My business

MY BUSINESS

Andrew Bennion

AIS

Tell us about a day in the life of AIS?

As you would expect, no two days are the same. Despite growing significantly, we are still structured to enable us to react are still structured to e quickly to support our customers quickly to suppo in solving their challenges or in solving thei issues – this hasn’t changed issues – this h because of COVIDbecause of CO 19. We have adapted our traditional We have adapt way of working – regular internal way of working meetings between production, meetings betwe projects and sales now occur by projects and video call. We have adapted video call. W shift patterns in our shift patter manufacturing facilities, manufa and to support our site and to teams who may not team be able to travel to be a installation sites, we insta in have developed a series of have dev dev training animations. All these measures training animations. A A ensure impact to projects and our ensure impact to projec customers is minimal. customers is minimal.

Managing Director Andrew Bennion takes Energy Focus behind the scenes at AIS

What does AIS do?

AIS is an award-winning supplier of insulation, passive fire protection, buoyancy, and cable protection systems. Since 2007, our advanced materials have delivered mission-critical solutions for the energy, industrial, automotive, chemical, and marine sectors.

Tell us about the recent company rebrand?

Until recently, people may have known us as Advanced Insulation Systems, AI or AIS. To simplify what we are called and better reflect the changes in our solution and product offering, we have changed our name to Advanced Innergy Solutions and will be known simply as AIS.

AIS has always provided advanced solutions for our customers, and the addition of the word ‘Innergy’ captures the innovative nature of our products and solutions for the energy sector. We are also aligning company acquisitions by adding AIS to Covertherm, Manuplas and Bardot, further strengthening the ties and increasing the combined eff orts of the team.

Why was the rebrand important for your company?

As an organisation, we have developed services beyond insulation and wanted a name that reflected this. Through our brand we want to stay close to our heritage but modernise the way we are represented to our network of customers and suppliers in the energy and marine sectors.

Bringing together all our products and solutions under one corporate name will make it easier for us to showcase all of our solutions and products under one umbrella brand.

During the last three years, AIS has significantly increased its market share in new energy markets, including offshore wind and, more recently, automotive. The original name and logo helped the company establish itself as a leading fire protection and insulation provider for the oil and gas sector for more than 20 years; the new name and branding simplify and consolidate our offering and will enable us to continue with our diversification plans.

How was the transition into the offshore wind and automotive markets?

The engineering capability and understanding of the issues faced in the offshore oil and gas sector has enabled us to identify and develop solutions using our existing technologies for the offshore wind sector. We have worked with a leading technology centre for offshore wind to gain traction and prove our technology is effective while building relationships. The exponential growth in the use of electric vehicles and our recognised expertise in fire protection resulted in us being approached to develop a solution for the management of thermal runway in electric vehicles.

What sectors and markets are next for AIS?

As an innovative materials provider, we could provide effective solutions for many industries. However, our development team has identified applications in defence and nuclear that are ideally suited to our skillset and technologies, and we are currently developing these further.

UKESC

Amplifying your voice, shaping policy, taking action

Introducing the UK Energy Supply Chain Taskforce, Government and Industry working together to maximise opportunities and mitigate challenges

Amplified voice Industry and government coming together to form the UKESC Taskforce with the dedicated focus on amplifying the voice of the UK energy supply chain.

Shaping policy Forming more direct links between businesses of all types, sizes and strategies across the supply chain with policy makers to inform policy formulation.

All energy sectors Key representatives from all major energy sectors working together, recognising that there is a role for all sectors in the transition, behaving in an energy agnostic way.

Enabling energy transition Putting British supply chain businesses at the heart of energy transition in the UK, in line with the government’s 2050 net zero targets.

Increasing exports and internationalisation Putting the UK’s world class competitive products and services on the international map, delivering step change growth in exports and internationalisation.

All UK regions Working in support of government initiatives such as Building Back Better and Levelling Up to strengthen the supply chain across the whole of the UK.

Seeding, rooting, and growing UK content and capability Nurturing critical UK capabilities, technologies and manufacturing capacity crucial to successful energy transition, competitiveness, scale-up, and maximising UK content.

Sharing and collaborating, not duplicating Sharing best practices and collaborating on tangible actions, being careful not to duplicate but to complement existing regional and sector initiatives.

Surveys and sub-groups, reaching deep into the supply chain Administering surveys and working sub-groups to ensure that the needs, challenges, and opportunities of the entire supply chain are collected, understood and incorporated.

Delivering outcomes Working hard to implement real actions with timely and measurable outcomes, always with focus exclusively on benefitting the UK energy supply chain.

To find out more about the UKESC Taskforce and to learn how you can get involved, contact us at stuart.broadley@the-eic.com or visit the EIC website at www.the-eic.com/about/UKESC.

Secretariat: Co-chairs: Taskforce Members: