Perth-based construction tech company FBR is mulling a pivot into the shipbuilding industry, after a successful demonstration of its technology to Samsung Heavy Industries.
Perth-based construction tech company FBR is mulling a pivot into the shipbuilding industry, after a successful demonstration of its technology to Samsung Heavy Industries.
The company told the market this morning it had completed a demonstration with SHI and was moving forward with negotiations for a joint development agreement.
It led to an uptick in the company’s shares, up 15 per cent today to 2.3 cents, but still down on the high of 5 cents experienced in late January, prior to the company revealing it had failed to secure a joint venture with US-based building materials firm CRH Ventures.
SHI is a shipbuilding company in South Korea, which manufactures large commercial vessels including crude oil tankers, container vessels, bulk carriers and offshore floating units.
The announcement comes after FBR first commenced discussions with SHI in April 2024, leading to months of studies of how the company’s Dynamic Stabilisation Technology and Hadrian technology – the automated brick-laying robot – could be adapted to the shipbuilding industry.
And following the demonstration of the adapted DST robot on February 24, the companies have now announced intentions to enter a business agreement to jointly develop, engineer and prototype one or more automated solutions for shipbuilding.
FBR managing director Mike Pivac said the company was delighted to engage SHI.
“This is potentially a very significant adjacent use case for DST, our existing AI vision and QC systems and our shuttle delivery system that has been so successful in the brick laying application,” he said.
Samsung Heavy Industries vice president offshore proposals Antonio Yun said automation projects had the potential to substantially speed up the manufacturing process.
“I saw FBR’s DST technology, and I thought it could be a game changer for the automation of large-scale outdoor manufacturing processes used for material movement and precision positioning activities.”
The potential partnership will buoy the listed company’s shareholders, after a tough start to the year.
Two weeks ago, the company announced it had failed to sign a joint venture agreement with CRH after a 45-day option period.
That update added to a list of partnerships and agreements which have ultimately fallen flat, despite enthusiasm from company executives.
In 2017 the company announced an MOU with Caterpillar, only to discontinue it a year later due to “emerging strategic imperatives”
That was followed by an MOU with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with the stated goal of constructing the walls of 50,000 homes using the Hadrian X by 2022.
But that agreement was terminated “by mutual agreement” in November 2021, when it became clear the timeframe was unfeasible, partially due to COVID restrictions.
There were similar instances in 2019 with Brickworks; 2020 with Mexican building giant GP Vivenda; in 2022 with the United Arab Emirates; and finally, the 2024 CRH Ventures deal.
