The fifteenth edition of the WCM Summer School took place from August 24 to 28 in Den Helder. For one week, forty young professionals and students focused on how the Royal Netherlands Navy can transition from periodic to condition-based and predictive maintenance. During the closing session, eight teams presented their solutions, resulting in diverse proposals regarding technology, data, organization, contracting, and industrial collaboration.

Summer School director Jan Braaksma opened the final session on Friday afternoon. He welcomed everyone and reflected on fifteen years of the WCM Summer School. During this period, more than six hundred students and young professionals have participated. Braaksma noted that over the years, there has also been “a significant development in the level of the practical cases.”

The arrival of dozens of new ships equipped with more complex systems and smaller crews creates a significant maintenance challenge for the Royal Netherlands Navy. During the WCM Summer School 2026, participants will examine how the Ministry of Defence can keep the next generation of naval ships fully operational while having fewer technical personnel on board. “It is precisely the combination of technology, data, and organization that makes this issue so interesting,” says Tiedo Tinga of the Royal Netherlands Defence Academy.

Are you a technical Master/PhD student or young professional (within 10 years after graduation), with a special interest in Maintenance Management & Engineering, then apply to the 15th edition (before June 1st 2026) of our WCM Summer School 2026 (August 24th – 28th, 2026) at Den Helder – The Netherlands and challenge yourself in our exciting program. 

“Challenge yourself in our multi-disciplinary Summer School on Maintenance Management & Engineering. Satisfy intellectual curiosity, gain new professional skills in the area of Maintenance and extend your professional network by joining the WCM Summer School″ (prof. dr. H. Akkermans, and director World Class Maintenance)

Please click here for a short movie about the WCM Summer School (Dutch)

You will learn about the exciting world of maintenance with all its aspects through our workshops on state of the art maintenance tools and approaches from top professors in the Netherlands. Knowledge gained will be applied immediately as your analytical skills and creativity will be tested to its limits when you are solving the problems presented in our real life case study.