NEWPORT NEWS, Va., (March 21, 2024) — HII’s (NYSE: HII) Newport News Shipbuilding division partnered with the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences (NCMS) to co-host an Acceleration Summit: Technology Showcase this week in Newport News.

The event, that concluded today, brought together industry and academic partners to share potential innovations in technology to support best practices for construction and maintenance activities in shipbuilding. More than 500 people from 26 organizations participated.

“Innovation is a key enabler to our shipyard transformation efforts, and we are constantly looking for ways to improve our operations to make it safer and more efficient for our shipbuilders,” said Matt Needy, NNS vice president and chief transformation officer. “The purpose of this event was to bring together industry leaders and partners like 3M, Lincoln Electric, Fastenal, and Blast One, key regional suppliers, and other public and private shipyards to find solutions to accelerate our collective performance. I look forward to seeing how quickly we can unlock the potential in the technology we saw this week.”

“We are so appreciative that Newport News Shipbuilding provided this opportunity to bring together so many maintenance and sustainment professionals to this event,” said Debbie Lilu, NCMS vice president, maintenance and sustainment, and business development. “I am confident that this showcase introduced talented leaders and artisans to technologies that will advance the Navy’s strategic readiness.”

As Virginia’s largest industrial employer, NNS is the nation’s sole designer, builder and refueler of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and one of only two shipyards capable of designing and building nuclear-powered submarines for the U.S. Navy.