Damen - Modbus on board

At Damen Shipyards Group, field service engineers fly all over the world to provide service and carry out repairs. In addition to mechanics and electronics, communication networks are becoming increasingly important, with Modbus as the standard protocol. To brush up on their people's knowledge, Damen went in search of Modbus training. The shipbuilder chose itsme because of the customisation and flexibility that the industrial service provider could offer.‘It was not available at this level elsewhere.’

Damen Shipyards Group builds all kinds of ships – such as tugboats, ferries, yachts, coastal vessels and patrol boats – for the civil and military markets. The group has more than thirty operating companies, which serve customers worldwide and also provide services. At the head office in Gorinchem, Theo Ouwehand is responsible for this as service coordinator operations. "Just like with cars, we provide a warranty on our ships. If something breaks, we have to repair it and fly in our engineers. These may be welders, but also electronics engineers or people with expertise in communication networks. Our service department has a total of around 250 people, including fifty field service engineers.

Standard protocol

A ship is essentially one large machine and is therefore full of PLCs, sensors, transducers and controllers for its control system. Modbus is the standard protocol for communication between these components. ‘It is the cheapest network and is used on many systems and components,’ explains Arjen Schutte, technical sales engineer at itsme. ‘It works with simple codes. In the past, you had the two-wire serial version via Modbus RTU (Remote Terminal Unit, ed.); nowadays, it's via Ethernet with Modbus TCP (Transmission Control Protocol, ed.).’

‘We were able to discuss in advance which topics we wanted to cover.’

Knowledge of Modbus is therefore important for engineers who have to troubleshoot faults. Ouwehand therefore went in search of training for his engineers. He was already familiar with itsme from occasional deliveries of components and ultimately chose the industrial service provider for the Modbus training as well. ‘We wanted a tailor-made training course where we could discuss in advance with one of our field service engineers what topics we wanted to cover. Itsme was able to offer this, and I couldn't find anything else at this level.’ Schutte: "They were looking for a basic training course where they could learn about codes and IP addresses, making connections, and so on. The nice thing was that they really asked questions about what they wanted to know. I focused on that as much as possible. When you have a group of four or five people, it may be difficult for one person, while I can go into more depth for another. But I think I've found a good middle ground. The nice thing is that you then see people teaching each other."

Very practical

The biggest challenge was planning the course days, according to Ouwehand. ‘You can schedule them over a longer period, but then you'll find that one of the students has to go to a ship for a job.’ Fortunately, Schutte was very flexible. ‘I don't give standard courses, but always do specials. Of course, I prefer to have a course day planned a week in advance, but if they say they can do it tomorrow, that's no problem for me either.’

‘They can actually see how the codes go back and forth over the line.’

The course is primarily very practical, Schutte reports. "I explain what the protocol entails, how it works, how you can measure it and what you can do wrong. After an hour of explanation, the students can get to work themselves. I have collected pieces of software from all over the place that allow them to send messages over the network themselves and measure what happens. They can see exactly how the codes of the various Modbus functions are sent back and forth between master and slave: if they send this message, they get that response back. They can listen to all of this with the Wireshark tool, which they can download for free on their PC. They receive this software together with the handout for their work."

Really satisfied

The first course was given at the beginning of this year. Ouwehand was pleased with it. ‘My people were really satisfied with what they learned. About half of our fifty field service engineers need to have knowledge of Modbus; we want them all to take the course over the next two years. And if they want to learn more after that, we will come back to itsme to take it a step further.’ Schutte points out, among other things, the importance of cybersecurity, which is only increasing due to the growing threat and recent European regulations. ‘You don't want a ship to become uncontrollable due to a hack.’ Ouwehand is certainly open to it, but that will be up to his successor. “After almost forty years in the navy and twelve years at Damen, I will be retiring soon. I will, of course, hand over my responsibilities in an orderly manner.” For now, thanks to his efforts, Damen is gaining sufficient Modbus knowledge on board through itsme's training.

Check out our other success stories:

Stay up to date with the latest news:

Why not take a look at these trainings we offer: