Bestra

COMPANY PROFILE

2014

Bestra

+372 439 2238 | www.bestra.no

High quality, flexible solutions Editorial Tim Hands

With its head office, sales department and project management in Norway, Bestra is a flexible supplier of products and machinery to marine, offshore and industry, and specialises in turning complex concepts into high quality, complete solutions, with the quickest of delivery times.

With its name an amalgamation of those of its founders, Bestra came about in 2004 as a result of a collaboration between Nils Stray and Jim Berentsen, with the view to creating a sufficiently efficient supply chain,

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one which would be able to meet the demands of a burgeoning global market.

Billed as a company with a ‘winning spirit’, it has since never stopped seeking ways in which to improve its

operations, aiming to make possible even the most apparently impossible challenge.

“It is not a fancy story at all,” jokes CEO Nils Stray, on the subject of Bestra’s formation. “Both myself and

Bestra my partner had experienced a fairly hard life in Norwegian industry, and we both recognised that Norway was not a competitive industry any longer.

We saw this, though, as a lucrative business opportunity: to establish from scratch in a low-cost place, and build up our know-how from there. That was

the main reason for the start up.”

Its choice of location was also a carefully considered aspect of the plan, as Stray explains; “We located our fabrication in Estonia and our head office in Norway, and logistically this works very well, in part due to the two countries’ proximity. This was all

actually done completely from scratch; we bought the piece of land in Estonia, built the building and employed personnel numbers one, two and three, and since then we’ve had ten years of organic growth.”

As the holder of the largest quantities of both oil and natural gas reserves

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in Europe, it subsequently falls on Norway to provide the majority of those resources which are consumed on the continent, third in the world’s natural gas exporters only to Russia and Qatar, and the 12th largest net exporter of oil in 2013. According to the Oil & Gas Journal (OGJ), Norway’s proven crude oil reserves stood at 5.83 billion barrels as of January 1, 2014, which represents the largest oil reserves in Western Europe. These are all located offshore on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS), which is then divided into

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three sections: the North Sea, the Norwegian Sea, and the Barents Sea. The bulk of Norway’s oil production occurs in the North Sea section of these, while smaller amounts also take place in the Norwegian Sea, with new exploration and production activity currently occurring in the Barents Sea. “I would say that we have developed the company in quite a different way to many others,” explains Stray, “and particularly with regards to this combination of management in Norway and production in Estonia, which has

proved extremely successful for us.”

A TURNKEY SOLUTION With the world, both of industry and in general, inevitably becoming ever more complex and demanding, Bestra aims to address what it has identified as a too frequent lack of quality suppliers who are not only flexible and easy to work with, but who also are able to maintain a constant dialogue throughout the project. Stepping in to rectify this, and with the expertise to offer such a diverse range of solutions

Bestra to the customer, Bestra’s team takes care of the project from start to finish, and its many customers are thus relieved of the typical stress associated with anything of such importance, left instead with more of the crucial, increasingly rare, time to devote to other tasks.

Stray expounds on the reach the ten years of growth and development has so far afforded the company: “Our customers are global, and it’s easy to reach them from our base in Norway – while many of our customers are Norway-based, 80% of our products have a worldwide destination, Brazil or Asia for example, where we export our products from here in Europe.”

Flexibility and openness to changes is a large part of the company’s culture, giving it the ability to offer quick responses and manage complicated projects in a short period of time. Bestra offers the highest level of expertise in its diverse fields of manufacturing, this much is undeniable, but perhaps most refreshing about its unique approach is an insistence that this can be achieved without being, in a word, boring. As such, team spirit plays a significant role throughout, with Bestra’s challengeloving and solution-oriented personnel proud to undertake the company’s work, while maintaining a sense of fun in everything it does.

GROWTH It is an approach which has clearly worked, and has one which has enabled Bestra to recently establish Bestra Technology Oy, together with MEC Insenerilahendused OÜ in Tallinn, Estonia. The ownership split sees Bestra and MEC holding a 51% and 49% stake respectively, offering structural design, analysis and engineering services, with the company already established and working on new projects.

“For many of our customers, we just do the fabrication,” explains

Stray, “but, like anyone, we are always looking to create new links in the industry. The MMO market has undeniably become more and more interesting for us in recent times. It is a growing market, and one which is stable, and this is another key driver behind Bestra Technology.”

Keen to expand on the potential that this collaboration holds, Stray details how this goes some way towards not only strengthening Bestra’s current position, but also in achieving its aim of always seeking improvement. “The cooperation with MEC to establish Bestra Technology will contribute to make Bestra a more

complete supplier in the markets in which we operate today, as well as give new opportunities to all of us. We are very pleased to welcome the new and highly skilled employees to the Bestra team.” Working in partnership with another company in this way certainly represents a new challenge for Bestra, “but so far we are entirely satisfied with the cooperation – it has, so far, definitely been a win-win for both parties,” states Stray.

Also seeing expansion this year was Bestra’s own production facility, with 600 square metres added in March to the company’s previous capability. This was primarily driven

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by Bestra’s need to expand in line with demand, as Stray explains: “If you look at the development of the company, we are undeniably quite customer-driven, and the market demands more than our capacity enables us to deliver at the moment.

Secondly, though, we have also developed a good engineering department now, which gives us the potential to deliver other products to more sectors of the market than those on which we focus today.”

Characteristically, as soon as this extension had been finished and put into operation, plans began for further growth, which will see the company’s office facilities in Viljandi expanded in line with the increase in demand for Bestra’s services. Stray also outlines another of important developments which Bestra has orchestrated in its country of manufacture: “In Estonia, we have been very much © Shell PAGE 6

“The cooperation with MEC to establish Bestra Technology will help to make Bestra a more complete supplier in the markets we target today”

focussed on building an industrial park, something which has been held in high regard by the Estonian government. We have created this industrial cluster in the middle of nowhere, which has massive signification in terms of development potential for a relatively small country such as this.”

In terms still of future expansion, the growing focus on renewable technologies is something which has certainly not escaped Bestra, and is certain to become of central priority for the company. “We think we will have to provide products to this market in the future – we can definitely see the trend which is emerging, and although it might be quite a slow process, we are undoubtedly moving in this direction.

If we can use existing knowledge and technology and apply it to a new field like this one, well, that would be a dream for us.”

MJC-Metal A/S – your local subcontractor, with international relations.

Applied Fiber

MJC Metal has its headquarters in Esbjerg, Denmark, from there a large number of international companies are serviced. A substantial part of the activities are targeting the oil industry’s activities in the North Sea. All processes in MJC Metal are onshore based and often take place in our own workshop. MJC Metal has, by virtue of highly qualified employees and a unique machine park, the skills to perform complex machinery.

We have a very high level of service, which among other things means that we are solving tasks based on customer specifications. We often see very complex issues with high tolerance requirements, says Production Manager Tommy Georgsen.

Our expertise has been developed in order to remain a long-term and reliable supplier in the oil industry - but is also used in parallel to a number of other customers. Overall, we cover a wide range, from one-off production to the production of large series.

Complete package offering With plans for further growth, we are always on the look-out for new clients, says CEO Jørgen Nordstjerne Schmidt. Therefore we strive to always be best in class, and offer a complete package to our clients. Together with our local partners we have the possibility to offer a complete package, from rough-machining to coating, including inconel or other cladding, heat treatment, final machining, 3D measuring and a full “as-build” documentation package. High competences and accountability are key elements of MJC Metal.

Renovation or new build MJC Metal is a key player when critical components from the North Sea are to be renovated. There are many vital and expensive parts, which can have their lifetime extended significantly through a renovation process. This is one of the company’s core competencies.

In addition to critical renovation, MJC Metal also produces new components based on customer specifications, which are often very complex issues with high tolerance requirements in special highalloy steels.

“We are proud to make a difference for our clients, both in cost and lead time.

MJC Metal has in recent years invested in state of the art equipment, which has improved our lead times significantly” - Jørgen Nordstjerne, CEO

Stenhuggervej 13 6710 Esbjerg V. Denmark Tlf.: +45 7514 0400

www.mjc-metal.dk

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