SMS Alderley

ALDERLEY

TAKING CONTROL OF ENERGY

TAKING CONTROL OF ENERGY

Based in the east of England, SMS Alderley has over 20 years’ experience developing and manufacturing hydraulic and electrical control systems for the energy sector. Managing Director Dave Howlett highlighted new projects at SMS and the benefits of teamwork in conversation with Phil Nicholls.

SMS Alderley Managing Director Dave Howlett

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move that could see eastern England become a global energy superhub, Norfolk-based SMS recently announced an agreement with climate technology company Levidian, from Cambridge. This project aligns with the SMS strategic focus on low-carbon technologies with international potential.

“As a sign of the changing nature of the energy sector, SMS signed an exciting MoU with Levidian Nanosystems Limited,” explained Managing Director Dave Howlett. “The LOOP device transforms methane into hydrogen and graphene. The collaboration sees SMS provide Levidian’s LOOP systems with support services and ancillary systems.”

SMS began trading in 1999 in Great Yarmouth on the Norfolk coast, providing hydraulic maintenance services to the North Sea energy industry. In 2003, SMS was acquired by Alderley, an independent solutions provider at the forefront of the oil and gas industry. By being part of the larger Alderley Group, SMS enjoys greater global reach.

“We are headquartered in the East of England,” Mr Howlett said, “at Gorleston-on-Sea in the borough of Great Yarmouth. SMS moved to our purpose-built facility in 2015, where we have design, manu facturing and testing facilities for new and refurbished systems, and a n aftermarket services division which covers offshore deploy ments, onshore repairs, inspections, obsolescence management, spare parts provision, and hose assembly.”

Global products

Recently, SMS has repositioned the business focussing on hydraulic and electrical expertise not just within the oil and gas industry but other industries forming part of their energy transition initia tives. Broadly, the core hydraulic products SMS supplies are hydraulic power units, intervention and workover control systems, chemical injection units and wellhead control panels. On the elec trical side, SMS designs and manufactures an extensive range of safe and hazardous area control systems and automation panels.

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Further services from SMS include digital solutions such as the Inspection Manager™ system which supports inspectors or admin istrators in their duties. The Maintenance Manager software offers similar digital support for project managers and technicians. These digital solutions are offered alongside the extensive portfolio of aftermarket services outlined above.

SMS has 80 employees at its Gorleston-on-Sea site, but also benefits from the depth of expertise within the Alderley Group. The group also operates large manufacturing facilities in Dubai and Saudi Arabia. These facilities all support localisation, offering manufacturing and aftermarket services close to customers.

Maximising the advantages of Alderley’s established networks has been key to increasing SMS’ global reach. Throughout what has been a difficult time globally, SMS has fast tracked some key initia tives; gaining access into different markets within the energy sector and globalising the company’s hydraulic business.

It’s this foresight and agility by the entire team that’s led SMS to where they are today. SMS will see its order intake increase by over 120% against forecast. This trend looks set to continue into 2023.

“Our most recent milestone is the successful launch of our global hydraulic business,” Mr Howlett explained. “This was not an overnight result breaking into adjacent market sectors in different regions where existing competition has been active for several years: SMS deployed a product manager in the Middle East who studied the market dynamics, gained customer insight and analysed how to penetrate and disrupt the market. This all amounted to a lot of hard work over the last 12-18 months.”

Connecting the LOOP

Further potential growth at SMS arises from its recent partnership with Levidian. The ground-breaking LOOP device from Levidian is a rapid decarbonisation device designed to accelerate the world’s transition to net zero. LOOP seamlessly docks with existing infras tructure to strip carbon from gas flows, helping businesses to

decarbonise instantly. The process creates two products: hydrogen, a clean energy source powering the societies of tomorrow; and net zero graphene, a material reshaping the world we live in.

“For us, this collaboration aims to open up other market opportu nities,” said Mr Howlett. “The oil and gas industry has historically found it difficult to manage methane emissions. Levidian’s LOOP device fits in perfectly with our core customer base. This ground breaking device will be vitally important in our collective fight against climate change.”

Many of the projects at SMS further contribute to the battle against climate change. SMS is working with a multinational utili ties company to develop hydrogen solutions for the future grid where hydrogen may be blended into the domestic gas supply net work. The company is diversifying and improving its produced water treatment hydro-cyclone technology to be even better at removing contaminants from the wastewater created by hydro carbon production.

Research and development has always been a strength at SMS. Mr Howlett acknowledged that SMS, as a relatively small company, needs to fight for market position and take a few risks by exploring different business opportunities and new technological possibilities.

Making the dream work

The essence of an SMS project is teamwork, within both the com pany and the wider Alderley Group. As an example of this teamwork in action, Mr Howlett cited an ongoing project in the Middle East:

“This project is bringing together many aspects of the SMS Alderley teams. We have a new hydraulic system to supply and install, upgrade existing systems and deploy technicians to pro vide maintenance and inspection services. This operation is being managed from the UK and the Middle East with support from our Indian entity.

“It is a real team effort: hydraulic, electrical, project management and supply chain from across the world. The team is successfully

delivering this programme, showing the collaboration possibilities when the whole group comes together to work on a single project.”

The SMS team are supported by close relationships with part ners and suppliers. Recent volatility in the global supply chain remains the largest challenge facing SMS. The core principles of open communication and honest dialogue which built these crucial partnerships are the same skills needed to resolve the challenges arising from the disrupted supply chains. SMS also includes customers in these conversations, benefitting from mul tiple partners evaluating a problem and proposing solutions.

“I am optimistic about the outlook,” Mr Howlett said. “We all need energy for our lives and to drive our economies and we also know that we need to decarbonise. But more decarbonisation of the energy sector doesn’t mean less economic opportunity. It doesn’t work like that, and in fact the opposite is true.

“For this reason, the energy sector will become more important than ever as a driver for economic growth and SMS is well posi tioned to respond to this challenge with its focus on innovation and capacity to provide.

“We have several ongoing initiatives to enhance our market position in both the traditional and the low-carbon sectors,” Mr Howlett explained. “Our consultancy business works hand-inhand with industry leaders to ensure the infrastructure is hybrid and ready. The digital team are creating industry-leading software and the aftermarket team are prolonging the life of critical equip ment. Meanwhile, the whole team continues to deliver great cus tomer service.”

The future of SMS is built upon the quality of the team. “There are fantastic people across the business,” concluded Mr Howlett, “each person makes a positive impact. From the early days of SMS, we have always strived to be the best at what we do. We have an inquisitive team who have a thirst to innovate, drive out costs and never fall into the trap of “we always do it like that”. The quality of the SMS team has kept the company fresh and agile.” n