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How can Damen Schelde Marine Services (DSMS) contribute to a cleaner world? That was the question posed during a ‘sustainability day’ organised by Young Damen and DSMS on Monday 8 November. Young Damen is a network and knowledge club of and by Damen employees under the age of 35. Twenty-five young Damen professionals from all over the country gathered in Vlissingen to brainstorm about sustainability for DSMS. But they also got to know Vlissingen and its maritime history, and took part in an early morning boot camp on the beach. DSMS looks back on a successful and pleasant, but above all educational day.
How can Damen Schelde Marine Services contribute to making our planet more sustainable? An interesting and sensible question for a company that supplies parts and services for marine diesel engines internationally. International shipping is one of the most efficient forms of transport worldwide, but building and maintaining those ships costs a lot in terms of both raw materials and energy, as well as producing harmful emissions. During the sustainability day, the group of young Damen employees discussed The Sustainable Future of Damen Schelde Marine Services in small groups; examining which steps DSMS can and must take in the short, medium and long term to embark on a sustainable path, with the aim of becoming the most sustainable company in the sector by 2030.
Particiapants travelled between locations with the 'Zonnetrein', solar-powered miniature train.
At the end of the day, the best idea presented was rewarded with a prize. The participants had already arrived in Vlissingen on Sunday 7 November and got to know each other better during the dinner and evening programme. Managing Director Arnold Suykerbuyk opened the evening with a word of welcome. After dinner, Young Damen gave a presentation on strategic brainstorming and everyone’s knowledge was put to the test with a pub quiz about DSMS, Vlissingen and the De Schelde shipyard from which DSMS originated.
Early on Monday morning, a boot camp was conducted on the beach, where a few diehards even took a refreshing dive into the sea. Among these diehards was organiser Josine Glerum, who has been working for Sales & Marketing at DSMS since August. “Working out on the beach was a good way of building team spirit and getting everyone off to a flying start,” she recalls. The Zonnetrein, a solar-powered miniature train (“sustainable and local transport that matches such a sustainability day very well,” according to Josine) then took the participants to DSMS, where the Management Team gave them a tour of the entire company.
The employees were given a tour of the distribution centre at DSMS.
“Among other things, they saw the distribution centre where more than 10,000 parts are stored and more than 100,000 articles are received and shipped annually. This gave all young Damen employees a good impression of DSMS.” Around ten o’clock in the morning, the group travelled, again by the solar train, to the Zeeland Maritime Museum – muZEEum – where the sustainability day programme started. In small groups, the Young Damen members brainstormed about the case, a process that was steered by the board of Young Damen.
Young Damen members split up in groups for a brainstorming session on sustainability ideas.
During the lunch break, there was time for a museum tour led by Niek Peters, where they learned a lot about the rich maritime and shipbuilding history of Vlissingen. At the end of the afternoon, each group had five minutes to explain its plan for sustainability improvements at DSMS. Each idea presented had to be feasible in the short, medium and long term. The plans were judged on creativity, feasibility and profitability and after careful consideration, the jury – consisting of DSMS MT members – selected the team ‘Smart and Sustainable Future’ as the winner.
“They scored the highest on all three points and had the most complete idea,” Arnold compliments the winners. “This team sketched a future situation that looked at all the processes we are involved with as a company, while retaining DSMS’s identity and core values.” But the jury noticed that the other teams had also come up with very creative solutions. In terms of feasibility and profitability, the jury felt that the ideas were viable mainly in the longer term. “The plans sketched a vision of where DSMS could be by 2030,” Arnold said.
At the end of the day, the teams presented their ideas and a winner was chosen.
The DSMS management team will work with the ideas and suggestions from the sustainability day, including the solutions that did not make it to the presentations. Arnold himself thinks that DSMS can make a sustainable step to the future by developing and gathering the right knowledge. “In theory, you can think of applying the concept of parts as a service, for example, where the complete parts process on board a ship would be managed by DSMS for a predetermined fee or in the form of a subscription.”
Sustainability is an issue Arnold deals with on a daily basis. “There are around 90,000 commercial seagoing vessels sailing the world’s seas, all of which need to be supplied with (engine) parts. In all the proposals and insights that this Young Damen think tank has given DSMS, it seems that the solution to the environmental burden must be found in the area of production and transport of these parts. It is up to DSMS to produce more efficiently in the future and to ship the parts more sustainably and under less time pressure. With this day, a seed has been planted for a sustainable future for our company.”
The event concluded with celebratory drinks at the Belgische Loodsensociëteit.