Febbraio 21, 2024

Dalla cabina di pilotaggio all'avanguardia

Matt Ort brings 25 years of military experience to the SPEE3D team. During his Naval career, he was an Aviator by trade—but also received several distinguished awards as a Commanding Officer. Matt served as the United States Naval Attaché to Australia from 2019 to 2022, advising the United States Ambassador, the Indo-Pacific Commander, the Pacific Fleet Commander, and the Chairman of the Joints Chiefs on military and naval issues and policies.

Matt has served as a SPEE3D consultant since 2022 and has recently accepted a full-time position as Defence Specialist.

I join SPEE3D at a crucial time.

As geopolitical challenges continue to mount across the globe, the defence industry has never had a greater need for additive metal manufacturing.

The increasing globalization of metal part production and the growing risks associated with supply chains have begun to hamstring military operations, threatening the success of critical missions and the safety of those tasked with completing them.

I can speak to these challenges first-hand.

During my last overseas deployment before I retired from military service, I was deployed on the USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), where one of our sister squadrons was flying legacy Hornets over Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

It only took a single faulty piece of the landing gear—a “non-critical” part that had become obsolete—to down the entire squadron for a significant portion of the 10-month deployment.

It was a part that could have been printed in a few hours.

And it’s a problem that’s become more and more prevalent.

The cause of that problem—or at least the lion’s share of it—can be attributed to supply chains. From costly transportation to complex, time-consuming logistics to the increased threat of cyber attack, supply chains are riddled with risks.

So much so that when I served as the United States Naval Attaché to Australia, I was asked by the Ambassador to identify “supply chain disruptors”—alternative solutions that could help the U.S. and its allies find a faster, less expensive, less risky way to source replacement metal parts.

Which led me to SPEE3D.

Keep in mind that the promise of metal additive manufacturing had been well-known for many years. However, at least in my experience, that promise had been consistently overshadowed by metal manufacturers’ tendency to over-promise and under-deliver.

It was immediately clear to me that SPEE3D was an exception, that we could rise to any challenge and conquer any test—and put actual, useable parts into our customers’ hands in minutes.

As a contractor, I’ve been using my contacts in the U.S. and Australian militaries to open up new opportunities to get our breakthrough technology into the field, where it makes an immediate and profound difference.

And while all I ever wanted was to be a pilot, I couldn’t be more excited to begin the next phase of my career and be part of this company’s future.

There are larger formats to create, new materials to develop, and new problems to solve.

And these solutions will give military organisations around the world true control over metal part production—and true confidence in the quality and availability of those parts.

If you have questions about how our automated cold spray technology can benefit the military or a military application you’d like to discuss, please get in touch at contact@spee3d.com.