The prize

The Dutch based Smulders BV Group had recently purchased Sea & Land Project Engineering Limited and the prize was to integrate the strategies and processes of the two companies

The client

Sea & Land Project Engineering Limited is a highly respected engineering consultancy specialising in the design of offshore wind farm and offshore oil & gas infrastructure.

At any one time there might be 6 or so projects on the books, each of which would be at a different stage in the design process. A typical project may be valued at £150m requiring 2000 tonnes of steel and 6000 hours of design time.

The company has a current staff contingent of 14 covering different design disciplines but there are plans in the medium term to go to 20-25 staff who will tackle projects involving the support of fabricators and contractors with the stringent design requirements for offshore operations.

By their very nature the projects undertaken are multi-faceted, disciplines include; groundworks, hydrodynamics, structural analysis, finite element analysis and the drafting team who float from project to project.

The approach and solution

The initial work focused on bringing the top team together to focus on:

1) Strategic objectives for the next 5 years

2) Existing delivery mechanisms

Research was undertaken following which a comprehensive business plan was developed outlining, in some considerable detail; markets; competitors; sector rates and more.

At the same time the operational team flowcharted processes for all key delivery activities and developed and improvement plan based on a process analysis which identified those activities that both worked well and also not so well …

The outcome

• A robust business planning process is now in place where objectives and targets are now agreed and reviewed with the parent company.

• KPI’s are better managed and significantly better reported.

• Staff and managers alike now have a much better view of the longer-term ambitions for the company.

• Operational practices are supported by detailed and documented procedures that align the work undertaken to the goals of the business