Eurostep, a developer of standards-based PLM solutions, has received an interesting order from Damen Shipyard's shipbuilding division, Damen Naval.
Eurostep, a developer of standards-based PLM solutions, has received an interesting order from Damen Shipyard’s shipbuilding division, Damen Naval. The Damen Group is one of the major European players in the industry, with a global business that in 2020 generated revenues of $2.1 billion. Today’s announced order is for Eurostep’s ShareAspace software, which was chosen to support Damen Naval to request, receive and review technical information from hundreds of suppliers and subcontractors in its ship programs.
What makes this contract particularly interesting—in addition to being a major deal for Eurostep—is that in 2017 the Netherlands-based Damen Shipyards Group announced its investment in Dassault Systems’ PLM platform, 3DEXPERIENCE. Now, more than four years after that announcement was made and five years after the deal was signed, Damen Shipyards is choosing to invest in another solution for communication with its suppliers within the shipbuilding division.
In today’s article, I will dig deeper into Damen Naval’s 3DEXPERIENCE and ShareAspace deals, which reveal what appears to be one of the “inevitable truths” in swapping PLM platforms: that it is a time-consuming process that often goes well beyond the meticulously planned implementation predictions and plans. This is a story about taking some steps forward, but also about setbacks that it takes time to get around—and even some problems that proved impossible to solve and required investments in new software, of which the Eurostep deal is an example. New systems meeting old ones can result in an unforgiving environment and five years after Damen Shipyard Group signed the 3DEXPERIENCE deal, it is only partly implemented.

A Diversified Software Landscape
In the case of Damen, like many other major OEM’s, the company has a number of different systems. It’s a diversified IT landscape. Some examples include software from Nupas, Microstation and Autodesk on the CAD side, while PLM/cPDm/PDM are being run in combination with Siemens Teamcenter Engineering at Damen Naval. In the latter case, this is despite the fact that in 2016 they decided to bet on Dassault’s 3DEXPERIENCE.
On the other hand, the 3DX platform is what Damen Naval decided to consolidate on. As of today, the Damen Yachting division—around for at least four years after the decision to sign on—has been the first to step on 3DEXPERIENCE, but not as a general platform. Rather, the usage has been oriented to specific new projects, and to limited areas such as some of the larger Amel luxury yacht models.
But even here, it will take time before the whole platform comes into full use. It is also the case that the implementation and use of the new platform has encountered a number of problems. According to my informants within the organization, while the basic design works well, they have had certain issues with using the platform for detailed design and solutions for manufacturing preparation.
Hard To Live Up to Promises
When the 3DEXPERIENCE deal was first announced (2017), Dassault wrote in a press release that its PLM platform could, “handle complex projects digitally, collaborate across the organization and effectively plan manufacturing, as well as being able to virtually explore alternative design scenarios.”
One conclusion to draw here is that if Dassault’s 3DEXPERIENCE platform had been able to fully live up to this statement, then Damen Shipyards would hardly have needed another collaborative platform.
Obviously, a new solution was needed, and the order went to Eurostep—certainly a feather in the cap of the Swedish software developer’s PLM solution, ShareAspace.
With today’s announced order secured, Eurostep has notably established several important “bridgeheads” in the maritime and naval defense areas. We have earlier reported on major deals with British BAE Systems, the Canadian Navy, Saab Kockums shipyard and now also Damen Shipyards Naval. In addition to this, Eurostep has both small, medium and large customers in several different industries, such as automotive, aviation and defense, energy, high technology, AEC and facilities.
More Complex Ship Solutions
The shipping industry has become increasingly competitive and complex, with a growing need to conduct its supplier business in a smooth and technologically advanced manner. Leading shipbuilders such as Damen Naval are advanced in several ways, particularly when it comes to system integration and platforms that meet high demands on performance, sustainability and industrial cooperation. In this, the shipbuilding industry needs to meet the market’s requirements for customized vessels and new business models in order to remain competitive. The result is that complexity increases as the industry tries to keep up with current trends.
“Here, collaboration with external partners and suppliers is becoming increasingly important,” says Harm Dekker, head of purchasing at Damen Naval. “Damen’s software suppliers are all specialized in their disciplines, and we appreciate the commitment from Eurostep and their focus on collaborative solutions. The choice of ShareAspace is an important step in developing our capacity to make us even more competitive.”
Eurostep’s Simon Pettersson, head of the defense industry, adds that the choice of ShareAspace will enable Damen Naval to improve and promote cooperation with suppliers and partners, and introduces state-of-the-art data sharing features, while managing and securing access to intellectual property rights and information restriction where this is required.
“We are extremely proud to have Damen Naval as a customer,” asserts Pettersson. “During the work leading up to this announcement, we have been impressed by the vision and commitment shown by Damen Naval, the willingness to strengthen its ability to work together and drive the process to go beyond how supplier integration is traditionally done in the marine industry.”

35 Shipyards and Around 12,000 Employees
The background context is that Damen Naval is not a small fish in the industry. In fact, it is the major dedicated marine shipbuilding industry of the Damen Shipyard Group, which brings together all the group’s marine activities, both in the Netherlands and abroad. The company is also the only marine Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) in the Netherlands, containing 35 shipyards globally and 12,000 employees in almost 20 countries worldwide.
When it comes to product development, as initially stated, the group has been working for some time in Dassault’s 3DEXPERIENCE environment, with digital 3D models and with a product life cycle management approach based on the industry solutions “Designed for Sea,” “Winning Bid for Sea,” “Optimized Production for Sea” and “On Time to Sea” which integrate sales, marketing, design, construction, manufacturing and service.
But as always when it comes to complex PLM projects like this, it has not been a walk in the park. Things take time to implement in advanced projects. In this case, the 3DEXPERIENCE solutions were booked in 2016 (published in 2017), but do not seem to have started being used to a more extensive extent until 2020, and then only in specific projects.

Aiming at the 3DEXPERIENCE Environment, But How Far Have They Come?
It probably comes as no surprise that implementation processes in highly IT diversified, technologically complex and globally spread companies take time to carry through. In the case of the Damen Group, they have been aiming to use Dassault’s 3DEXPERIENCE environment for five years, but so far this has only involved specific projects.
Dassault writes in a press release from September 2020 that, “Damen Shipyard Group’s Damen Yachting will apply the 3DEXPERIENCE platform to certain constructions within its Amels Limited Editions range of superyachts for basic construction, detailed construction and manufacturing preparations.”
When I asked Dassault about how far they have advanced, the answer was that, “A further update on the project is that Damen Yachting is further deploying 3DEXPERIENCE on the 80-meter Amels A80 superyacht, and is planning to use it for the Amels A60 and A50 superyacht series as well.”
Since Damen Shipyard Group became a customer of Dassault Systèmes in 2016, step by step the company has, “expanded the use of the 3DEXPERIENCE platform for design and technology, information management and collaboration as part of its focus on design optimization as well as more sustainable production methods and working methods,” according to the same press release.
Moreover, today Dassault asserts that, “the Naval division within the Damen Shipyard Group has implemented the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, while the group examines future expansions to other business units as part of its business transformation.”
Exactly what this implementation means, however, is unclear. My sources claim that Damen Naval, after some hesitation, decided to use 3DEXPERIENCE in the early stages of the advanced and complex MKS 180 program. Also referred to as F126 frigate, this is a new multi-purpose combat ship being developed for the German Navy to replace its Brandenburg class frigates by 2028.
This decision was based on the fact that in the early stages, Damen Naval only needed to exchange information and 3DEXPERIENCE could handle this basic exchange and management of files. However, given that Dame has now decided to bet on Eurostep and ShareAspace, it looks as though Dassault’s platform wasn’t sufficient and Damen had to find an alternative solution to be able to get hold of and read the necessary files. In turn, this is an indication that Siemens’ Teamcenter Engineering solution still plays a key role for the existing naval programs.

An Intricate Choice of Words
Generally, the formulations in Dassault’s press releases and statements to me are carefully and cautiously worded. This raises questions and creates ambiguity, which can be due to several things. One reason could be that they have not come as far in the implementation work as was planned; another could be that Dassault doesn’t want—or are even not allowed—to say more than they do out of business relationship reasons. According to my interpretation, this means that the large division within the group, Damen Naval, still uses the 3DEXPERIENCE solutions to a marginal extent.
On the other hand, since September 2020 Damen Yachting has implemented and used Dassault’s platform for one ship, is further deploying 3DEXPERIENCE on the 80-meter Amels A80 superyacht, and is planning to use it for the Amels A60 and A50 superyacht series. Otherwise, specifically when it comes to the Naval division, the picture is unclear as to which other parts of the group use the 3DEXPERIENCE platform.
All in all, the recent announcement from Eurostep should be seen in light of this development. Reasonable conclusions are that enterprise, cross-company and supplier collaboration are about significantly more than collaboration around CAD data. Moreover, it looks like Dassault and its implementor have had some problems getting the platform up and running in the broader group context.
This, in turn, left some windows of opportunity open, and Eurostep took the initiative to climb right through.
My take is that Eurostep’s ShareAspace will be able to play an important role.