In recent years, the emergence of improved three-dimensional scanning products and software has begun to disrupt various processes at Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS). The technology is evolving at a very rapid pace and we are continuing to develop new uses for it resulting in benefits for nearly all areas of our business. More importantly, we are recognizing it as a major component in our digital transformation and it is impacting how we understand the digital thread. Figure 1 below shows NNS’ quintessential digital thread with areas where laser scanning is impacting the business.

This paper is broken into two sections. The first section, titled Technology Summary, contains an overview of laser scanning technology, how it works, and its current applications. The second section, titled Digital Problem Resolution (DPR) Project Overview, describes our most recent project involving laser scanning technology.