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Success Stories
EIC Survive 2024 EIC Survive&&Thrive Thrive 2024
JulyJuly 2024 2024
Story type #people & competency (main category) #collaboration, #transformation
EquipSea
Benefits
Taking risks in order to better serve an evolving, dynamic oil and gas sector Alexandre Andrade Pereira
Cláudio José Evangelista
Commercial Manager
CCO
Vitor Ramos
ambition to become the best and biggest fabrication company operating in the energy sector in Brazil.
CEO
The dream team started with the commercial division to process new demands from clients. Quickly, this spread to other departments such as engineering, quality, and production.
Recognising that the oil and gas market was evolving at pace, EquipSea refused to stand still. Making some bold strategic decisions following an evaluation phase with its clients, the company has built out a new ‘dream team’ that can better meet new customer demands. Coupled with operational and process-based improvements, the firm is now well placed to compete with players from abroad to fulfil the upcoming challenges of the oil and gas industry.
Another critical bet to make the company more competitive was investing in supply chain capabilities to be ready for the new long-run demands the energy sector posed. This has helped the firm to manage and buy raw material in a more strategic way, as well as properly evaluate machinery acquisition. Given that competition is rough, coupled with high operating costs in Brazil, this has been a hugely significant move, enabling EquipSea to become among the most competitive fabrication players in the market.
How is EquipSea thriving?
The challenge - EquipSea has already overcome an array of challenges stemming from the low tide of the oil and gas market, emerging stronger from a period of crisis thanks to its belief in the sector and Brazil’s ability to serve it. As a result, the firm now stands as the number one fabrication supplier of OneSubsea Taubaté and among the three most relevant fabrication suppliers of OneSubsea São José dos Pinhais (formerly Aker Solutions). But to say that the past few years have been a breeze would be short-sighted. With the oil and gas sector continuing to evolve at speed, EquipSea has recognised the need to take risks to embrace the opportunities that such change offers. The solution - In the middle of 2023, the company completed a strategic evaluation with its main client base to see how it fitted into their respective businesses, and where a new and more complex type of offering could add even more value. It was an illuminating exercise, not least because it revealed which products, solutions and services provided it with a competitive advantage. The evaluation also revealed where EquipSea needed to invest in human talent as it progressed through its diversification journey. This led to the building of what the company’s leadership describe as its ‘dream team’ – the heart of the business which, ultimately, will be responsible for the firm fulfilling its
Adding up new capabilities to its portfolio to better suit client needs in a changing oil and gas scenario has been no small undertaking. Indeed, such a transformative step was naturally met with some resistance among employees who did not see where they fitted in the transition – here, communication has been vital, with EquipSea investing time into explaining why the changes were necessary. This aside, the strategy has already provided significant reasons for optimism. On the commercial side, the company now operates with a shorter evaluation time, meaning it can develop and submit proposals to clients more efficiently. On the operational side, more refined processes have emerged thanks to greater time being invested during project planning stages, a move which has cut down mistakes and increased the level of proactivity across the organisation. All of this fed and keeps feeding into an outstanding revenue trajectory that already looks like as though it is trending in the right direction. The past two years have seen income increase by US$12m, with the US$18m recorded in 2023 representing a trebling of revenue from the US$6m generated in 2021. With its new plans and processes in place, EquipSea looks well-positioned to remain among the most competitive fabrication companies in Brazil for years to come.
▸ Turnover increase of US$6m in two years. ▸ Commercial and operational processes improved.
Key findings For industry ▸ Be willing to take risks. ▸ Understand the market you’re into to overcome clients’ expectations. For government ▸ Review legal tax systems to simplify and reduce tax burden. ▸ Make the big financial institutions feasible and accessible for small and medium entrepreneurs.
EquipSea at a glance: Key products and services: manufacture of welded, machined and coated parts and turnkey tested sets. Main industries served: ▸ Oil and gas – 100% Headquarters: Piracicaba, Brazil Year established: 2017 Number of employees: 219 Revenue: £14.4m Revenue from exports: 0%