Massy Woods: Sustainable Energy Services

Sustainable Business Magazine speaks to Mala Baliraj, CEO at Massy Wood Group Ltd., about technological improvements, investing in relationships and the future of the energy sector.

Massy Wood Group Ltd. (Massy Wood) is a Caribbean energy services company, jointly owned by local conglomerate Massy Holdings Ltd. and Wood PLC, a global leader in engineering and consultancy across energy and the built environment. Massy Wood has offices in Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana and offers a range of asset life cycle and technical consulting solutions across the local and regional energy sector. Since Massy Wood was founded in 2003, the company has grown to over 800 employees. “All the work we do is based on the collective talent, expertise and passion of our employees,” explains Mala Baliraj, CEO of Massy Wood. “Thanks to them, we are positioned to provide strong support and unsurpassed solutions to clients in the upstream, midstream, and downstream energy sectors in Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana. We have a strong regional and global presence, with parent companies that have allowed us to grow and develop from their systems and processes, to become a fully local and competent force. This has allowed us to grow our business in engineering, project management, construction delivery execution, procurement and warehousing, minor modifications, and fabric maintenance.”

INNOVATING FOR THE ENVIRONMENT Within their fabric maintenance services, Massy Wood has made upgrades to their delivery approach, with the aim of improving the company’s environmental footprint. “We provide fabric maintenance services to our upstream clients,” says Ms. Baliraj. “This entails blasting and painting at onshore and offshore sites to maintain the integrity of their assets which can be exposed to natural elements. For one key client, we have been able to shift from silica sandblasting to the use of garnet for sandblasting. This change lends positively to the environment since garnet uses an average of 33% less material, when compared to standard blasting grit, and can be re-used up to five times more than silica.”

Beyond its environmental advantages, this shift also brings benefits to our people who carry out the maintenance work. “Conventional blasting generates a lot of dust,” explains Ms. Baliraj. “With garnet, though not the most economical, it produces less dust which, in turn, means better conditions for our employees. Thinking more long term, garnet is a naturally occurring mineral that does not create the level of toxicity associated with silica. There is therefore less chance of those interacting with the blasting to suffer subsequent health impacts. For us, these are some positive strides. We continue to work in the fossil fuel industry and look for ways to improve our environmental footprint.”

RELATIONSHIP-BASED BUSINESS Throughout the years, ensuring the sustainability of their business relationships has been a core focus for Massy Wood. “When operating in a project-based environment with defined start and end dates for every project and contract, it is important to create continuity,” says Ms. Baliraj. “We have focused on building long term relationships with our clients, employees, our contractor community and the communities where we operate. These relationships are always built on strong governance processes and integrity in the way we operate. We have developed with our clients, growing in their space to provide additional solutions and support, even in difficult circumstances.”

Massy Wood has also extended this level of support to its contractors. “Over the years, we have partnered with contractor companies to deliver solutions to our clients,”explains Ms. Balira. “This supports contractor development. We benefit from our network of established global and regional organizations and ensure that we share that knowledge. We host monthly sessions with about 10-15 of our contractors with a focus on safety and quality and use this forum to share learnings and reinforce right behaviors. This has become commonplace within our contracting community and is a culture that gives us considerable pride.”

HUMAN RESOURCE The support that Massy Wood provides to its employees is another crucial element of the company’s success. “It is difficult to maintain strong employee partnerships in a volatile industry where contracts end periodically,” says Ms. Baliraj. “This has been compounded since the arrival of COVID-19, which has seen an increased number of projects put on hold, leading to facilities being down manned and resources right-sized. To support our employees during the pandemic, we have offered about 300 food hampers to those who were not actively engaged in work. Generally, we are focused on the way in which we create win-win relationships with our employees. As an example, we are in the process of upskilling our employees with the knowledge and necessary tools to work in an agile way.”

Community engagement is another big part of Massy Wood’s operations. “We have spent a lot of energy and time in the last couple of years nurturing our community relationships,” says Ms. Baliraj. “In one of the communities where we work, we were able to identify their needs and priorities and define propositions and solutions to support them. Another initiative, which we have always held in highest regard, is our Boys to Men program which targeted young men between the ages of 14 to 25. The program was designed by a professional consultant and aimed to prepare young men to assume their place as role models and responsible leaders in our society. We have had about 200 young men participate in that scheme over a five-year period, with an approximate 75% graduation rate. Some have gone on to do significant things, with a few more returning to educational or technical institutions. These are just some of the ways we have managed to go beyond the obvious, to touch and impact the lives of those in our communities.”

A NEW PARADIGM In the future, Massy Wood intends to focus on the energy transition. “We are in the midst of a paradigm shift for the energy business and are excited to be here,” says Ms. Baliraj. “We are exploring new capabilities, such as decarbonization, which we can incorporate to positively benefit the local energy sector. We have recently signed the Energy Efficiency Declaration, which is being promoted by the Energy Chamber of Trinidad and Tobago. The declaration comes out of the recognition that companies in Trinidad and Tobago’s energy sector can have a positive impact on the environment. Massy Wood is committed to optimizing whatever finite resources we have to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and are excited to see how we can operationalize and truly live this commitment. To achieve this, we are looking to expand beyond Trinidad and Tobago, move away from fossil fuels and invest in renewables. We are already present in Guyana – a country at the forefront of the changes taking place in the oil and gas sector. We are excited to participate in their development and further expand our regional footprint.”

Massy Wood is embracing continuous improvement. “We have always been a quality driven business and have a team that supports quality assurance across all of our projects and clients,” explains Mala. “Now we are looking to elevate continuous improvement into an operations framework that’s built into the very core our business. If we can achieve this, we will strengthen our resilience, continue to grow our capabilities, expand our headcount locally and increase our client base. At Massy Wood, we see ourselves as not only surviving, but also thriving in the foreseeable future.”