Making great strides in the global energy sector in 2022: A half-year update from SMS-Alderley’s Managing Director Dave Howlett

In 2022 SMS Alderley (SMS) has made significant progress as we hone in on our two main objectives of targeting new growth particularly in new markets and widening our product portfolio.

We were delighted to secure two major projects for the FPSO (Floating Production Storage and Offloading) sector comprising of HPUs (Hydraulic Power Unit’s), hydraulic distribution units, and well control racks. 

This underlines that our global hydraulics strategy is picking up pace and is now producing great results that enables us to build on our growth trajectory and increase market share.

More broadly, our FPSO deployments go from strength to strength.  We are utilising our global reach and network across the Gulf in particular, to meet quick turnaround campaigns while remaining competitive and delivering to the customers’ requirements and regulatory standards.

Remote manufacture is in full swing as we reach mid-point in the year.  Engineering and sourcing functions are performed using our global team of highly skilled workforce and supply chain, with project management on the ground at our selected manufacturing locations. This combination allows us to rapidly mobilise project teams whilst utilising the best fit to meet every project requirement in terms of customer interaction, resources, and assembly.

Something notable over the first six months of this year has been increased collaboration across the Alderley Group – with Alderley and Kelton – enabling our Great Yarmouth based team to work seamlessly to ensure that the right people are used to improve efficiency, develop and deliver the right solutions and provide a great client experience. 

SMS has played an increasing role as Alderley’s UK manufacturing hub, which comes at a time when there are opportunities emerging in the low carbon space as well as in the traditional hydrocarbons sector.

As a sign of the changing nature of our business and the energy sector, last month we signed an exciting Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with leading climate tech business Levidian Nanosystems Limited; their patented technology takes methane through a decarbonisation process to create hydrogen and graphene.  This collaboration sets out a pathway for the assembly and test of multiple LOOP systems, the inclusion of deployment support services, ancillary systems and the co-development of ‘balance of plant’ design to enable integration with existing industrial systems, such as in the processing and flaring of oil and gas operations.

As a supply chain company in the East of England, this collaboration provides SMS with a fantastic opportunity to support a company from the same region as it rolls out a ground-breaking device in our collective fight against climate change.

The commercial achievements of the past six months have only been possible due to strong investment in our people who continue to provide the progressive engineering solutions that are required by our clients.  To support the development of our people, we have introduced an internal culture group to drive business improvements. We have also implemented a hybrid working model and have outlined clear career progression opportunities for our workforce.

Plans are underway for another intake of apprentices this year which will bolster the team for many years to come as well as providing existing and new joiners the chance to work across the Alderley Group of businesses.  Training remains a core part of what we offer.  We have started a new training initiative, which we will accelerate over the next few months with an initial focus on Small Bore Tubing (SBT).

Overall, we’ve had a tremendous six months in terms of commercial performance, technological development and investing in our people.  My hope is to take the momentum we’ve built over the first half of the year to year end.  I’d like to thank my colleagues, partners, and clients for their continued support this year.