Brainstorming maintenance Cutterhead Van Oord
Successful brainstorm at Van Oord
On Wednesday 10 February, the professional maintenance department held a brainstorming session together with Van Oord Dredging on the improvement possibilities of a cutterhead of a cutter suction dredger.
At the head office on the Schaardijk in Rotterdam, overlooking the Nieuwe Maas, about 30 invited guests were present for the brainstorming session. Besides KIVI members, students and external interested parties were also present.
Van Oord provides various services including dredging in hard soil. For this, cutter suction dredgers are used. The cutting teeth of the cutterhead have a lot to endure and are subject to considerable wear, depending on the subsoil. The aim of the brainstorm was to generate ideas that would allow Van Oord to keep the cutterhead in operation for longer. The group was composed of non-dredging experts so that they had a fresh perspective on Van Oord's challenges.
Welcome
After a welcome by Oskar Diergaarde on behalf of the KIVI Maintenance Department, Carlo Solleveld, responsible for half the number of vessels at Van Oord, introduced the participants to Van Oord. Following this, Esther Dijkgraaf, production engineer, took the participants through an interactive presentation. Not least because the participants asked Esther many questions that would help them with the brainstorming session.
Brainstorm
After Carlo and Esther's fascinating presentations, Bart Smit of KIVI Maintenance explained the purpose of the brainstorming session: 3 groups were formed and each group dealt with 1 issue. The different issues were:
- Come up with ideas to increase the tool life of a cutting tooth
- Come up with ideas to measure the wear of a tooth ahead of time
- Think of ideas how to increase the operational time of the cutterhead
To elaborate on the ideas from the brainstorm, participants were given a handout containing the technical and financial specifications that helped build the business case. After the brainstorm, the different ideas had to be presented to Van Oord's experts.
Besides the brainstorming, participants also had the opportunity to operate the cutter simulator. This simulator is used for training purposes and is a faithful imitation of a cutter suction dredger. Only the waves were missing but otherwise the participants imagined themselves to be a real dredger.
After the instruction, the groups split up for brainstorming or a visit to the simulator. Esther and Bert Visser, lead engineer dredging and trainer at the simulator, immersed the participants in the 3D world of the simulator. Meanwhile, Oskar and Bart guided the participants through their brainstorming session assisted by Michel Twigt, project manager at Van Oord, for substantive back-up.
Presentation of ideas
After about 1 hour of brainstorming, the ideas were presented. The ideas were presented on flip overs and provided with drawings and sketches. Van Oord's experts certainly saw some nice and interesting ideas that were put forward. The flip charts were carefully rolled up to keep in the safe after which the group left for the drinks.
During the drinks, the ideas came further to life and everyone had the opportunity to get further acquainted with Van Oord. In short, a very successful event.
On behalf of KIVI, we would like to thank Van Oord for the fantastic afternoon. We and the participants thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon. Thank you!
Some reactions from the participants:
"This is very fun and interesting to do", "When is the next brainstorm?", "This is good for my network to do".
Description
Brainstorming Session Maintenance Cutterhead Van Oord
In week 6 2016, on 10 February, KIVI Maintenance is organising a brainstorming session together with Van Oord on the use and maintenance of the cutterhead.
Van Oord specialists will discuss the technology and challenges of this important tool and the critical role it plays in key projects. Participants in this brainstorming session will get an inside look at Van Oord, and will be able to contribute to increasing cutterhead reliability.
A cutterhead is the digging/suction mouth of a dredging vessel and is therefore crucial to the success of dredging projects around the world. Because vessels are deployed all over the world, the challenges are always different and require creative solutions. What these challenges are and how they are solved will be explained by Van Oord's specialists.
Afterwards, it will be up to the audience in small groups to ask critical questions about the existing solutions and suggest new ones. After the brainstorming session, they will present the questions and solutions to Van Oord's specialists.
In addition to this brainstorming session, there will also be the opportunity to experience for yourself in the simulator what it is like to drive the cutter of a dredger.
Target group: students and experienced engineers
The programme (subject to change) is as follows:
15:00 Reception
15:30 Welcome by Van Oord
16:00 Explanation of current challenges and solutions
16:30 Simulator test
17:00 Brainstorm
18:00 Feedback and conclusion
18:30 Drinks
Location
Schaardijk 211, 3063 NH Rotterdam
Organiser
Maintenance
Name and contact details for information
Bart Smit