Croatian company Velum Nautica found relief in the Massivit 3D printer

The leading Croatian maintenance and repair facility, Velum Nautica, can boast of something truly rare, as it is one of only three companies on the "Old Continent" that can boast of using the Massivit 3D printer to transform its custom component manufacturing capabilities and replacement of rare parts. Using many years of experience in the production of composite materials, they connect the two technologies and thereby additionally strengthen the objects obtained with Massivit if necessary.

The company is based near Marina Kaštela in Croatia. It specialises in all types of construction work on vessels, works to quality standards and is a strong believer in investing in new technologies and training its employees through advanced seminars. One of the problems Velum Nautica regularly faces is sourcing spare parts for custom vessels, as well as accommodating customers’ wishes for modifications to production boats. Kate Popovac, co-owner of Velum Nautica explains: “We are manufacturing all types of parts for ships and shipping companies from across Europe and partners of Jeanneau, Hanse and the Croatian Regulation Authorities. We have many large fabrication projects and were looking for a way to speed up the time they take to deliver – that’s why we bought a Massivit 3D printer.

“This solution addresses the main challenges of a marine manufacturer – time, supplies and labour costs. Traditional methods lead to more waste, and we’ve found we can fabricate items using one person rather than the five or even 10 needed for wooden moulds. When the printer is operating, our workers can turn to other projects, which also saves time.”

Peter Ivanovic, Velum Nautica’s head engineer continues: “When I came across the Massivit 3D printer, it shocked me with its simplicity, precision, and the speed that it printed. Until now, marine manufacturers lost a lot of time and money producing moulds and a lot of material was wasted. With traditional methods, we needed around a week and a half to produce moulds for a motor yacht mast. But with the Massivit 3D printer, we need around eight hours to print it.

”In the marine industry, achieving symmetry is difficult and clients usually come with different ideas that are sometimes complicated to produce. With the printer, we can easily achieve complex shapes symmetric and precise models every single time. Marine manufacturers can fear new technologies, but with the newest developments in additive manufacturing, it becomes easy and even necessary to use these methods. There is nothing that comes even close to the size and speed at which our Massivit 3D printer can produce new parts.”