Norderwerft in Hamburg chose solutions from Digitread Connect to remotely monitor some of its installations, which provided them with immediate benefits.

Norderwerft is part of the Lürssen shipyard group, established in 1875. The group has expanded significantly and now has several shipyards across Germany. Lürssen primarily builds naval vessels, coast guard ships, and some of the world's most luxurious yachts, but at Norderwerft, they do not build ships; instead, they specialize in vessel maintenance.

Testing New Technology

A few years ago, Lürssen started a project aimed at adopting new technology to understand the benefits they could achieve with various digital solutions.

"Compared to many other industries, shipyards have largely used traditional technology, while development and digitalization in industries like the automotive sector have progressed much further.

The purpose of Lürssen's project was to reveal how new technology could simplify daily operations and improve efficiency. Therefore, projects are being conducted at several of the group’s yards. One of these projects was in collaboration with Digitread Connect here at Norderwerft," says Peter Hansmann, the operations manager at the yard.

Starting Small

Digitread Connect’s assignment at Norderwerft was to extract data from two air compressors and a power inverter. The air compressors are used for much of the tooling required for maintenance at the yard, but one problem was that when the compressor overheated, it would shut off automatically without any warning, causing maintenance work to stop. The yard wanted a solution to receive alerts, enabling them to start up the second compressor well in advance before the first one shut down, so operations would not be impacted.

The compressors were already equipped with sensors displaying temperature, pressure, and capacity usage, but the data was only available on the compressor itself. With the help of Digitread Connect, the yard now has access to operational data from the compressors via the YardManager app on their phones. The link between the compressors and the app is Digitread Connect’s in-house data platform, KYB.

"When the data is presented this way, it’s much easier for us to track performance. If the pressure drops too low, or the temperature gets too high, we receive an alert on our phone. This is a great advantage as it gives us much more time to respond if any issues arise," explains Hansmann.

Plug & Play

After Digitread Connect received the necessary specifications for extracting data from the compressors, they tailored a simple and effective solution for retrieving the data.

"The hardware itself was so easy to install that we did it ourselves," Hansmann says.
Digitread Connect then set up the communication solution via the KYB data platform and ensured integration with the YardManager app.

Many people may think IoT projects are costly and extensive, but they don’t have to be. In this case, the compressors and power inverter were already generating data. With such a starting point, it was a short step to make the data accessible and display it in an app that the customer could quickly put to use.

"It might not seem very advanced to send data from a machine to a smartphone, and perhaps it isn’t. But for us, the important thing is not the underlying technology but the fact that this solution has made our daily work much easier and more predictable. This solution also makes it much simpler to anticipate necessary maintenance and stay ahead," Hansmann says.

The Digital Shipyard

At Norderwerft, they are very satisfied with the solution that Digitread IoT has helped them implement. The next step is to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of all digitalization projects across the entire Lürssen group before management makes a final decision on the way forward:



"The outcome will be exciting. Perhaps we will continue with more small projects, identifying other areas we can monitor around the yard’s installations. But it may also be that the conclusion will be to think big, and that we will monitor the entire yard," concludes Hansmann.