HII and C3 AI have teamed up to boost shipyard productivity using AI.
The partnership builds on a six-month pilot at HII’s Ingalls Shipbuilding, where C3 AI’s platform optimized work schedules and improved timing. Now, HII is scaling the effort across its two main yards: Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia and Ingalls in Mississippi.
HII runs big Navy programs like Ford-class carriers and San Antonio-class amphibious ships. C3 AI is known for enterprise AI software and holds US Air Force contracts. 
Eric Chewning, HII senior exec, said AI will help balance workloads across machining shops, shifting from spreadsheets and human coordination to dynamic scheduling.
“What AI allows you to do is optimize for how the work flows through the machine shops, based on prioritization of output and how the different inputs are adjusting,”
he said.
“Where those activities may happen today through spreadsheets and conversations among groups of people, now you’re able to take that and have AI help schedule things dynamically.”
C3 AI CEO Thomas Siebel called shipbuilding a prime target for predictive analytics.
“We can apply the latest developments in AI to reduce the time to get a job done, like build a complex machine, like a Ford-class carrier,”
he said.
“So, we have been working together [with HII] very closely and now have entered into a strategic alliance where … we’re going to revolutionize the fundamental foundation of the maritime industrial complex.”
HII CEO Chris Kastner wants to ramp up shipbuilding throughput by 20% in 2025.
This deal signals a push to fuse AI and heavy industry on some of the nation’s hardest defense manufacturing challenges.
