The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division and Pike District Partnership hosted their first in-person Inaugural Scanner Day (SIDE) event on August 22, 2024, at the Bethesda North Marriott Conference Center in Rockville, Maryland.

SIDE is the first event since the Carderock and Pike District Partnership partnership was announced in July. The goal is to collaborate with small businesses and local organizations in Montgomery County to expand access to Marine opportunities and resources in the region. The event allowed attendees, panelists and companies to network and learn more about the 3D scanning industry.

“We want to add value and bring together various partners, universities and businesses with the Navy so they can discuss their problems and hopefully find possible solutions for the sailors and Marines,” said Matthew Hermann, board chair of the Pike District Partnership.

The event began with opening remarks from event organizers, including Bill Tompkins, President and CEO of the Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation, Lauren “Tink” Hanyok, Carderock’s Capital Tech Bridge Director, Matthew Hermann, Chair of the Pike District Partnership, and Ryan Fisher, Additive Manufacturing Engineer at Carderock.

“It is an honor to sponsor this event,” said Eugene Cornelius, executive director of Pike District Partnership. “We love that Montgomery County is positioning itself in the technology and life sciences space, and what we accomplished today was remarkable. We had the chance to showcase this industry and business to the region.”

The first panel included a discussion from a leadership perspective between Neal Orringer, President of the Applied Science and Technology Research Organization of America, Cynthia Waters, Director of Advanced Manufacturing and Materials at Carderock, and Elissa Trueman, Chief Technology Officer at Carderock, on the benefits of the 3D scanning industry for companies and organizations as experienced leaders.

3D scanning converts a physical object into a digital geometry that can be used for manufacturing, preservation, documentation and analysis. For Major Matt Audette, Advanced Manufacturing Team Lead at Marine Corps Systems Command, 3D scanning allows the Marine Corps to quickly repair tools and parts needed in the field. Noah Matthew Haskit, lead instructor for the Marine Corps Tek Unit, says 3D scanning speeds up the supply chain and makes a unit ready for deployment.

“3D scanning is a technology that will help Carderock achieve greater precision,” Fisher said. “Particularly in conducting testing, confirming that the models we produce truly represent the design elements under review, and accelerating the reverse engineering of components/assemblies for insertion into digital models. This will only help Carderock move faster and deliver better work products that enable the Navy to effectively execute its mission. Choosing the right tool for the job is critical when it comes to using 3D scanning, and understanding the limitations of the technology will help build these capabilities for the Navy.”

After the leadership session, participants could choose between two breakout sessions focusing on reverse engineering and digital metrology.

Reverse engineering panelists Kyle Burdine, Director of Digitize Design, Judah Sher, Reverse Engineering Specialist of GoEngineer, Author Young-Spivy, Business Developer of Direct Dimensions, and Patrick Violante, Program Manager of Naval Surface Warfare Center Philadelphia, discussed the process and use of reverse engineering and how it scans data for the government and various industries.

Digital metrology panelists Gabrielle Williams, Creaform/Peel3D Account Manager, Mathew Johnson and Senior Scanner and Digital Meteorologist Brett Griffith spoke about the challenges of digital metrology and how the process works, with examples of the scanning tools used, such as an optical profiler and a structured light scanner.

After the first breakout session concluded, Michael Raphael, CEO of Direct Dimension, spoke over lunch about how he started his 3D scanning business and the various projects he has worked on, such as providing props for famous action movies or curating historical artifacts for museums.

“One of the very first things we scanned in 1997 was a bronze bust of Rear Admiral George Wallace Melville for Carderock,” Raphael said. “It had almost fallen off its pedestal and they wanted to digitally preserve it.”

After lunch, attendees had the opportunity to participate in another breakout session or network at the industry level where demonstrations from industry partners took place.

For more information about Capital Tech Bridge or upcoming Capital Tech Bridge events, contact Lauren “Tink” Hanyok at [email protected].

Carderock is one of the Navy’s preeminent research and development facilities specializing in critical ship design components and is headquartered in West Bethesda, Maryland. The Carderock Division supports the testing and evaluation of small-scale models of next-generation surface and underwater ships. Carderock’s three focus components are: platform integrity, signatures, and naval architecture and engineering. Carderock, a Naval Surface Warfare Center and a major component and field activity of the Naval Sea Systems Command, is “where the fleet begins” and consists of world-class, state-of-the-art facilities found nowhere else in the world, including the David Taylor Model Basin and the Maneuvering and Seakeeping Basin, and supporting research divisions in Bayview, Idaho; Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Ketchikan, Alaska; Memphis, Tennessee; Norfolk, Virginia; Titusville, Florida; and Silverdale, Washington.
For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/CarderockDivision or https://www.navsea.navy.mil/Home/Warfare-Centers/NSWC-Carderock/.