World Dredgers GmbH & Co. KG
The team of World Dredgers GmbH & Co. KG is your specialist for suction dredger designs and constructions and all related spare parts destined for the lucrative extraction of gravel and sand.
We offer you solutions which are individually tailored to your requirements as well as a complete all-round service: from planning, through installation, to maintenance of the device over its entire service life.
Digital Twin Sustainably Increases Efficiency in Raw Material Extraction
In the extraction of mineral raw materials such as gravel and sand through wet excavation, efficiency, operational reliability and a stable production process are becoming increasingly important. Modern cutter suction dredgers already generate large volumes of operational data in real time – and this is precisely where Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning come into play. These technologies can only realise their full potential if machines continuously provide real operational data from day-to-day activities.
A key foundation for this is the so-called digital twin. This is a virtual representation of the suction dredger that is permanently synchronised with the machine’s real operating data. The result is a digital model that accurately reflects the current condition and behaviour of the dredger at all times.
At World Dredgers, we use this digital twin to capture, analyse and evaluate live operational data from your extraction equipment. At the same time, both you and we gain a better understanding of production behaviour as well as changing sand and gravel conditions. On this basis, we simulate and optimise the actual individual dredging processes in order to make operations at your site more efficient.
One major advantage is the early identification of inefficiencies or critical developments before they develop into actual problems. This helps to reduce downtime, lower energy consumption and improve production stability. In addition, our digital twin provides the foundation for training and continuously developing future AI systems using real machine behaviour.
Our objective is not the full automation of your suction dredger. Instead, the focus is on a self-learning dredging system that continuously analyses and independently optimises real, day-to-day processes. In this way, efficiency, operational reliability, energy consumption and production quality can be sustainably improved.
Digital twin technology therefore forms the crucial bridge between today’s automated suction dredger and the autonomous dredger of the future.
Suction dredger with autonomous motion control via GPS
Greater efficiency and material protection At the end of August, World Dredgers GmbH & Co. KG, Wesel (WD), installed a new suction dredger in Elerweerd, Belgium, for the Steengoed consortium, consisting of eight gravel companies. What's special about it: Thanks to the autonomous GPS-based motion control, the dredger operates independently for optimized and efficient extraction operations. Even in the event of malfunctions or material collapse, the suction dredger automatically switches over and retracts.
More efficiency for your projects
The extraction of raw materials through wet excavation is basically about the interaction of the individual components, both from a technical point of view and with regard to process control. Only when all main components, parts and their parameters are coordinated and interact with each other in the process - data exchange - you do achieve a sustainable, measurable increase in efficiency of up to 32% energy savings. We at World Dredgers optimize individual sub-areas as well as the overall workflow from a single source. Our competence is based on classic mechanical engineering, individual project and process planning as well as decades of experience in raw material extraction.
