Riding the digital wave in ship building

The Damen Group has designed and built ships for almost a century, and its business has never stood still. The group is embracing digitalization to improve internal operations and help clients optimize the efficiency, reliability and profitability of their vessels throughout their operational lives.

For Damen’s Services division, a recent digitalization challenge was to improve consistency and transparency in vessel configuration. Damen builds ships in series, using largely standardized designs based on templates. These configuration templates are used in ship construction and form the basis for the crucial information handed over to ship owners upon delivery.

Thijs van Dorssen, Lead of Digital Tooling at Damen Services, says, “We were tracking configuration information in slightly different ways across different teams. It made sense to find one common source and one common application to capture these configurations for use by all.”

As a first step, the organization aimed to standardize its approach to managing configuration data so it could maintain a single, consistent source of information. Damen then planned to extend the scope of the solution to include more types of data and facilitate the sale of new services to its clients. This approach would make it possible, for example, to proactively reach out to clients with offers for replacement parts and maintenance services as their vessels aged, helping Damen build longer-lasting, more valuable relationships.

For a project of this magnitude, Damen needed an enterprise-grade solution. After reviewing several asset management solutions, the organization landed on the IBM® Maximo® Application Suite.

Thijs van Dorssen explains, “IBM Maximo is a huge name in the industry. It was at the right spot on the Gartner Quadrant and ticked most boxes for us. Importantly, Maximo also had the potential to grow with all the modules and applications it offered.”

Damen soon began working with an existing partner to draw up a plan for the solution’s design and deployment. However, when the partner quoted an implementation fee that was out of the organization’s reach, Damen set out to find an alternative. The search led the organization to LAMA Empowerz, an IBM Business Partner that had extensive experience with IBM Maximo solutions since 2006.

Arnout Jorritsma, Manager of Asset Management Design at Damen Services, recalls, “LAMA Empowerz didn’t just offer an attractive price, they were also willing to take our existing plan and make it work for us through collaboration. We liked that they were big enough to bring great expertise with Maximo, and small enough to be flexible.”

Working with LAMA Empowerz, Damen centralized its configuration data for vessels using Damen Maintenance Management Solution (DMMS) built with the IBM Maximo Application Suite. Next, using the Preventive Maintenance module of IBM Maximo Manage, the team built an application that calculates the potential operational hours of each vessel over a three-year period. The application then suggests parts that are likely to be required in the future. The solution empowers Damen to provide clients with a quote for replacement parts up front when delivering a new vessel.

By centralizing vast volumes of data related to vessels, configuration templates, replacement parts and more on DMMS for the first time, Damen and LAMA Empowerz have developed a suite of applications that enable the company to maximize its maritime assets.

One example is a lifecycle cost calculator Damen can use to calculate the total running costs of a vessel over its lifespan based on key information, such as hours of use, fuel, docking, labor costs and maintenance costs. Damen and LAMA Empowerz also connected DMMS with the organization’s Internet of Things (IoT) platform, Triton, using Maximo APIs. Using API-based integrations, the DMMS platform collects sensor information, compares it with each vessel’s maintenance plan and then automatically triggers maintenance jobs.

It's not just Damen that gets to embrace the power of DMMS firsthand; the company can now offer its clients the option to handle maintenance for individual vessels or even their whole fleet using DMMS extended with IBM Maximo Mobile. DMMS also acts as a data source for the MyDamen portal, where Damen’s clients can access a wealth of information, including service manuals and technical drawings for all equipment on board.

Fokko Verburg, Operations Director at Damen Services, notes, “We’ve always made this information available to customers, but previously it required integrations with dozens of different systems. Now, DMMS powered by IBM Maximo is the main source for all configuration data, which makes it much easier for us to serve it up to customers and help to ensure information accuracy.”

Today, Damen manages configurations for more than 2,700 vessels on DMMS built with IBM Maximo. With this newfound visibility into its asset base, the organization can coordinate day-to-day operations more effectively and accurately. As Fokko Verburg explains, “Moving toward intelligent asset management with DMMS gives us a more reliable way to figure out if maintenance is being done and when, which helps us mitigate risk in our contracts.”

DMMS is also helping Damen grow its services business and maximize the customer lifetime value. Now that DMMS is integrated with the MyDamen portal, it’s easier for customers to explore extra available services and identify the parts and maintenance their vessels may require. They also have a smoother path to purchase those services from Damen.

Arnout Jorritsma adds, “DMMS powered by IBM Maximo is helping us move toward a model where we stay close to clients over the lifetime of their ships. Now that we have insight into the configurations of our installed base, we can better predict when certain components will require repair or become obsolete. This creates big opportunities for us to offer additional services and spare parts to those vessels.”

Damen’s journey with DMMS is only just getting started. The organization will continue to work with LAMA Empowerz to extend the platform to new areas of business and enhance its capabilities. By rolling out IBM Maximo Mobile as a tool for its field technicians, Damen aims to bring service levels to an even higher standard. This offering will enable Damen’s technicians to email job reports directly from the mobile app and its customers to approve work with a digital signature. Damen is also working with IBM developers to enhance the Mobile Inspections capability by introducing reports on inspection results, which can be shared with customers.

Thijs van Dorssen concludes, “DMMS powered by IBM Maximo is really maturing in our organization. It’s becoming increasingly essential to asset identification and management—not only in Damen Services, but across our global business. We are looking forward to making the most of all the possibilities on offer. Already, we’re working with IBM and LAMA Empowerz to co-develop an AI-infused configuration management assistant, using IBM watsonx Orchestrate™ as part of DMMS. We anticipate that this will allow us to create more vessel configurations in less time and at lower cost and cover more products throughout the year.” 

In 1927, two brothers started building boats from a small wooden shed on the Merwede river in the Netherlands. From those humble origins, the Damen Group (link resides outside of ibm.com) has grown into a shipbuilding powerhouse, operating more than 55 shipyards, repair yards and related companies worldwide. Every year, Damen builds and delivers more than 175 vessels, from ferries and tugboats to superyachts and warships.