Raytheon teams with Divergent Technologies to bring digital manufacturing to legacy products

An operator uses a Colibrium Additive M2 laser powder bed fusion machine at the GE Aerospace Additive Technology Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. Divergent Technologies employs laser powder bed fusion as part of its advanced manufacturing system. (Colibrium Additive)

Divergent Technologies has been working with Raytheon, an RTX business, to re-engineer naval products through its Divergent Adaptive Production System (DAPS), the company said in a 13 August statement.

“The relationship has demonstrated a powerful model for modernising long-serving systems across the defence enterprise while maintaining operational relevance against emerging threat profiles,” the statement said.

DAPS

DAPS is a “fully digital production system that allows users to optimise any design for any product without requiring tooling or design-specific fixturing changes”, a Divergent Technologies spokesperson told Janes on 28 August.

The platform brings together generative artificial intelligence (AI) with advanced manufacturing processes, “including large-scale additive manufacturing and fixtureless and robotised assembly” to produce structures that are lighter, stronger, and cheaper, the spokesperson said.

It employs Divergent-developed software modules and hardware systems in a single “end-to-end system that optimally design[s] structures based on customer requirements and feedback rather than manufacturing constraints”, the spokesperson added.

This platform-based approach is “programme and product agnostic”, the spokesperson said. “The entire design and manufacturing process follows the same process steps … all products are designed to be manufactured and assembled using the same tooling”, such as 3D printers and assembly robots, eliminating changeover time between fixtures and tooling, the spokesperson said.

“The manufacturing process is identical regardless of throughput, effectively limiting the risk of scale-up time,” the spokesperson noted.