Austal, Curtin University and AMCRC Launch Framework to Guide AM Adoption in Australian Maritime Defense

• Austal, Curtin University, and the Additive Manufacturing Cooperative Research Centre (AMCRC) have launched a $600,000 joint research project aimed at helping Australia’s maritime and defense sector determine where additive manufacturing (AM) actually makes sense to use. The 18-month project will produce a structured framework for evaluating components against operational, commercial, technical, and regulatory criteria, moving…

Austal, Curtin University, and the Additive Manufacturing Cooperative Research Centre (AMCRC) have launched a $600,000 joint research project aimed at helping Australia’s maritime and defense sector determine where additive manufacturing (AM) actually makes sense to use. The 18-month project will produce a structured framework for evaluating components against operational, commercial, technical, and regulatory criteria, moving the industry beyond one-off AM use cases toward a scalable methodology capable of assessing potentially thousands of parts. From Proof of Concept to Structured Evaluation For Austal, which serves as prime contractor for the US Navy‘s AM Centre of Excellence, the framework represents a shift in how AM decisions get made internally. Rather than identifying individua