, and quite frankly, is the one technology when you look at metal uh part production through additive, it's it's the most adopted technology because it's been embraced by the aerospace and space industry. Direct energy deposition is sort of like welding. Uh, so you have a welding head that's uniquely positioned around a part to add material rather than just weld two pieces together. So you basically are welding layer by layer into a unique shape. And the the Navy's primary focus right now is on wire arc direct energy deposition. Navy has a ton of experience with welding, so they're leveraging that technology to produce parts. Now there are two different technologies, and they they both have um pluses and minuses, if you will. I think uh powderbed fusion is really good at intricate parts and probably the most mature technology out there that's been used for many, many years. Direct energy deposition allows you to make bigger parts, um, maybe with less complexity, but very large parts, um, you know, thousand-pound parts, uh, very large um valve bodies or or uh near net shapes, if you will. But you know, both of them offer and present challenges which in the COE we are addressing with this unique consortium. So machining a powder bed part is a lot different than machining a direct energy deposition part uh and requires special considerations for tooling, uh, feeds and speeds, and that's where uh IALR comes in with uh some unique solutions on how to machine each one of them that we can pass along the industry for for scale. They also require some different uh NDT uh inspection uh approaches that uh our other partners, IIA, are are uh are addressing and looking at so we can make sure that the parts we're producing are good because a lot of the times these parts go into critical areas. And you know, the I guess when you look at the entire consortium, Austel is bringing all these unique things together and managing and making sure that you know the parts printed on time and we're connecting with the machining person and the team over there to make sure that they understand what they have to do and and coordinating shipments to heat treat, all this stuff has to be put together, and and Austel has the responsibility of of hurting the cats, if you will, to make sure that at the end of the day we're beating the traditional supply chain.

Caleb Ayers:

No, I appreciate that that explanation of those different methods, um, and kind of yeah, that breakdown that you know DED is more um sort of like welding and and better for the larger parts and the powder bed fusion, you know, better for those more intricate parts. Can you all kind of talk about the process of deciding what parts get sent to the AM CoE to for you all to develop these 3D, basically these recipes for how to 3D print these parts? Uh, what is that process like? How is how is the Navy selecting what parts you all receive?

Ereina Avery:

Yeah, so I'm primarily the person who um has that responsibility. Um we are funded by the DERPA MIB and um they work with all the different um shipyards that need repair, with electric boat, with the uh Newport News, all the people who need parts. And um, we are getting flooded with requests um to support. And so the the projects are very wide. Um, a lot of them, the emergent needs are for, like John said, a submarine that is coming in uh and it's gonna start install in April, and they send us the drawings and they say, hey, this material is the same as something you might have at the AM CoE. Can you make that part an additive? And so uh the Phillips team and the um institute team and our IA team will all gather together, including Austel as well, and we will look at that part and see if it is something that is doable. And a lot of times it is, especially if it's a casting replacement. Um, and going back to what you you were saying about castings, you know, there's only so many uh foundries that are in uh in our disposal. And so that's kind of like the value of additive. And we also have some networks of suppliers that might not have exactly what we have, they have something um supplemental. So we have an evaluation process where we gather all the consortium partners together, we look at the design, and we'll see if we have that capability. And a lot of times we do. Um, there are some newer parts that are coming because we have been able to solve a lot of challenges and get installed parts. Um, we're starting to get into how to partner with um valve manufacturers who can assemble and do that further testing to get it on the ships. Um, but that is primarily how it goes. We've got a website, uh, Navy DigitalC.com. There's a support request form, and you can just anybody in the Navy can uh fill in a request, send us the files, and we will take a look and evaluate.

Jon Harrison:

This is the coolest part of it, and this is why the consortium is so cool. I've only been a part of a few of these, and arena, you you're a part of many more than I am. But these experts that are on the line get in the room of this consortium and someone puts a part and says, Hey, we need a part by this date. Can we make it? And the print guys are get in there, and the guys and the girls will start looking and say, All right, we can print it on a powderbed fusion. Um, and you know, we'd orient it this way. And the ILR team will go, hey, but if we do that, I'm not sure if I can machine this feature. Can you add 30,000ths of material on the left side of it so I have something to clamp on? And the designers will be like, Yeah, we can put more material here, and then the NDT guys will go, like, all right, well, how am I going to inspect this? You know, like, am I gonna be able to see in this? All these, all these uh experts come together to solve this problem and bring their own expertise and collectively find the right solution so it's manufacturable. There's a big difference, in my opinion, of whether you can print a part versus whether you can manufacture it apart and inspect a part. And that's the value proposition of the COE in this consortium.

Jason Wells:

That's a great point that John makes. You know, we're um that's why the that's so unique what we do here of uh taking the whole ecosystem into consideration. Because I think one of the challenges you would have is sure, you can go out and you can buy 3D technology and you can figure out how to print something, but then what do you do with it? And how do you get it to that final destination? Um, and you know, that having this collective here really helps us uh define that. And again, as as was mentioned by both Irina and John, you know, that's all part of of really being a force multiplier to the supply chain, trying to help them mobilize and and push out and you know, taking all those lessons learned and combining them for to the advantage of making parts quickly and getting past all that initial engineering and first article bumps and bruises.

Caleb Ayers:

Jason, you just mentioned the supply chain. So I know the original mission of the AM CoE was very much to make recipes or the technical data packages for to then be able to pass off to the supply chain so that these companies would have these recipes and could could reference those and how to create these parts with additive manufacturing, with that being sort of the baseline that you know there might be tweaks they could make and things like that, but that that would be the baseline, this works. I know, and we've I mean we had the guys from the the maritime industrial base on the podcast several months ago, and they they told those stories of pretty quickly transition to not just making recipes, but oh, we need this part and as soon as you are able to print it for us. Um so talk about kind of that those dual missions of yes, you all are making the recipes for other companies to then be able to manufacture those parts when they're needed, but also basically getting the deadline of, hey, we need this part as soon as you are possibly able to get it so that the ship can go back in the water.

Ereina Avery:

I don't know that they're separate missions. I just feel like it's an evolved um mission. So originally we were doing these technical data packages for new construction, which has lead time. And so that immediate need isn't need, but isn't there, but we knew we would need to make at least one part and prove that we could make it end-to-end and do the testing. Um, but then there were these needs uh at the waterfront that they need a part right now. And so our TDPs have um evolved to a place where we actually have proven that the part can actually make it to the boat. And we have all this additional feedback from the Navy saying, hey, we're gonna need you guys to do welding verification, we're gonna need you guys to provide qualification documentation, you need to mark them a certain way, they need to be uh surface finished a certain way, they need to be hydro tested a certain way. And uh, so it's grown into uh probably what we originally thought was like a simple thing. Um, and that is the supply chain challenge is it is not easy to get a part onto the boat without understanding the full requirements. And uh, like both have said, like that's the value proposition, is is we are getting all of that stuff together. So you're getting a more complete, what they call a ready-for-install part um out there instead of just an AM preform.

Jon Harrison:

I'll tell a story and I'll I'll try to make it transferable to something you might see in your own house rather than get into specifics of a military part. But this one ship was having a problem with one of their garage door openers and they couldn't get their vehicles out of it. So they looked in their supply chain, and the only way to get the part that was broken was to buy the whole garage door opener frame and springs and all that. But all they needed was this little bracket that held the sensor that made sure that the garage door opener was open or closed. And this boat needed to go out in 30 days. Um, so the COE stepped in and was able to reverse engineer and design a new bracket for this sensor, print it, machine it, inspect it, and ship it within 19 days. And it's something that the Vice Chief of Naval Operations carries around this this bracket as an example of how fast the COE can can move to respond to these sustainment style parts. Now, if that same bracket was requested today, they actually have used our technical data package to create an NSN number in their supply chain. The the procurement system can order just that specific bracket now, and you know, the COE can produce it in five days. We did the first one in 19 days, which we thought was quick, but now because we've gone through all that engineering and figured out how to print it and provided that recipe to someone, you can produce it in five days or less.

Caleb Ayers:

Yeah, no, that's that's such a cool story of kind of the yeah, I guess the impact that the COE is having. And obviously that was not the expected impact when you all started this, that there would be those rapid turnaround parts. But clearly that has become a huge part of what you guys do is making those sustainment parts to keep these ships online, uh, to keep these, make sure these ships and submarines can get back in onto their mission as as quickly as possible.

Jon Harrison:

I think we have a bunch of dedicated folks down there had by this mission. And, you know, on that story, that part uh request came over December 19th. Uh in the US, that's right around Christmas time when we're all trying to find time with our families, and the print was done on Christmas Eve. Members of this this consortium were were at our facility on Christmas Eve, working this part, machining this part, shipping this part out to make sure we're on the mission.

Jason Wells:

As Irena pointed out, you know, the you know, even though this is a different dimension to the original scope of the TDPs, as you mentioned, it's incredibly beneficial to us. So, you know, it we get gain a tremendous amount of lessons learned on each time we push out on these requests. And that feeds back into, you know, the the science that we're gathering and the data that we're gathering. It also, you know, really accelerates the whole process of the impact of the COE as well. So um I don't think that they're uh exclusive of each other because they definitely feed each other, as Irena pointed out.

Caleb Ayers:

And just as a follow-up question to all of this, I mean, how many sustainment parts have we produced that have actually gone on to be put in into action in ships and submarines? And then how many of these technical data packages have been created to date? And that's a that's a very specific question. So if we don't know the exact answer, that's fine.

Ereina Avery:

No, I do know the exact answer. So we have uh 22 installed right now. Um we've got um they're on destroyers for surface fleet. We've got a couple on Ohio and Virginia class uh submarines. Uh we actually have one on an aircraft carrier. Um, and then we have um a specific project right now with Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, where we will have another 10 by the end of the year. Um, and then we also work with uh Surface Fleet. So we have a bunch of different parts, and um just all of the work that we've been doing over the past few years has gotten to us to a point where we are very good at figuring out how to make a part um that is compatible to the original design uh using its current um technical uh requirements. Um so as we do that, we are able to network with suppliers. We will be able to give those TDPs. Everything we do at the COE gets a TDP. Um and as we get those the learnings about how to do markings or how to get them onto the boat or anything like that, we we have that available um to you know the next person who will be producing those parts.

Caleb Ayers:

What is in a TDP? So you know, you guys create this this technical data package, this um essentially the recipe for how to create this part. What exactly is in there? What does that look like for the suppliers who then get that?

Jon Harrison:

There's a bunch of instructions. Um, you know, some of them are related to how to print the part or best suggestions on how to print the part because there is some uniqueness in each technology on on how to print the part. There's also instructions on on uh some best practices on how to fixture the part or approaches that could be taken to accelerate that. There's specifics about the materials and the testing requirements that go along with that. Um and it's a very standardized form that is is now universal across the supply chain that that we're plugging information on to try to reduce the amount of non-recurring engineering that can be can be done. Because I think if you give it the same challenge to two different people, yeah, they can both figure it out. They're gonna come up with slightly different approaches, um, but they're also in that quoting effort and that bidding effort, they're going to have to put engineering hours into that and charge for those engineering hours. And if we've already done that, then speed the execution and eventually cost goes down.

Ereina Avery:

Yeah, I actually have a good news story on that. Um we recently gave a couple TDPs to a few suppliers that are in our network. And um, I didn't get charged any NRE uh for these, by the way. Um, and so we were able to quickly get quotes, they're on the printers. There's about eight different suppliers working on parts, and um, I was very happy to learn that they were using different machines than the ones we have. Um, so a couple of them are using the EOS M300s, which are a little bit smaller but machine bigger or laser. Uh we have a couple that are being printed on a Nikon uh SLM280s with two lasers, um, and then some different DED machines. Um and it was one of the concerns early in the program that the things that we did in in-house would be very machine specific. And we assured them that that would not be the case. Um, and it's proven now that that is absolutely not the case, that the work that we do at the COE is transferable to the supply base. So I was very encouraged by that. Um, and um, so I just think it just helps the Navy mission to scale additive uh even more that we are able to transfer our technical data packages out to industry.

Caleb Ayers:

And Jason, can you talk a little bit about so this the additive manufacturing center of excellence is hosted within the Center for Manufacturing Advancement here at IALR. Jason, can you talk a little bit about um just kind of briefly what is the CMA and kind of how that creates the ecosystem where all of this work can happen?

Jason Wells:

Yeah, certainly. So the original vision of the CMA was to uh set up the uh a center that would uh basically focus on optimization efforts. And what I mean by that is take current and relevant existing technologies, uh become very good practitioners at applying those technologies, and then helping to push those technologies out into industry in order to help uh expedite the adoption of those uh technologies, minimize the disruption uh in order for our industries to stay competitive and to stay very robust and move out, move forward and progress. That was the original vision. Um, as Irena mentioned early on, as we were standing that up and communicating that vision, at the same time in the background, we had uh engagement with the Navy around the accelerated training and defense manufacturing program, uh the ATDM program, which is our workforce training program. And when they learned about what our vision was for the CMA, it aligned perfectly with their concept or their motive of wanting to uh bring in new technology in the form of additive manufacturing into their supply chain. So fortunately, we had created a facility that was intended to host or house multiple bays that would allow for different technologies to be brought into the space and then uh explored. Um, it aligned fairly well. And luckily, we had the square footage available that uh from the very beginning, uh, before the facility was actually uh able to be occupied and had a CO attached to it, we had already engaged in an agreement with um the Navy and the various partners. Austel is the prime, Phillips uh leading the additive efforts to start to bring technologies into those various bays that we had created in the CMA. And that started the initial concept and structure of the CMA. Um in the two and a half years or so that it's been here, uh it started out with a bunch of empty bays, and and now I'm I'm happy to report that we are pretty much at full occupancy in this building. So uh we are definitely filled up and and looking for opportunities to expand out further on the campus here. But um, I can say that we're we're very honored and grateful to host it here on campus. Um we uh also are uh we create some connective tissue between our workforce training program for the Navy, which is the ATDM program, and the COE. And because they coexist on the same campus next to each other, that's a really unique value proposition for the future workforce that we're training, um, as well as the future technologies that we're exploring, you know, on the COE side. So uh some really good synergies there. Um and it's it's been fantastic because it teaches our team also how to collaborate and cooperate and coexist with other organizations within the COE space. Um, so it's been a fantastic experience thus far.

Jon Harrison:

There were some really smart Navy leaders, whether it was Admiral Papano or Matt Sermon or Whitney Jones, that recognized something unique about Danville and something that we had seen from our partnership with uh the Danville Community College and the IALR team to locate this AM Center of Excellence adjacent to the Accelerated Training for Defense Manufacturing Program. Why I say that is workforce is very critical, and uh we've had the good fortune of uh having some interns that were graduates of the ATDM program work within our base on some of the additive equipment, and what we find uh the graduates um are motivated graduates, uh they have good work ethics, they understand um how to communicate and how to learn. And we we've been fortunate enough to hire a few of them. I know that every partner in the consortium has hired at least one ATDM graduate for for the efforts that we're doing down there, and and uh it's a testament to that program and the foresight of the Navy to locate the COE right next to the ATDM program.

Jason Wells:

No, I appreciate you uh recognizing that, John, and we definitely appreciate uh all the partners. Hiring our students for sure, but um it it you know, like they say, it takes a village. So, you know, everybody who's a partner in the COE is very much has a hand and an influence in our workforce training program and ATDM as well. So again, going back to the earlier statement of everybody bringing a a level of expertise to the table, that's uh also a huge advantage to have those experts to tap into on curriculum and training and different things like that. And we learn things in the COE that really benefit us in then pushing that into curriculum as we're discovering things that we feel are gonna be important for these students to succeed when they get out into the workspace.

Caleb Ayers:

ATDM is the coolest. And I the more the more that I think about that program, that's that's my conclusion. Um I think what you guys are doing in the AM CoE is also the coolest. We'll put those right here.

Jason Wells:

The COE is super cool. We just got to be a little more quiet about it. Sure.

Caleb Ayers:

So just for the last few minutes before we go, what have been wait, because Jason, you said it's been two two and a half years roughly since so what what have been kind of the biggest lessons learned, challenges faced, um, those those types of things for the COE during that time, whether that be something technical, whether that be something in learning how to work together as a as a group of companies. I mean, what have been some of the kind of the biggest lessons learned takeaways over these last two and a half years?

Jon Harrison:

I think you identified, Caleb, challenges of five companies coming together with different cultures and different approaches. But you know, my takeaway is that um we're all had by this mission to help the Navy support uh production of submarines and in-service parts and components across the marine industrial base. And whenever there's conflict, we always remember that our real mission is to support that warfighter and provide them the best technology, uh, equipment that's in good working condition to make sure that they have what they need to complete their mission. And as long as we continue to uh remember that that's the most important thing we do, the conflicts that we have seem very minor and we work through them.

Jason Wells:

That's an excellent point, John. I mean, I think you know, when you have uh a mission and when you know you're doing the right things for the right reasons, um, it's a lot easier to create that, you know, collaborative environment and set aside, you know, any kind of um selfish wants and needs because you know the mission is much bigger than any of us. And you know, that's that's a real kind of North Star that we can all point towards for sure.

Ereina Avery:

You know, back to the whole force side of the the Navy in in starting this mission two and a half years ago, they knew that it would not be easy, right? They needed an an incubation space with the right partners to start it. And it's a small example of like the the global mission of this, right? Is supporting the warfighter. Um, and so we test it in this small little environment, and we you realize the breadth of it, the amount of people that it takes, right? We didn't even talk about the amount of welding engineers and material scientists that are in the background trying to figure out like whether this is an equivalent technology. They're they're out there, they are feeding us all this information, they're asking us to make test samples. You know, of course we're making parts too, but we're also um making a lot of different shapes and coupons and things that have to go through tests because it's not just the part. Everybody on the waterfront and everybody in new construction, they need to know that this is not going to endanger all of the people who are on board these ships and boats. And so there is a much larger effort in order to make this um scale and it is working. Um, but it is a challenge, and it's not easy for it to have happened um with all these small groups working outside of Danville. And so I think that that is like the takeaway here is that all the work that we're doing, it might be on a small scale, but it is going to reach out and support the U.S. Navy.

Jason Wells:

I think uh one of the things Irina just said that's really important is um this isn't an RD effort. You know, this isn't a science project. Uh, this isn't, you know, us trying to, you know, chase moonshots or reinvent things. You know, in a traditional RD environment where you may take years to mature something, we don't really have that luxury. So um we're very much flying the plane, we're building the plane as we're flying it, I guess is the best way to put it. Um, but it's it's this is you know, we're operationalizing, you know, the technology immediately and then trying to push it out into industry in real time. So um that requires our teams here, which are phenomenally talented and phenomenally dedicated, as John pointed out, the the whole venture over a Christmas break of getting a part out. But um it's just that operationalizing technology on behalf of our of the Navy and the nation, it really um takes a special group of people. So um, and then capturing, you know, I'll go back to what I said earlier about having that end-to-end capability. I can't express how important that is um because there, you you know, as John indicated earlier, you can print something and think, okay, this looks great. It looks like it's supposed to look, and then you go and machine it and it's absolute mission failure. You know, so it's that having that whole ecosystem to take into account so that you don't only get partway down the road. We're getting to the whole destination. So again, we can operationalize this technology. Caleb, I'm reminded of a quote.

Jon Harrison:

Uh, I think, Jason, you were in this meeting. Um, Arena, you might have been there as well. Rear Admiral Papano is in with a bunch of the engineers from the Navy, and we're in the room, and we're trying to figure out how to come through proving that this additive part is as good as a casting part. And there were some skeptics in the room saying, No, we can't do this. Uh, well, we'd have to do this, and it would take this much longer. And you could see Admiral Papano's frustration, and finally he slams his hand on the desk and says, damn it, don't tell me no. Tell me how. And, you know, that quote now hangs in the COE as a reminder that we're there to help find solutions to problems, find ways around roadblocks, um, and not tell people no, figure out a way to get the how.

Caleb Ayers:

That's awesome. What a great, what a great mission to not tell anyone no, to just tell them how. I like that. On that note, I think that is all the questions that I have. But I really appreciate you guys being here today. I think this is such a um such a cool project, I guess it would would be the word for it, that that you guys are involved in to um ensure as you said, it's all about it's all about the warfighter. It's all about making sure that these Navy personnel have adequate ships and submarines that will keep them safe, protect them, and and um remain in use as long as they should. So um just such a cool, such a cool project that you guys are involved in. But is there anything else that that you would want to add or think it's important that people know before we go?

Jason Wells:

I'd like to add one thing, Caleb, is just to emphasize the talent that's in this uh building. Um, you know, there's folks like uh Jared Springer and Phil Burton and uh Jeremiah Williams, and you know, the list goes on and on of folks that just when you combine the actual years of hands-on experience. I'm not talking in labs, but I'm talking working uh in the trades and in the various disciplines that they're in. It is hundreds of years of experience um that are being brought together and applied in this particular effort. And um, it's just real inspiring to work around people like that that are bringing uh all the a lifetime of experience to the table to try to put behind this mission and help with this mission. So um just really want to emphasize that because uh it's just a real honor to to have my office here in this building and be able to interact with those folks on a regular basis.

Jon Harrison:

Appreciate the opportunity to to speak with you, Caleb, and uh always appreciate the partnership of the the group of speakers on this on this call.

Caleb Ayers:

Well, thank you guys for being here. We appreciate it.

Jon Harrison:

Thank you.

Caleb Ayers:

Thank you, Caleb. Appreciate it.