Norfolk Naval Shipyard (NNSY) held its second annual Technology Showcase at the shipyard’s Production Training Facility from May 22-23, 2024. More than 50 vendors were in attendance to display their products and provide demonstrations to employees. Each company shared new technologies that will benefit both ship repair and maintenance.
“The demands on the Navy have increased significantly and there is only so much time that ships can be here for maintenance and repairs before they need to return to sea and head out to their next mission,” said Capt. Zip Mossman, shipyard commander. “We need to get the job done as quickly, efficiently and effectively as possible.”
Mossman continued: “The shipyard has an incredible workforce of talented, energetic and passionate people. To be successful in our mission as a shipyard, we need to give them the tools to work more efficiently and effectively.”
Exhibitors at the exhibition offered a wide variety of products and services supporting shipyard maintenance and repair.
“All of these efforts are geared towards putting our maintainers at the center of the world, demonstrating new technology and capabilities to our workforce within NNSY and then working with shops and codes after the showcase to source some of the things that we think could be beneficial to our ship repair and maintenance efforts,” said Matt DeLong, director of innovation and technology adoption at Norfolk Naval Shipyard.
“I think the best part about Tech Expo is the number of great products, like laser ablation and 3D printing, that are shown and requested at shop meetings to help mechanics be more productive,” said Casey Pierce, mechanic at Inside Machine Shop (Shop 38).
“The focus of the Technology Showcase is on the mission of returning repaired ships and submarines to the Navy’s nuclear fleet on time,” said Thomas Staskin, business process consultancy lead at Norfolk Naval Shipyard. “These new technologies will help the shipyard achieve its mission.”
“There’s a lot of great information at the Tech Expo that more people should attend,” said Donovan Beal, mechanic at Inside Machine Shop, Shop 38. “There’s helpful things on display like 3D printing and confined space gas monitoring systems that could save a lot of lives.”
This year’s Technology Showcase was a huge success, and we hope you’ll join us next year with your team!
