WEBINAR: Concept to Sea: Accelerating Marine Innovation with Digital Manufacturing

Kevin Daffey FIMarEST

Chair of the Board of Trustees, IMarEST

Kevin specializes in Engineering Leadership, Naval Systems, Electric Propulsion, Autonomy & Automation. He has 20 years of experience on leading international teams for mission critical engineering applications across a range of industries including Defence, Marine and Aerospace.  Thriving on ambiguity, he has a track record in delivering disruptive business transformation such as major restructuring, business disposal and acquisition. He is board director of two UK companies and Chair of Board of Trustees for Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology (IMarEST). Kevin is Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, IMarEST Fellow, and Chartered Marine Engineer.

Thibaut Jeannerot

Senior Strategic Application Engineer, Protolabs

Meet Thibaut Jeannerot, our specialist in complex CNC machining, injection moulding, and 3D printing projects. Thibaut joined Protolabs in 2019 and brings extensive experience in application engineering, project management, and tackling the challenges of large, complex projects, guiding them from early prototyping through to full production.

Willis Tarn CEng CMarEng MIMarEST

Systems Readiness Engineering Lead, Defence Maritime Sector

Willis is a Senior Transformation and Engineering Leader with over 15 years of experience delivering digital, AI, and data programs within highly regulated maritime environments in the defence sector. Currently serving as a Head of Engineering and Digital Transformation Lead, he specializes in bridging the gap between digital strategy and practical execution to ensure fleet operational excellence.

With a deep background in marine engineering and digital manufacturing, Willis focuses on the practical challenges of accelerating the "concept-to-deployment" lifecycle for maritime assets:

• Accelerating Innovation: He spearheaded the development of a high-performance AI-enabled platform through iterative engineering workflows and advanced sensor fusion.
• Sustainment & Resilience: Willis architected cloud-based data platforms and predictive-maintenance AI that reduced unplanned downtime by 20%, offering a proven model for improving spare-parts resilience and asset availability.
• Digital-to-Physical Translation: A Chartered Marine Engineer (CEng), he has used digital twin simulation models to optimize refit sequencing and translate complex digital designs into high-performance components under real-world operational constraints, including the adoption of additive manufacturing to improve the supply chain.