NCMS Technology Showcase: Pearl Harbor becomes first ever cross-services showcase
It wasn’t the balmy weather or palm trees swaying in the breeze that attracted over 1,000 attendees to the Pearl Harbor Technology Showcase, after all, in Hawaii tropical paradise is an everyday occurrence. The draw was the 28 companies that brought their innovative maintenance and sustainment technologies that could offer major advances to warfighter readiness.
It wasn’t only the maintainers and leadership from the Pearl Harbor Shipyard who attended. For the first time ever, a Technology Showcase organized by NCMS, became a cross-Service event. While the event was hosted on the Pearl Harbor Shipyard grounds, interested maintenance and sustainment personnel from the nearby Hickam Air Force Base and the Army’s Fort Shafter also saw the value to attend. Base Commander Gregory Burton took time out of his busy schedule to welcome those participating in the event and highlighted some of the challenges that the shipyard faces, including personnel shortages as well as aging and obsolete facilities and machinery.
“Having representatives from the Air Force and Army at the Pearl Harbor Technology Showcase illustrates the critical need for maintenance innovations across the services,” says Debbie Lilu, CTMA Program Director at NCMS. “There was great interest in all the technologies that were on display. As the shipyard prepares for modernization, these technologies could assist with cost savings, improved efficiency, and labor productivity.”
The staff at Pearl Harbor who hosted the event went to great lengths to ensure success. They worked tirelessly on logistics resulting in shipyard maintainers lining up early to discover all that the participating companies had to offer.
“This has been as good a shipyard experience as we’ve ever had!” says Glenn Astolfi, President of Atmospheric Plasma Solutions. “We talked with a lot of artisans whose work we would help as well as command here at the base. There is a huge amount of interest in our technology from the hundreds of people we spoke with over the two days because of the time savings and ease of use.”
For the organizers at the Pearl Harbor Shipyard, putting on a large-scale event such as the Technology Showcase was no easy feat. When asked why they wanted to put forth all the effort the answer came quickly.
“Why we wanted to have this event is all about our people,” says Dan Yamane, Director of Quality Assurance, Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility. “The event, although not an easy one to execute, was focused on taking care of our shipyard maintainers and to provide a Technology Showcase to display technology that could potentially benefit the execution of their workload. Putting on an event like this was by no means an easy one. We were only able to execute such an ambitious event with the help and assistance from NCMS. Working with NCMS to organize this event from the planning phase to execution was great. NCMS handled all aspects of gathering information from the industry participants, including their facility requirements and security information. NCMS does most of the heavy lifting to ensure a smoothly run event.”
The 28 companies that demonstrated their commercially-available applications, equipment, and machinery were (Company – Technology):
Aptima – Confined space monitoring systems
Aspire Solutions – Process guide toolset
Atlas Copco Tools & Assemblies – Compressors, vacuum solutions and power tools
Atmospheric Plasma Solutions – Coating removal and surface preparation technology
Bechtel – Engineering, construction, modularization, sustainability
D & M Hydraulic – Hydraulics and industrial products
Dash Pacific Corporation – Material handling and industrial supplies
DIT-MCO International – Cable and harness testing
Eclypse International – Circuit analysis testing equipment
ECM Global – Industrial measurement, 3D scanning
Elevate Systems – Reverse and re-engineering services
Equipois – Mechanical human augmentation and exoskeleton
FARO – 3D measurement, imaging and realization
GasTops, Inc. – Fluid analysis
Hilti – Power tools, fasteners, and software for construction
Hexagon – Collection and analysis of measurement data
Hydratight – Pipe cutting and machining products
Leica Geosystems – Laser scanners and PCMM
Maglogix – Compact and powerful magnets
MSC Industrial Supplies – Metalworking and maintenance repair products
Perisense – Sensors that provide production floor visibility
PTC – Digital Twin CAD, PLM, IoT, and AR capabilities
ReverseEngineering.com – CAD integrated reverse engineering and measurement
Siemens – Software technology and design AR/VR
Ametek Spectro Scientific, Inc. – Handheld & portable instrumentation for fluid analysis
SurClean, Inc. – Laser coating removal and surface preparation
Temple Allen Industries – Standup abrading machines, deck scaling tool
VRC Metal Systems – Additive manufacturing cold spray technology
To learn more about future Technology Showcases please visit NCMS.org