Overview
- Huntington Ingalls Industries and HD Hyundai began a pilot deployment Wednesday of HD Hyundai’s intelligent mechanized welding systems at Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Mississippi.
- The machines automatically scan workpieces, correct welding position in real time and capture process data to support quality control and traceability.
- Ingalls says the equipment has been checked for compliance with existing U.S. Navy fabrication standards and will be evaluated for safety and efficiency gains in unit-fabrication areas that are now mostly manual.
- The pilot grew from a 2025 memorandum of understanding and recent technical exchanges that let engineers map where HD Hyundai’s welding tech could integrate with HII’s existing automation.
- HII frames the test as part of a wider push—including the HYPR initiative, robotic cells, cobots and digital production control—to raise output, protect welders from hazardous work and build producible, auditable welding records for Navy procurement.