US Navy to Use MAXscan from Creaform to assist Submarine Repair

Online, July 1, 2010 (Newswire.com) - Creaform, a world-class company in 3D technology and engineering services, is proud to announce that the U.S. Navy has chosen to use its Handyscan 3D technology.

Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, will be the first to receive an order of MAXscan scanners, the 2-in-1 photogrammetry laser scanner for large parts developed by Creaform. The other Naval Shipyards-Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Virginia, Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard in Hawaii, and Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington-are assessing the use of the scanners.
The MAXscan 3D laser scanners will be used to scan submarine hulls covered in a special kind of rubber and detect any damage done to the rubber tiles, so that customized replacement parts can be quickly manufactured.

"This is perfect work for the MAXscan," says Charles Mony, President for Creaform. "It's like we actually created the MAXscan for this assignment! Large scale, precision, retrofitting of new parts; every aspect of the work pushes our technology. This type of work confirms the superiority of the Handyscan 3D line-up of handheld laser scanners as a 3D data acquisition system that performs flawlessly under, real-life conditions."

Creaform was one of many companies that were invited to offer presentations and a bid for this procurement contract. The competition was fierce: "It was like the Olympics," says Scott Mitchell, Creaform Regional Sales Manager in the US. "We brought in our specialists to properly demonstrate the entire range of possibilities with the technology. We believe we impressed the Navy engineers with the technical advantages of the MAXscan: it is portable and can acquire data even when the user is bouncing on a lift, it works fast because of the photogrammetry capability, and it offers good precision of up to 50 micrometers.

We also offer excellent downstream software processing options . We don't just sell fancy machines - there is considerable expertise behind our technology."