Exeter-based 3D printing specialist Rapid Fusion is leading the manufacturing side of a government-backed project worth £700,000 to reshape the way vessels are designed and built.
Funded through the UK SHORE initiative and delivered by Innovate UK under the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition, the seven-month programme combines artificial intelligence (AI) with large-format 3D printing in a bid to cut costs, accelerate production, and help the maritime sector meet decarbonisation targets.
The centrepiece of the programme is GenDSOM, a framework that applies generative AI alongside simulation and optimisation tools to produce designs that are not only efficient but also manufacturable in practice.
The project’s first application is a crew transfer vessel for the offshore wind industry. Its hull will be refined with the addition of hydrofoils produced using Rapid Fusion’s Apollo robotic printing system, a platform designed to handle large structures at high speed.
Martin Jewell, Chief Technical Officer at Rapid Fusion, said “Additive manufacturing has expanded design freedoms and is rapidly gaining traction for both small components and large structures, including hull forms, in the world of maritime. Yet scalability remains constrained. GenDSOM is going to adopt a modular strategy, breaking designs into manufacturable subcomponents compatible with both traditional and AM processes.”
AI-driven large-scale AM for vessels
The UK’s Maritime Decarbonisation Strategy calls for a 30% reduction in emissions by 2030 and an 80% reduction by 2040. Smaller vessels such as crew transfer ships have been identified as critical to meeting these milestones, making the chosen test case particularly relevant.
By integrating AI-driven design directly with large-format additive manufacturing, the consortium is aiming to demonstrate how digital intelligence and advanced production methods can work in tandem to deliver vessels that are faster to design, cheaper to produce, and significantly more sustainable.
With this in mind, the consortium behind GenDSOM draws on a wide range of expertise: Compute Maritime is responsible for AI development, BYD Naval Architects is leading on vessel design, Siemens Digital Industries Software is providing simulation capabilities, the University of Southampton is contributing optimisation research.
Together, the partners are targeting a 10% reduction in design costs, a 20% decrease in design cycle times, and a 50% improvement in overall efficiency.
Central to that work is Rapid Fusion’s Apollo platform, which operates almost 200 times faster than conventional FDM printers. The system can process hundreds of engineering-grade polymers, as well as custom composites, and allows significant savings by using pellets that are up to 90% cheaper than equivalent filament.
To ensure designs remain practical to build, the company is applying a modular approach that breaks vessels into subcomponents suited to both additive and traditional manufacturing processes. This method accounts for build envelope limits, tolerance stacking, material compatibility, and other factors that typically constrain large-scale production.
The project also makes use of HP Z Workstations, enabling AI models to be trained locally rather than through cloud computing. This not only reduces reliance on external servers but also provides more control over energy consumption, aligning with the wider sustainability goals of the programme.
“Our manufacturing-aware approach ensures designs remains manufacturable while integrating constraints, building envelope limits, support structures, tolerance stacking and material compatibility for instance. All of this will ensure innovative, efficient, and production-ready solutions, while enabling decarbonisation across the design-to-manufacturing lifecycle,” added Jewell.
3D printing in maritime vessels
The GenDSOM initiative is not the only UK-backed programme exploring how additive manufacturing can accelerate maritime decarbonisation. Last month, another consortium launched the Digitally Enabled Efficient Propeller (D.E.E.P) project, which combines 3D printing with digital twin technology to develop smart marine propellers capable of monitoring their own performance.
Also funded through the Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition, it is running a Techno-Economic Feasibility Study to assess the suitability of additive manufacturing methods for the maritime industry, compare them with traditional casting, and outline pathways for classification approval and type certification. A broad consortium contributed expertise in propulsion, materials, digital monitoring, standards, and hydrodynamic modelling to drive both technological advancement and regulatory readiness.
Beyond the UK, navies are also embracing additive manufacturing to improve efficiency. The Indian Navy partnered with 3D printing service bureau think3D to overcome recurring shortages of spare parts for its ageing imported ship machinery by shifting to on-demand additive manufacturing. One key application was the replacement of centrifugal pump impellers, critical components traditionally produced by sand casting with a turnaround of nearly three months.
think3D reverse-engineered the impellers using 3D scanning, CAD modelling, and ANSYS analysis before producing them with HP’s Multi Jet Fusion (MJF) and post-processing with CNC machining and metal bushings. The new process delivered parts in just two days at 40% lower cost and significantly reduced weight, while meeting performance requirements at sea.
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Featured image shows Jake Hand (CEO) and Martin Jewell (CTO). Photo via Rapid Fusion.
