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Success stories
Balmoral Re-invigorated R&D tackles toughening competition and new market demands
Fraser Milne, Engineering and Projects Director Gary Yeoman, Sales Director
How is Balmoral thriving? Having commanded a leading market position with its premium buoyancy and protection systems for offshore energy assets for the best part of two decades, Balmoral was coasting. Customers loved its product, and the competition couldn’t compete on quality. However, as the 2010s progressed, it became clear that disruptors were closing the gap through price competitiveness. With more and more industry players coming on stream, Balmoral knew it needed to radically evolve its offering to compete on cost and offer new advantages, not just for its core oil and gas market but also for offshore renewable sites. A big decision was made to invest heavily in R&D, with the pioneering Integral Plus buoyancy module paving the way for the company to find a new edge. The challenge A critical threat facing any incumbent company with a strong market share is the temptation to drift along. For Balmoral, a leading provider of buoyancy modules and protection products for offshore energy industries since the 1980s, the danger of resting on its laurels was well and truly alive. In 2006, it had released a high-performance clamp
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EIC Survive and Thrive
system that was huge success and led the market ever since. However, as the years went by, the competition started to close in – while not always able to compete on performance and quality, some were managing to produce alternatives at more competitive prices which would appeal to offshore oil and gas players. To avoid being overtaken and protect its market share, Balmoral needed to find a way to shave costs with a new offering that could also appeal to operators in future energy markets such as floating offshore wind. Doing so is no easy task – rigorous standards must be met to bring new safety and protection solutions to market. The solution In 2018, the company’s leadership decided to change course. Continuing with the status quo, it was feared, would result in Balmoral being usurped by competitors which had been coming up on the rails in recent years. R&D therefore took centre stage. Backed financially with 2-3% of company turnover being invested each year, an in-house R&D team named the Discovery Unit was carved out of the project engineering team. A nine-strong unit spread across three subcategories (product development, material, process), 2019 saw the Discovery Unit brainstorm the concept of a semi-clampless technology through a series of educated trial and error projects. The new solution had to compete on price and offer a radical step-change in comparison to the premium clamp if it was to interest existing clients and win over new customers. The Integral Plus was thus born. It is a two-plane buoyancy module containing a clever rubber part – as the load is
2023