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How px group protects UK’s energy security with safe, efficient and compliant operations

px group delivers innovative management and engineering services for high hazard and highly regulated environments and has over 25 years of experience across the UK and also have experience in UAE, EMEA, Africa and South America.

Client

px group

Industry

Energy

Location

St. Fergus

Company Size

300

St Fergus designated as critically important to the UK’s energy supply

px operates and is duty holder for the St. Fergus Gas Terminal 40 miles from Aberdeen. St Fergus processes natural gas from numerous UK and Norwegian offshore fields, on behalf of North Sea Midstream Partners as the owner of the St. Fergus Gas Terminal and FUKA pipeline.

The UK Government, via the health & safety executive (HSE), has designated St. Fergus as a top tier COMAH  installation due to its critical importance to the UK’s energy supply. The terminal must meet the Control of Major Accident Hazards (COMAH) Regulations ensuring that businesses:
“Take all necessary measures to prevent major accidents involving dangerous substances. Limit the consequences to people and the environment of any major accidents which do occur”.

So, how did px meet this challenge?

They needed to put the right processes and systems in place to ensure safe, efficient and compliant operations. Their focus on innovation led them to use digital technology, specifically Arnlea’s IntrinsixEX, to meet this challenge.

Here’s what px’s Electrical Control and Instrumentation (ECI) Lead Steven McDuff had to say: 
“St Fergus is a complex COMAH installation and we have full accountability for the safe, efficient and compliant operation of both the gas terminal and the pipelines. Working with Arnlea and using IntrinsixEX enables that operation to function as seamlessly as possible.”

Enabling that project to function as seamlessly as possible 

The criticality of St. Fergus allied with their drive for innovation and continuous improvement means px must ensure their systems are as up to date as possible. So in 2019, the business was one of the first to upgrade to the new IntrinsixEX release which included moving from legacy handheld devices to Windows-based tablets.
The project included the supply of tablets and associated equipment for their inspection teams. The Zone 1 tablets are Windows10 supported and ATEX-certified.

This long-term relationship meant that the Arnlea team were able to understand px’s specific needs for the St. Fergus Gas Terminal. As a forward-looking business, px naturally recognises the role and changes digital technology brings. Although the upgrade was a big jump from the handheld devices their inspection teams used prior to the tablet version, the functionality was instantly recognised as being of commercial benefit to px.

Upgrading to the new Intrinsix software and tablets in good time, and ahead of many others, means that their inspection team is already using the latest tablets, rather than end-of-life legacy handheld devices, demonstrating they have truly embraced and appreciate the business value of Arnlea’s SaaS solution.

Ultimately, px is now even more confident of ensuring safety and continuity of operations at St. Fergus, thereby helping secure the UK’s future energy supply.

“The contribution that IntrinsixEX has made to our inspection teams and technical analysis has been invaluable. The high service levels we receive from all at Arnlea made this contract renewal straightforward and the next logical step.”
Our strong relationship with the px team means that we are able to innovate our software whenever required, in order to meet px’s ongoing and ever-challenging operational demands.

IntrinsixEX also offers

  • Compliance with IEC 60079 standards
  • Support of your HSEQ protocols
  • Easy integration with SAP and Maximo

IntrinsixEX enables a quicker turnaround of faulty and ineffective equipment because of its Risk-Based Inspection (RBI) platform.  With some companies in our industry still using pen and paper or Excel spreadsheets for their inspections, Arnlea seeks to raise awareness of the possibilities digital transformation offers.
Working with Arnlea’s software, inspectors’ efficiency is improved by an average of 150%, when compared to using paper recording systems, freeing up teams to focus on other areas of responsibility, delivering higher productivity. In short, Intrinsix saves time and money, improving productivity, morale and job satisfaction, which also saves businesses money in terms of staff retention.

Arnlea is committed to improving clients’ operational excellence, compliance, asset integrity and reducing their operations expenditures.

Latest news & Insights

Arnlea in the Americas

[29 April 2022]
Arnlea, global leader in industrial mobile software for tracking, inspection and maintenance for the energy industry, has opened its new Houston offices and will be attending OTC at NRG, Houston, TX from 2-5 May 2022.
 
The new Houston offices will be led by Paul Goonan, Arnlea’s Head of Business Development for the Americas. Starting with North America, Paul will also focus on business throughout Central America, Brazil, Guyana, and other opportunities in South America
 
Paul's move to Houston, delayed for two years because of the pandemic, sees his wife and family all move with him to start their new life personally and professionally. One of his first activities stateside is to host the Arnlea stand at OTC.  Arnlea Systems Inc will be in Booth #3513 where customers and partners are invited to attend.
 
Arnlea has been fostering closer ties with services, software,and specialist equipment providers, to provider a broader and more attractive proposition to potential clients. 

Allan Merritt, Arnlea’s CEO said, 
“The first quarter of 2022 has been strong and we’re anticipating an equally strong second quarter, which will continue to cement our market position as a key SaaS provider within the Energy industry, while forging partnerships with like-minded businesses that put clients’ requirements at the heart of everything we do.

Paul’s presence in Houston will continue to build that profile across the Americas. Arnlea is in the data business and more than ever, decision makers are seeking better control of their technology to give them access to data in real time. Arnlea’s SaaS and digital products mean every decision they take is sharper, forecasting is clearer, resources create more value and consequently, our customers make better choices locally, regionally, and strategically.”
Arnlea is a tried and trusted partner for a number of global energy clients, with more than 25 years’ expertise in supply chain management and operational management activities, providing software solutions to the energy industry.

ENDS

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Bluewater signs new contracts

[8 March 2022]
Arnlea Systems Ltd, global leader in industrial mobile software for tracking, inspection and maintenance for the energy industry, has announced that it has signed new three and five-year contracts with Bluewater, to upgrade its Ex asset management software and hardware for two of its FPSOs in the UK Continental Shelf.

Bluewater has been a customer of Arnlea’s for a number of years and the contracts are for two different FPSOs to deliver the latest Arnlea software, to accompany the upgraded hardware that Bluewater’s inspection teams are already using.

Bluewater is moving towards full digital transformation and Arnlea provides hazardous area asset management software, which is regularly updated, together with a commitment to ensure that Bluewater continues to use the most contemporary hardware to obtain key benefits the upgrades deliver.

Bluewater’s inspection teams use Android tablets from Arnlea that, in conjunction with the software, have evolved the inspection process for its operations by including a number of functional benefits that have enhanced asset management and inspection. These benefits include the ability to take and upload photographs of asset failures, and the creation of work orders via a PC application to the tablets while charging, to speed up communications between inspectors and supervisors.

Arnlea’s software, IntrinsixEX, provides standardised inspection and reporting to accelerate data interpreting, comparisons and understanding, which facilitates better management decision-making at all levels. It also enables clients a much faster turnaround of faulty and ineffective equipment because of its Risk-Based Inspection (RBI) platform and full IEC 60079 compliance.

Arnlea’s CEO Allan Merritt, said,
“It’s always rewarding when clients like Bluewater renew. We are finding that clients receive multiple benefits on renewal because they always have the most up-to-date hardware and software, with the latest UX/UI. Customer teams use the most recent phones and tablets in their personal lives, so it makes sense they perform their jobs with hardware and software products that confer similar advantages, making their working lives easier and more efficient. Job satisfaction and better decision-making, combined with higher levels of productivity are attractive outcomes for both clients and their employees, who are all working in ever more demanding commercial environments. I’m delighted that we will be taking this strong relationship forward for the foreseeable future.”
ENDS

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ISO27001 certification

[8 February 2022]
Arnlea Systems Ltd, global leader in industrial mobile software for tracking, inspection and maintenance for the energy industry, has announced that it has completed its accreditation for ISO27001, the international information security standard.

Arnlea customers enjoy the ability to carry out inspections using the latest innovative software, eliminating paper trails and creating more efficient and effective processes. The key brand Intrinsix has three main offerings: IntrinsixEX (for Hazardous Area Inspections), IntrinsixIM (for Inspections and Maintenance) and IntrinsixMM (for Materials Management). These different software packages facilitate improved supply chain and operational management in critical areas of business.

In the 21st century, relevant, reliable and timely data is extremely valuable, and as a leader in its field, Arnlea strives to streamline data capture and data analysis processes, to enable safety compliance and empowers businesses to make better critical decisions.

Jeremy Lai, Arnlea’s CFO, who oversaw the ISO27001 project stated, “As a SaaS provider, we work with customers’ data every day. It’s incumbent on us to demonstrate that their data is secure.
“Many of our customers are global operators and our accreditation to ISO27001 provides them a high level of confidence in our data security. We take data security incredibly seriously and invest consistently in that area as part of our value proposition. Achieving certification to the ISO27001 standard builds on our ISO9001 accreditation and builds on our commitment to the highest standards. Frankly, most credible information technology businesses carry ISO27001 accreditation, and we believe this will become a default requirement for all our customers going forward.”
The accreditation is announced following its recent announcement of a new three-year contract with Equinor, to provide its IntrinsixEX asset management software to Equinor’s Mariner field in the UK North Sea and a contract renewal for five years with TAQA, encompassing TAQA’s six operational offshore assets in the North Sea and including new technical additions to reduce inspection administration and labour costs, and improve productivity and data management for the global operator.

IntrinsixEX enables a quicker turnaround of faulty and ineffective equipment because of its Risk-Based Inspection (RBI) platform.  IntrinsixEX enables clients full IEC 60079 compliance and provides standardised inspection and reporting processes to speed up data interpretation, comparisons and understanding which facilitates better management decision-making at all levels. Arnlea’s software also fully integrates with SAP and Maximo to achieve additional financial, HSEQ and operational advantages.

Arnlea is a tried and trusted partner for a number of global oil & gas clients, with more than 25 years’ expertise in supply chain and operational management activities, providing SaaS delivered mobile apps to the oil & gas industry.

ENDS

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Disruption

In the light of the past two years and the physical challenges that the global pandemic has caused to business – working and meeting with colleagues and customers, managing supply chains, understanding daily business barriers – digital transformation has suddenly become one of the most critical business imperatives of our time. Arguably, without the now ever-present need to work at home at the drop of a hat, access corporate data remotely and support cloud-based working, digital transformation may well have remained in the still be in the ‘talking shop/nice-to-have’ stage in our industry.

Now in 2022, the concept of digital transformation is far more widely seen and understood as the correct corporate response to this fast-evolving digital world. It’s no longer up for debate that companies large and small need to embrace digital transformation to stay relevant and retain high calibre people in an ever-changing, unpredictable and competitive environment.

The shock of the pandemic forced businesses across the world to fundamentally change old operating standards in exchange for innovative and disruptive models to keep up with market evolution and growing customer expectations. One of the key words of the pandemic as far as business is concerned has been ‘pivot’ as businesses have sought to adjust their focus, change their service model, alter their customer base, in order to stay afloat. Digital transformation has been forced rather than embraced but it’s allowed for a fuller and valuable gathering and using of data – often (and preferably) anonymised data – to support superior management decisions and streamlining business processes, with the ultimate purpose of making the best use of resources to achieve the successful outcomes every company needs.

This shouldn’t be a surprise. Pandemic aside, digital transformation has always been about changing corporate and individual mindsets and encouraging cultural change that allows companies to continue to be reliable business partners and deliver value to their clients, all via a digital context.

Digital Transformation in the Oil and Gas Industry

The definition of digital transformation applies differently to every business. It comes in multiple forms, depending on the industry, geographical area, or even the markets where a company operates. That’s why we see industries, like automotive or aerospace, which embraced change much earlier than many others, have enjoyed notable and substantial outcomes, compared with industries where digital transformation before the pandemic was still in its infancy.

The Oil & Gas industry stands in the latter category, at least it did but the crises of the past two years has galvanised some key players to drive forward plans they already had in slower motion. It’s still true to say though that for Oil & Gas businesses, particularly in the US, but also in the UK and Europe, the pace of digital transformation is varied at best. The industry in Asia, on the other hand, has been making diligent and dramatic steps towards digitisation and data intelligence implementation and continued apace, pandemic or no pandemic.

Alongside the pandemic, the drive to carbon net-zero has also intensified digital transformation discussions in the UK, although many companies still have a great deal of time to make up before they can talk about a true conversion to a digital business model. In the US surprising numbers of large and small operators alike continue to rely far too often on pens, paper, and spreadsheets, focusing on data capture rather than on data management in multiple business spheres. In the area of maintenance and inventory (which Arnlea knows best), some systems are old and prone to error, which leaves little room for data-driven decisions and long-term growth. Like it or not; the conversation around digital transformation in this industry is still rarely more than just talk.

It’s a paradox. Oil & Gas companies operate in a highly technological industry but are reluctant to go all-in with digital transformation. In terms of drilling, UK operators use the latest technology to reach new sources of oil and natural gas to meet national and global energy demand, while reducing the environmental impact of energy production.

On the other hand, they’re at least a decade (and more in many cases) behind the automotive industry when it comes to the digitisation of their internal operations. Most operators use SAP enterprise software yet on the whole, large numbers of Oil & Gas plc still seem content to stay in this halfway house, unwilling to deploy integrations into the SAP landscape from cloud-based servers, holding on almost stubbornly to on-premise servers – with many potential pitfalls ahead. Those few Energy businesses making those changes are also those embracing the bigger energy demands of this century, to their credit.

Making Digital Transformation a Higher Priority

At Arnlea, we see digital transformation as a two-step process. In the first stage, companies need to go digital in all business areas, including our specialism of asset management. Once this phase is completed, the next stage is to move to SaaS software products to facilitate substantial step-changes in the gathering and then sharing of anonymised data which can be used to identify patterns of behaviour, process and purchasing to optimise business operations, to revolutionise the whole industry in which they all operate.

In this second stage of the digital transformation process, it is the value and efficiencies that come from sharing their data, in anonymised form, which will support industry growth. In this scenario, they can analyse information from multiple sources and make educated predictions about future outcomes, even automate decision-making using artificial intelligence, with financial benefits for all parties involved.

Our industry is on the cusp of this second phase. Even in the past two years, there have been sea-changes in the way some of the global brand leaders have pushed forward to take this next step. Many though are still hesitant when it comes to even allowing their data to be stored in a highly secure cloud, let alone to begin to agree to anonymised data sharing. It’s hard to believe but we have witnessed, in more than one company, situations in which the business operates multiple instances of SAP, instead of a shared centralised SAP environment. Data-sharing can be rare between different business units in the same company, let alone sharing data with third parties.

This objection to data sharing keeps the industry blocked in old business models and is preventing growth. But change is coming and those that are striding forward, embracing digital transformation now, together with a higher focus on Big Data, means they will be the Energy companies that will thrive in a business environment that’s been under pressure for years. The accelerated changes forced by the pandemic, and the drive to net-zero, means savvy operators are realising they can no longer wait to upgrade their processes and systems and that is something we are able to move with them – and be that step ahead that they need – so that they can continue to meet their commercial core needs for years (decades) to come.

For more information on Arnlea’s experience and capabilities contact the Business Development team, by calling +44 1224 620000 or emailing info@arnlea.com.

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New business vision and values

[11 January 2022]
Arnlea Systems Ltd, global leader in industrial mobile software for tracking, inspection and maintenance for the energy industry, has announced new vision and values for its business, to better communicate what it stands for and who its people are. Its core key message is that Arnlea is in the data business and it’s this that is driving value to customers and consequently the growth strategy for the next three years and beyond.

ARNLEA’S VISION

To be a trusted partner by forging positive relationships with global businesses that rely on our SaaS asset management products for greater data control, safety, insight and sustainability.​

ARNLEA’S VALUES

  • Relationships & people​
  • Technology & control​
  • Safety & security​
  • Insight & clarity​
  • Collaboration & sustainability

ARNLEA’S VALUE STATEMENTS

Relationships & people
We’re in the data business but without people, data doesn’t become information. Without the people in our business our SaaS products won’t evolve. Without positive business relationships we can’t anticipate your needs and help you stay one step ahead.​

Technology & control​
We’re in the data business and we know that technology is a valuable business tool.  It’s not enough to have the right technology – you have to know how to use it. Arnlea empowers its customers to enjoy optimum control of their business data.​

Safety & ​security​
We’re in the data business and we understand that the biggest issues for our customers are all about trust.  Arnlea invests in industry-recognised security and systems, underpinned by accreditations, to start that conversation.​

Insight & ​clarity​
We’re in the data business and we know from experience, decision-makers need access to data in real-time. Then, every decision is sharper, forecasting is clearer, resources create more value and customers make better choices locally, regionally, and strategically.​

Collaboration & sustainability​
We’re in the data business and we see the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. When we collaborate with our partners, together we build long-lasting solutions for everyone involved. Our SaaS products support sustainable businesses for mutual profit, innovation and legacy.​

Arnlea is a tried and trusted partner of many global energy clients, with more than 25 years expertise in supply chain and operational management activities, providing SaaS-delivered mobile apps to the energy industry.

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