Bringing Additive Manufacturing to field operations, Fieldmade’s role in DISCMAM
- Fieldmade aims to develop a digital thread tailored to the defence sector’s requirements, leveraging sensor and measurement data to minimize the need for on-site expertise.
During the initial phase of DISCMAM, the technological activities conducted by the partners have been crucial for ensuring the project’s direction and positioning. In this early period, Fieldmade has been actively involved. As a technology leader specializing in deployed powder-based additive manufacturing (AM) systems, Fieldmade’s expertise has been essential in defining requirements and validating solutions developed in the project. Their ongoing involvement in the coming years will remain a key factor of the project’s success.
Fieldmade, at the forefront of technological advancements in the defence sector
Fieldmade is a Norwegian technology company specializing in mobile digital production methods and digital value networks in the energy, mining, shipping and defence sector. The company has extensive in-house engineering competencies for reverse engineering and design for additive manufacturing. This expertise supports the efficient operation of its deployable AM micro factories, known as the NOMAD® Series.
DISCMAM benefits from the support of a highly skilled team at Fieldmade. Each member contributes valuable expertise to ensure the achievement of the project’s objectives. In the management area, Nina Rooijakkers, from the Digitalization team, oversees the project from Fieldmade’s end. Meanwhile, Nils Knofius, Head of Digitalization, has a crucial role on the project management board. He ensures that DISCMAM’s objectives are aligned with Fieldmade’s broader Research & Development (R&D) goals.
On the technical side, Tobias Rønneberg, Head of Quality at Fieldmade, is responsible for coordinating the technical work conducted in the project. Additionally, Josh Corps, Product Design and Development Engineer at the company, leverages his extensive experience in the military sector. Corps provides indispensable insights into typical usage scenarios of additive manufacturing within the military domain. His expertise also helps identify requirements for future usage scenarios unique to the defense sector. This enables the DISCMAM project to develop highly tailored solutions for this field.
Requirements for a digital thread and AM application scenarios
Fieldmade, with its goal to bring additive manufacturing to the field, offers a specific background that enables defining requirements and validating solutions developed in DISCMAM.
As Rooijakkers explains:
“In the project, Fieldmade’s focus is the development of a digital thread tailored to the defence sector’s requirements, as well as leveraging sensor and measurement data to minimize the need for on-site expertise”.
At the project’s outset, the company played an important role by supporting the consortium to define application scenarios of additive manufacturing in the defence sector that each come along with a set of unique challenges. For example, enabling additive manufacturing during a peace keeping mission poses different requirements than during times of conflict. Additionally, the company was responsible for setting the requirements for the digital thread, which can be significantly different from the civilian sector. For instance, several application scenarios cannot rely on a steady connection. This requires the use of autonomous data spaces that can be synchronized on-demand.
R&D activities and value chain collaboration
As a technology company, Fieldmade has the responsibility to stay at the forefront of technological advancements. Recognizing this commitment, Fieldmade puts large emphasis on R&D activities that are partially supported via European and national funding. Across the board a key success factor is the close collaboration with the user. To that purpose, the company regularly seeks opportunities to reassess their priorities and determine the most effective technological approach.
Given Fieldmade’s position to collaborate closely with partners across the value chain, our partner offers deep insights into practical challenges to the DISCMAM project.