The Department of the Navy Releases Inaugural Advanced Manufacturing Strategy

Advanced manufacturing refers to innovative technologies which fabricate, repair, rework or reverse engineer parts or components. These include: Additive Manufacturing or 3D-printing, Subtractive Manufacturing, Cold Spray and Directed Energy deposition and coatings removal, Robotics and automation, Data Analytics, and Advanced Machining.

“The leveraging of these cutting-edge innovations will allow the Navy and Marine Corps to maintain dominance,” Guertin said. “The Department will continue to expand advanced manufacturing efforts in order to deliver lethal and affordable capabilities to the warfighter at the speed of relevance.”

The strategy contains three lines of effort to expand DoN’s capabilities. The first line of effort seeks to harness cutting-edge commercial capabilities for strategic advancement. The second and third lines of effort focuses on expanding organic capabilities, modernizing depots, and strengthening warfighter self-sufficiency, respectively. The DoN will work with industry and academia to use, invest and implement advanced manufacturing in the design and production process, and integrate these modern processes into the supply chain. “Forging strong partnerships with commercial manufacturers and collaboration with private-sector entities offers the Department access to cutting-edge technologies, innovation, and efficiency,” said Erica Plath, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Sustainment.

Additionally, the DoN has identified five primary cross-cutting enablers aimed at delivering advanced manufacturing at scale across all lines of effort: governance, manufacturing technology maturity, standards, digital architecture, and workforce development. “When properly resourced and applied, advanced manufacturing has the potential to provide a critical capability to the United States Marine Corps in garrison and to support forward-deployed units. Access to digital data rights is required to enable advanced manufacturing to provide the correct parts at the correct specifications to enhance materiel availability and support requirements at multiple points of need. If properly applied, advanced manufacturing increases the resiliency of the logistics network across the spectrum of day-to-day support and conflict,” said BGen Forrest Poole, Assistant Deputy Commandant Logistics Plans Policy and Strategic Mobility (LP) HQMC.

The Advanced Manufacturing Strategy implements one of the principal recommendations of the Department of the Navy’s Science and Technology Board report on Opportunities for Additive Manufacturing (link) and signals the DoN’s commitment to advanced manufacturing.

Read the full text of the Department of the Navy Advanced Manufacturing Strategy HERE.