The Exova Magazine - Issue 2

Issue 2

www.exova.com

It’s up to ME Integrity/teamwork performance/innovation

Inside this issue

Teamwork: from Mexico to M&S Ekofisk: testing conditions at sea Subsea 7: life on the ocean floor

the amazing world of water

F r o m t h e E dito r

p4 The potential is exciting

Anne Thorburn offers her perspective on Exova's future p6 snapshots

Innovation and enterprise from Exova across the globe p8 the wet stuff

Six-page splash! The amazing world of water p14 the bigger picture

Testing conditions on Norway's Ekofisk rigs p16 our values: teamwork

From Mexico to the Middle East, from Europe to Australia – we really are one big team p22 pipe dreams

How Subsea 7 helps to keep the oil and gas lines flowing

t's not for nothing that they call it the Blue Planet.

Water gives life to our world, and so perhaps we shouldn't be surprised that so much of Exova's work has a water angle to it.

Nonetheless, when we looked into some of the H2O-related projects that Exova is involved in, we couldn't help but marvel at the range, importance and ingenuity of the work.

I hope you find the finished article as refreshing as I did.

Feedback to our first issue was excellent and very helpful, so please keep it coming. Enjoy!

CLAIRE PURVES

Claire.Purves@Exova.com

p24 5S

p22. Tony Clough of Subsea 7 in our client

Discover the winners from our 5S competition!

stop the press

feature this month

Published by Exova in association with White Light Media www.whitelightmedia.co.uk.

Editorial: Fraser Allen & Liz Longden Design: Adam Wilson.

Members of APA and PPA. Print: Team Impression.

Exova, Queen Anne Drive, Newbridge Midlothian EH28 8LP. www.exova.com

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Following the massive earthquake in Haiti, Exova has accepted a request to help safeguard the country's drinking water supplies.

Exova was approached by SNC Lavalin, in Montreal, to help with the vital and urgent task of testing that the water is safe to drink.

Exova will be performing microbiology and chemistry analyses and providing equipment and supplies for on-site microbiology expertise. If required, qualified personnel will be sent to train local staff. Discussions are on-going with organisations responsible for humanitarian aid in Haiti and Exova is proud to participate.

No.2 Winning the waste challenge Our client:

Owain Williams, Compliance Manager, Avondale Environmental Services How does Exova provide support?

We manage the Avondale landfill tip in Polmont – currently the only landfill for hazardous waste in Scotland. Exova’s Glasgow lab works very closely with us to monitor and protect the environment within and around the tip on a weekly basis, to ensure we are meeting our strict licence conditions.

We also operate a Soil Recovery plant at the nearby Kineill Kerse Landfill in Bo’ness, where we remediate contaminated soils and return them to use, saving both landfill and soil resources for future generations. Kineill Kerse is located on the Firth of Forth and Exova in Glasgow have been monitoring this site for the local authority for over five years, ensuring both the natural groundwater and the marine environment are protected from any pollution incidents.

How would you sum up what Exova brings to your business?

We have worked with Exova over a number of years – their expertise in determining baseline groundwater conditions and the effectiveness of containment facilities helped ensure the granting of a permit to accept hazardous waste. This has eliminated the need to transport such waste hundreds of miles to a licensed disposal site in England, at great financial cost and harm to the environment.

Like us, Exova are committed to protecting the environment, and their rigorous testing of soil, water and landfill materials ensures we remain compliant with legislation. This allowed us to continue to dispose of hazardous waste safely and reduce the carbon footprint of the landfill with new and innovative technologies.

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The potential is exciting After joining the business as Chief Financial Officer in August, Anne Thorburn is looking forward to demonstrating Exova's true potential for growth Portrait: Angus Forbes

interview

What did you do before you joined Exova?

I worked for 14 years as Group Finance Director for British Polythene Industries.

Before that, I was Group Finance Director for Clyde Blowers, back in the very early days when it was just a tiny little business in Clydebank. And before that, I began my career in corporate finance at KPMG, doing merger and acquisition transactions, and management buyouts.

What appealed to you about this role?

It’s a very exciting company – we have a huge opportunity here to build a business and a brand. For years, I'd been working in mature markets in an industry at the mercy of oil prices. By comparison, this is a business that has great room for growth.

What are Exova’s strengths, and what are the challenges?

Our technical expertise, our customer focus, and obviously our people – we are a people business. In terms of improvements, we’re working hard to make the company more integrated. There have been a lot of acquisitions over the last few years, and I think people felt part of their own local business rather than part of the bigger picture. So we want to work on our communication across sectors and across regions. If we’ve done something really well somewhere, we want to make sure everybody knows about it so that we all adopt best practice. Also, in certain sectors, I think the commercial approach has been more about servicing existing customers than going out and looking for new business and getting up the value chain to bigger contracts. There are huge opportunities there that we can deliver on a global basis.

Where do you escape to?

Home, on the island of Barra, with its white, west coast beaches on a sunny day. You can’t beat it -– forget about the Caribbean!

What happens on a Saturday?

A long lie-in, a tennis lesson and 5K on the treadmill – that’s my Saturday morning routine.

What’s on the coffee table?

A biography of Chairman Mao, and I’ve just finished George Orwell’s Animal Farm again. I love reading absolutely anything – I just can't ever find enough time.

Tell us a secret…

I actually trained as a parasitologist and worked in a lab at the blood transfusion unit for a while.

get a top-class finance department in place, capable of supporting that growth. You can’t build a business without having really good support systems to back it up.

What has the impact of the recession been like for the business?

I think certain parts of the business have been very resilient. Europe generally has coped well, and we’ve been quite good at repositioning sectors that haven’t been so badly hit. The Middle East, too, is still in a growth phase – despite the downturn in the Dubai property market – as are the other Gulf States. The biggest impact has been in North America, particularly in the automotive and general engineering side, around oil and gas, and the tar sands in Western Canada.

However, everybody always says that when North America does come out of recession, it comes out strongly. We’re not seeing signs of that yet, but we are hearing people talking about it, and customers are more optimistic for 2010.

If you could make one wish to improve your business life what would it be?

I suppose it would be having more time.

Because I’m new and there’s so much to do, I haven’t managed to get out and meet people from across the regions yet, or spend the time I’d like to on strategic thinking about the way forward and planning for the future.

So I am looking forward to getting over the firefighting stage and more on to the business development side of the role, where I can add more value.

If you could invite anyone to dinner, who would you pick?

I would invite my dad and my brother, who both died far too young. I'd bring them back for a good old chat and a glass of wine!

What are your personal priorities for 2010?

Who inspires you?

Certain sectors have clearly suffered in the downturn, so we’ve got to reverse that trend and start building for growth again. And what I’ve personally got to do within that is to

I’m inspired by people who stick to their principles and don’t give up. I’m inspired by ‘finishers’ – people who get the job done and get it right first time.

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Pole position for Exova Abu Dhabi, intelligent green schemes, and exciting opportunities from Scotland to Saudi Arabia - we look at some of the highlights of the past few months

Snapshots Not only ‘at the races’ – but testing them!

hen it hosted the inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in November last year, the spectacular Yas Island F1 race track stole both the headlines and the plaudits, being selected to host next season’s finale and taking the 2009 award for Best F1 Race Promoter.

Integral to that success was Exova’s experienced team of welding inspectors, painting inspectors and NDT technicians, who provided independent inspection and non-destructive testing services on major parts of the circuit.

And despite an extremely challenging programme, dictated by the demands of the Grand Prix schedule, the Exova team demonstrated that strict deadlines and time pressures do not stand in the way of achieving critical quality standards.

November’s grand opening also provided Middle East regional NDT John Coughlan with the opportunity to share some top tips on inspection techniques with US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, Sir Richard Branson and the reigning Miss World.

Chris Davey, General Manager of Exova Abu Dhabi, said the project was an unqualified success. He said: ”We have proven once again what a valuable asset we are to major construction clients on projects of such importance.

“We look forward to working with quality-focused clients on similar projects in the future, again demonstrating why we are the market’s preferred choice and building on our core values of teamwork, performance, innovation and integrity”.

F1 circuit at Yas Island - tested by Exova

THE Exova Magazine

Exova has become one of the first Associate Members of the wasteminimising Earth Exchange® scheme (www.earthexchange.com), which provides an on-line market of soils, aggregates and other materials for re-use and recycling in the UK construction industry.

Using a time-based map system, users can enter their current and future construction projects, providing details of any material deficits and surplus they may have. The website will then identify where other construction sites are and who is operating there, allowing users to match their requirements with those of other nearby sites, and thereby minimising wastage.

With its state-of-the-art environmental laboratories in Runcorn, England, and Clydebank, Scotland, Exova has extensive experience in the analysis of soils, and the scheme gives Exova a unique opportunity to promote its services at the very heart of the UK soil and aggregate re-use market.

Etching our name on the Granite City

The award-winning

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Exova joins the Earth Exchange®

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Exova’s already strong presence in the oil and gas sector has been strengthened with the opening of a new testing laboratory in Aberdeen, Scotland.

The new UKAS-accredited facilities are Exova's first to be opened in the ‘Granite City’, and will provide a range of corrosion, mechanical and metallurgical tests for metals and metal products to service the city’s booming offshore industry.

The laboratory has opened following the transfer of Applus RTD’s laboratory facilities in Aberdeen, and Exova will also take over the running of the Welding School on the same site. The centre offers services such as welding engineering support on welding processes, materials and mechanical

Did you know? Yas Island is a man-made island with 32 km of waterfront

grant's view

testing, non-destructive testing and third party certification.

The new facilities will work in partnership with the Edinburgh laboratory, which also provides tests for material and welding procedure qualification for the oil and gas industry.

Jason Clark, General Manager Energy & General Engineering Scotland and North East for Exova, said: “Although Exova already has a strong presence in the oil and gas sector, our research told us that potential clients were looking for a quality-based testing provider in Aberdeen. Our new laboratory allows us to offer customers a local service, but with the international resources of Exova.”

Wish we were here

About six months ago, everyone in Exova was asked to complete a postcard explaining what sort of business they would like Exova to be in a year’s time. The directors of the company would like to thank everyone for the tremendous response, which offered lots of food for thought and will play a useful part in the business’s development over the next 12 months.

We’ll be reporting back on this in future issues of The Exova Magazine but, in the meantime, here are just three of the comments you posted: ‘A trustworthy and reputed market leader in our field of expertise – a company with a proven record of inclusive growth towards its employees, customers and shareholders. When it comes to a supplier of choice of testing and advisory services, Exova is second to none.’

(Antonette O. Fernandes, Abu Dhabi, UAE) ‘A laboratory renowned for technical excellence that never has to

advertise for staff and has doors in 25 different countries.’ (Anonymous, Daventry, UK) ‘Seen from the outside: a professional organisation with a good reputation.

Seen from the inside: an organisation that is great fun to work within!’

(Annilea Persson, Linkoping, Sweden) On the list to test the biggest

Exova Saudi Arabia has successfully acquired a place on the Saudi Aramco Electronic Contractors’ Network (ECN), allowing the lab to offer its services to the oil producer, as well as to its contractors and suppliers.

Saudi Aramco is one of the largest oil producers on the planet, with a sustainable daily production output of 12 million barrels per day. It operates a strict vendor registration scheme, which prevents it from trading with non-registered organisations. Achieving Aramco registration was the Saudi laboratory’s top priority. Because of local formalities involved in the Exova name and brand change, obtaining the necessary documents for the application process took months.

However, once that documentation was assured, great local teamwork ensured that the lab was able to complete the registration process within just a few days.

This represents a great opportunity for the newly-opened facility, and Exova Saudi Arabia is now focused on becoming the lab of choice for Aramco, their suppliers and contractors. With oil currently selling at US$80 a barrel, and the Saudi government committed to investing oil revenue in public works, the resulting infrastructure spend will also create some very significant opportunities for the new business in Saudi Arabia.

In 2008, Saudi Aramco announced it would spend $129 billion over five years upgrading its oil and gas infrastructure

Leading scientists fear that, by 2025, as many as onethird of the world's projected 8.3 billion people will suffer from water shortages.

Fresh water is important to the world and to Exova’s business. Some argue that climate change is inevitable, but whether you agree with that statement, or have your own view, it is how we, at Exova, respond to the warning signs that will set us apart. Let’s not forget that fresh water is a finite resource.

Exova has a part to play in helping businesses and communities ensure the safety of their water supplies and to protect water resources in projects involving hazardous materials and liquids transmitted through our oceans. The integrity of our investigations and assurances are crucial over the longer term. I was recently in the premises of a client who manufactures aircraft and saw a poster in a work area reading ‘your family could one day be travelling on this aircraft’ – a reminder of why integrity is so important in the manufacturing industries we support.

We are also highlighting teamwork in this issue of the magazine. Good teamwork in tandem with our other values will ensure the success of our future business.

Strong teams are integral to creating innovative solutions.

Over the past year, I have seen a large improvement in how we operate in teams and we have some excellent examples in this magazine, but we can do even better.

We need to be open to our colleagues’ ideas and actively seek to create teams that not only find excellent solutions, but also challenge themselves to find the best possible solutions for our clients.

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cover feature

The wet stuff Water is integral to human life.

Nearly three-quarters of our planet is covered in it and 60% of the human body is composed of it. Small wonder then that many of Exova’s projects concern ‘the wet stuff’

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Saving Venice

“La Serenissima”, “La Dominante”, “Queen of the Adriatic” and the “City of Water” – the superlatives flow like its famous canals.

But a city described by some as the most beautiful in the world is at constant threat from subsidence.

To prevent the city from literally disappearing beneath the waves, an ambitious €3 billion project to create an integrated defence system of 79 movable barriers that can protect the Venitian lagoon from the rising waters of the Adriatic was initiated in 2003.

Exova has played a pivotal role in protecting the famous city, testing both the concrete and the prototype hinges of the barriers.

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Did you know? An estimated 50,000 tourists visit Venice every day

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Liverpool lifeline

Engineers at Exova Salford Polymer have been at the heart of a major project to install a 4km polyethylene main inside an old Victorian 1000mm diameter water main in the heart of Liverpool. The trunk main, being refurbished by United Utilities, runs through the Huyton area, serving over 12,000 properties.

The work is essential to reduce the risk of future bursts. As United Utilities technical consultant, Exova has been involved at every stage since the beginning of the project, auditing the pipe welding, annulus grouting, pressure testing and overseeing the superchlorination process.

Exova Salford Polymer Site Manager David Carey explains: “It’s very unusual for these trunk mains to be in the centre of a major urban district, and the need get the job done while meeting and reacting to public needs has been absolutely vital."

From Russia with love 2

Transporting up to 55 billion cubic metres of gas every year, the 1,200km North Stream pipeline will run below the Baltic Sea, linking Russia to the European Union.

Oil and gas contractor Saipem has appointed Exova Crema as reference lab for the preliminary welding qualification processes, and, with the current plan to have a weld quality control every 10-20Km of the pipeline, the lab is estimated to generate a turnover of 1 million over the year-and-a-half project run-time.

Exova Crema has also qualified as reference lab for another Saipem project, the West Arctic Pipeline, which will connect Russia and Europe under the Baltic along the Scandinavian peninsula.

To superchlorinate the Huyton pipeline, Exova’s team worked non-stop for 64 hours, with a four-man shift rotation

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A 21st century oasis

Exova chemists and technicians are playing a pivotal role in Abu Dhabi city through their vital work at the Taweelah desalination and power plant.

With sole responsibility for testing the plant’s water for conductivity, pH, calcium, magnesium and hardness, as well as performing oxide and microbiological analysis, the lab’s team work around the clock, 365 days a year, to ensure the city’s 1.5 million population can depend on a constant, safe and clean supply of water.

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Jason Dodds, Development Director for the Middle East and Asia, says the lab is another first for Exova.

“Throughout the Gulf Cooperation Council, there are billions of dollars being spent on desalination plants to cope with the burgeoning population, but this is the first on-site lab testing of its kind to be outsourced, and also the first of its kind in the UAE to be accredited by UKAS. “We've just finished one three-year contract and it's been renewed for a further three years.”

Picture: PA

Abu Dhabi is estimated to have one of the highest water consumptions in the world, with an average of 550 litres per day per resident

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Fire & Water

Coal Bed Methane drilling and production poses risks to groundwater resources, with methanecontamination of freshwater aquifers causing discolored, foul tasting and even flammable drinking water. The disposal of highly saline formation water on soil can also render large stretches of ranchland sterile.

The Water for Life programme in Alberta, Canada, aims to prevent this environmental damage by testing to establish baseline water quality before and after drilling, and monitoring any change in potability. Exova labs in Alberta have been providing water testing services to clients across the province to satisfy these regulatory requirements since 2006, with its Edmonton and Calgary labs working together to share the inorganic, organic and microbial analyses.

The time-dependant nature of this suite of water testing shows the dedication and skill of Exova staff in helping to protect our most valuable resource.

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7-star splendour

The oceans have also inspired and set the scene for one of Exova’s most prestigious projects.

Standing proudly on its own purpose-built island, 300m offshore, the 7-star Burj al-Arab hotel symbolises the majestic sail of a traditional Arab dhow boat, carving its path through the sea.

And Exova specialists played a key role in making sure the iconic building was figuratively, as well as literally, ship-shape.

We helped test the building envelope systems, and, at the pre-construction stage, the main curtain wall, observation lift enclosure, exoskeleton legs, atrium membrane, and main planar glazing entrance. We were also involved in modifications to the end-suite curtain wall re-design, and regular on-site testing.

Andy Dean, Lead Advisor in Façade Technology at Exova Warringtonfire, says: “10 years on, the iconic hotel still has the polished, opulent feel of a brand new building and the systems continue to perform impressively.

Well tried, and well tested.”

Did you know? Alberta is the world's second largest exporter of natural gas, and its 4th largest producer

things worth

knowing about water

1 Water is the most common molecule on Earth's surface, covering around 70% of the planet. However, 97% of this is salt water and, of the remainder, two-thirds is ice.

2 H2O makes up around 60% and 55% of male and female bodies respectively. A human can survive for about four weeks without food, but only seven days without water.

3 Water is the only commonly occurring substance to be found naturally on the planet in a solid, liquid and gaseous form.

4 Water has a very high polarity, enabling it to quickly dissolve other substances. Anyone for a coffee?

5 When water freezes, the structure of H2O is loosened. This means that liquid water is denser than solid water – explaining why ice floats on water.

6 Although transparent, water does carry a very light blue tint, and the deeper the water, the deeper the tint.

7 Global consumption of water increased by 600% between 1900 and 1995 – more than double the rate of population growth. This is largely down to the use of water in industry.

8 Historically, water has served as an important standard for weights and measures. In 1744, Anders Celsius defined the freezing and boiling points of water as the extreme ends (0 and 100) of the Celsius temperature scale. In France in 1795, the gram was originally declared to be equal to the weight of one hundredth of a metre cubed of pure water.

9 Four-fifths of all life is found under the ocean surface.

10 The amount of water on the planet doesn’t change as it is constantly being naturally recycled. The water we drink today has been here since the beginning of time.

The bigger picture

Ekofisk

Urgent testing was required at short notice on Norway's Ekofisk complex in December, running through the Christmas holidays. It wasn't something many testing companies could react to, but a team from Exova was there immediately, working through the holidays and getting the job done.

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Picture: Ă˜yvind Hagen/Statoil

LOCATOR North Sea

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Picture: PA

250 miles

our values | teamwork

pulling together THE POWER OF TEAMWORK In the second of our series focusing on Exova’s core values, we look at how teamwork is at the heart of what we do

You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don't play together, the club won't be worth a dime”. So quipped baseball legend Babe Ruth, proving that even a man widely recognised as one of the most talented players in the history of the game, was acutely aware of the importance of teamwork in transforming potential into success.

It’s not only sporting champions, however, who recognise that finding talent is only half the challenge.

Teamwork, based on shared values, common purpose and a strong work ethic, is one of the core values that underpins Exova’s work, and is demonstrated on a daily basis in its operations across the globe.

So how is that value put into practice in real life projects?

Shared vision

Ask Neil Trigwell the secret to successful teamwork and his answer is simple, but clear. “The key to making it work is shared vision,” he says. “It’s everybody wanting things to succeed.”

Neil heads Exova’s Technology Transfer Team, and specialises in the setting up of new laboratories and testing centres. His work takes him across the globe, and he says effective, international co-operation is one of the company’s unique strengths.

As an example, he cites the recently opened laboratory in Monterrey, Mexico. Created out of a greenfield site, the lab provides three different testing services on titanium and nickelbased super alloy rings that form a critical part of aircraft engines. Such was the breadth of services offered, the Monterrey lab required no less than five different Nadcap accreditations, posing a unique challenge for Neil’s team.

“The Monterrey laboratory required separate accreditations for its basic ISO 17025 testing quality system, a separate AS9100 quality system to cover the processing of aerospace parts, and Nadcap process accreditations for the aerospace metallurgy and

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our values | teamwork

mechanical tests, the fluorescent penetrative inspection nondestructive testing, and the acidetch inspection,” he explains.

“It is very unusual to end up with five of these, so it’s been an enormous amount of work!”

To transform the ambitious project into reality, eight different experts from Exova labs across North America and the UK were drafted in to help implement systems and train local staff, epitomising the Exova ethic of teamwork.

“It’s always a challenge when you’re pulling people out of their normal work routine, because that puts immense pressure on the lab which is releasing them,” Neil says. “So the co-operation of the laboratories to release their staff was vital.” He adds: “Good communication, good timing and good planning were also essential to the whole operation.

It was critical that we got all these guys in the right place at the right time, with all the right equipment in place. And that was down to the shared vision – everybody wanting things to succeed.”

One team from many

This international co-operation between labs not only gives Exova a unique identity, but also a distinct competitive advantage. Neil explains: “Monterrey benefited from quite a bit of support from our non-destructive testing guys in the UK to help them sort out the procedures for the FPI line, get it commissioned, and get the staff trained.

“It so happened that there was a requirement to get a passivation line at the nondestructive testing lab in Burton, the UK, Nadcap-accredited at around the same time.

Directly after getting Monterrey accredited, the chemist who set up the process control system there, Harry Chung, came over

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to the UK to help Burton prepare for its Nadcap accreditation for chemical processing.

“It’s a great example of teamwork and leveraging experience.”

The ability to mobilise rich resources of talent at short notice has been a major strength in other projects, too, as European Managing Director Séan Kerr explains.

“I see great examples of teamwork everywhere I go in Exova, but a recent, outstanding example concerned our labs in Norway, Ireland and Sweden, when a major oil & gas industry safety alert was issued by BP in March of this year,” he says.

The alert concerned defective duplex fittings, and the potential threats to the UK and Norway plants in which they had been installed were very serious, including cracking, brittle fracture and accelerated corrosion.

It was essential for BP to ascertain which fittings had been affected.

“We have a very experienced and well-established field team that has been involved with jobs like this previously,” says Séan.

“However, this large-scale project required us to mobilise many people in a short period. Had we not been able to do this, we would not have won the work.

“Our Sandnes laboratory in Norway put a call out for extra teams to help cover the volume of work required, to which the Galway and Karlskoga laboratories, in Ireland and Sweden respectively, responded.

All staff were trained and approved in Norway, then mobilised under the project management of Sandnes.

“The onsite operation was carried out as one team with all members working together as a unit.

“It’s a fantastic example of working together to the benefit of our client, our people,

What makes effective teamwork?

our company and the wider community and environment.”

Neil Trigwell, Head of Technology Transfer team

Trust and responsibility

“It's really a combination of planning and communication that is critical, and getting everyone to share a vision that it is important to the company to make this happen”

Steve Holland, Quality and Audit Team Manager (United Utilities) “Good teamwork is about helping others when they need it, sharing knowledge and taking responsibility for achieving results.”

Greg Pearson, Marks and Spencers Project Team Leader “Everybody knows their role within the team, and takes personal responsibility for that. That's really essential.“

But what does an ethic of teamwork mean from a client’s perspective?

Exova has worked on a number of projects with United Utilities – the UK’s largest listed water company, serving around 20 million people worldwide – including the replacing of a major water pipe in the heart of Liverpool, supervised by David Carey of Exova Salford Polymer.

United Utilities Lab Manager Richard Duckett says that, for him, effective teamwork is about assuming responsibility and fostering trust and confidence.

“David Carey and his colleagues are good examples of team players," he says. "Dave more or less organises his own programme, makes his own contacts, and does what is necessary, and I can trust him to do it."

Richard adds: “Our 1000mm Liverpool central trunk main refurbishment, which Exova have overseen, is a good example of this. It’s a prestige project at a diameter much greater than the norm, for which new welding parameters had to be developed, and Exova have removed all the technical issues without bothering us.

“For me, that’s teamwork. It means that things happen, we move forward, we do the best job we are able to, and there is no need for blame.”

Steve Holland, United Utilities Quality Team Manager, agrees.

“Good teamwork is about helping others when they need it, sharing knowledge and taking responsibility for achieving results,” he says.

“I strongly believe that the customer service we get from Exova ticks all those boxes. Exova is part and parcel of teamwork in United Utilities.”

The science behind teamwork he word ‘team’ comes from the old Germanic ‘taumaz’, meaning ‘to pull’, and originally referred to a group of cattle pulling a yoke in unison.

It seems appropriate, then, that a recent study on the benefits of working in a team focused on the performance of rowing crews. The research, carried out at Oxford University and published in September 2009 in the Royal Society Journal Biology Letters, showed that rowers who trained together as a team were able to bear twice as much pain as those who trained alone.

During the experiment, researchers tested the pain thresholds of two teams of rowers after a 45-minute team training session, by attaching a blood pressure cuff around the arm and inflating it until it become too painful to bear. The same exercise was repeated with the same rowers after they had trained individually. Results showed the pain threshold of the athletes after the team session was double that of the individual session.

To explain the difference, scientists hypothesised that working as part of the group increased the body’s production of endorphins – chemicals released in the brain that trigger feelings of wellbeing and act as natural pain relievers.

The researchers added that the study strengthened previous research that suggested collective activity makes people feel better.

Professor Robin Dunbar, Head of the Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology at Oxford University, said: “We know that physical exercise creates a natural high through the release of endorphins. What this study shows us is that synchrony alone seems to ramp up the production of endorphins so as to heighten the effect when we do these activities in groups.”

All of which seems to suggest that the ancient Greek philosopher Homer was spot on with his observation that “Light is the task where many share the toil”.

T

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our values | teamwork

Willie McCallum, General Manager in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, explains how shared vision took an ambitious project from the drawing board to the desert

Since its inception in 2006, over 50 people from across the Exova group have been directly involved in the project for the new Saudi lab.

Regional Managing Director Rob Jackson conceived the initial vision for the project, and Development Director, Jason Dodds then began the groundwork. As Regional General Manager, I then went over the plans in detail, with the help of Regional Operations Director Terho Wilson.

Key workshop equipment was purchased with the help and expertise of Andy Stevenson in Exova Manchester, and Regional Metallurgy Manager David Vickers, while the Dubai-based regional Chemistry, Microbiology and Fire Consultancy teams and Singapore-based staff helped

generate the first critical sales.

Key vacancies were filled with help from fellow Regional General Managers, with the Human Resources team providing additional personnel. The Compliance Team then ensured the facility was UKAS-accredited in record time.

Our accountants and finance team then stepped in to install systems and establish budgets, and we also received vital support from the Dubai-based Regional Environmental Team, the Admin Department, and the Exova Group Technology Transfer Team.

It's been a fantastic collective effort and the result of four years’ hard work, and great teamwork is an exceptional facility, which will deliver significant revenue growth for the Exova group.

Teamwork means that things happen, we move forward, we do the best job we are able to, and there is no need for blame Richard Dockett United Utilities

Marks & Spencers Project Team

Greg Pearson, Marks and Spencers Project Team Leader, explains why communication and shared responsibility underpins his 'virtual team.'

"We’re a consultant, advisory service – we review all the product specifications and artwork of Marks and Spencers food packaging to make sure they are legally compliant. That means that all the claims in the label are correct, that all the information is reflective of the product inside, that there are no allergens missed off, and that the packaging is not misleading in any way.

What’s unique about our relatively small team is that we don’t work together in an office. Instead we are based all over the country, and work from home remotely, as a virtual team.

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The job we do is very subjective – in many cases the law itself is not clearcut, so you have to make a decision on whether you believe something is misleading or not.

Consultation within the team is therefore very important.

Our work also requires a consistency of approach – whether we’re looking at a packet of biscuits, or a ready meal, or a cup of cream, we need to give consistent and correct advice based on both the law and on Marks and Spencers policy.

All of this means that effective teamwork is extremely important. We’ve got a central administrator who coordinates what we do in terms of our dayto-day work flow, and we keep in close,

regular contact with each other via e-mail and telephone.

We also have a monthly meeting where we go through these consistency issues, and make sure we’re all singing from the same hymn sheet.

This effective communication is one of the three foundations of our success as a team. The second is that we have a very stable team in terms of personnel – so as well as a good business relationship, we’ve also all built up quite a close personal relationship among ourselves, and that trust really helps us work effectively. The third is that everybody knows what their role is within the team, and takes personal responsibility for that.

And that’s really essential."

T

eams come in all shapes and sizes, but with well over 100 labs across three continents, Exova’s global presence gives it a major advantage over its competitors.

Last year, CEO Grant Rumbles explained his vision for Exova.

“The vast majority of the 25,000 companies that we compete with are corner shops," he said. "If you look at this 10 billion dollar marketplace, and consider it in your mind’s eye as being an ocean, there are 25,000 minnows swimming around.

"With the Exova brand, I believe that we have an opportunity to start to unite our company, under a shared set of values and a shared vision.

"If we can take our 130 laboratories and get them working together, then we can create a much bigger fish.

And that fish can go out and get this marketplace.”

Since Grant’s speech, Exova group has already demonstrated how drawing upon a global network of expertise can provide clients with the kind of service that leaves our competitors dead in the water.

A great example can be seen in a recent project that drew on the expertise of our fire safety and testing teams in three separate continents.

On 22nd December, the UK FST Consultancy division was contacted by an architectural client, requesting a review of fire regulations on seven different buildings, located in Singapore, China and Australia. A complex project requiring knowledge of the fire regulations, design codes, languages and cultures of three different countries, was made even more challenging by a desperately tight and urgent deadline – the architectural company had to submit the results to their client at midday on the 24th of December.

swimming in sync THE BIG FISH To find out more about how Exova's size helps us provide an unparalleled service for our clients, visit the Exova intranet site at www.exova.org

The initial enquiry was received by telephone by the UK team at 2pm on the 22nd of December.

They scheduled a meeting at the architects’ offices at 3pm to discuss the details and scope of the works. At 5pm those details were e-mailed to Exova’s international consultancy divisions, along with drawings of each of the buildings concerned, provided by the architects.

The Australian division then co-ordinated with their colleagues in the Hong Kong and Singapore offices, reviewed the building

designs and documented all of the results.

After an early morning phone call to confirm details (6am UK time, 4pm Sydney time) they sent the results back to the UK, along with details of individual fees for each division.

The UK division then confirmed the overall fees with the architects, and was able to forward the results of the work to them by 11am on the 23rd, more than 24 hours ahead of deadline – and six days earlier than such a project would normally take l

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client feature

Testing a weld for a pipeline project in Angola

Pipe dreams

Subsea 7 fabricate and install pipelines underneath the world's oceans. Welding and Development Manager Tony Clough explains how Exova helps keep the oil and gas flowing Pictures: Neale Smith

subsea7

Global presence

We have a team of 50 people working here in our weld development centre, where we carry out both weld procedure qualification and R&D for Subsea 7’s global operations. We design the welded joint for oil and gas pipelines, then arrange for Exova to test these joints to destruction.

We are one of the market leaders in our global market. We operate in every continent across the globe – at the moment we've got projects in the North Sea, North America, Brazil, Africa and Asia-Pacific – and we work with major international oil and gas companies, including BP, Shell, Total, Chevron and StatoilHydro.

Mechanical integrity

The whole focus of what we do is to create the best possible weld solution for our clients. Within that brief we obviously have to be cost-effective, but above all we have to provide the weld quality, mechanical integrity and corrosion resistance our clients require. Once these pipelines are laid they’re there for the lifetime of the field, so we have to be sure that our welds are fit for purpose, and actually stronger than the pipe we’re welding.

Working with Exova

Exova play a key role in our day to day business.

Every day we manufacture a number of test pieces and Exova provide us with a full range of destructive testing.

These include tests for fatigue, hardness, impact and corrosion, and tensile, full-scale reeling and fracture mechanic testing. They also carry out engineering critical assessments, which are sets of calculations to determine the size of flaw a weld can withstand for both the installation and operation of the pipeline.

To help us do this more efficiently, we have a full-time Exova staff member on-site. We identify what mechanical testing is required, and then he arranges for this to be carried out in their labs. It's a close, day-to-day collaboration, which is integral to what we do.

Bespoke pipelines

Every weld we do is tailored to the material, environment and specification requirements of each individual project. For example, there are different legal specifications in Norway, Holland, America and the UK, and on top of that we have to take into account the physical demands that will be made on the pipeline, and individual client specifications.

'Like a bobbin and thread'

The pipelines we produce can be up to 16 inch in diameter, one inch thick and several kilometres long.

We effectively weld and then coil them around a giant reel, like a bobbin and thread. This is then taken offshore on a reel lay ship, un-reeled, mechanically straightened, then installed under the sea.

Because the pipe is first reeled, then straightened, we need to know that the weld is able to withstand this plastic deformation. Exova carries out that 'reel testing' for us. They do this, basically, by using a powerful machine to physically bend the pipe first one way, then another, repeatedly, to ensure our welds are fit for purpose.

Lessons from war

Steel is normally ductile, but as it drops down in temperature it becomes brittle like glass. In the Second World War there were a number of US cargo ships, known as 'Liberty Ships', that, owing to this, actually broke in half. A brittle fracture can travel the speed of sound, so, literally, one second you’re on the ship, and the next you'd hear a bang and there'd be two ships!

One of the tests Exova carries out for us is called the Charpy impact test, which measures the amount of energy taken to break the material under impact conditions at different temperatures. This is very important because pipelines can operate at very low temperatures – for example if there’s an expansion of gas, this causes a chilling effect in the pipeline, which can take it down to minus 50 degrees Celsius. On the other hand, when it comes out of the ground it can also be hot, so our welds have to be able to cope with that too.

The lowest we've tested our welds down to is minus 196 centigrade. Exova tested that for us, for a liquid petroleum gas pipeline.

The greatest challenge

Probably the most difficult project we're involved in is the welding of what's known as steel catenary risers. In very deep water, for example in the Gulf of Mexico, oil and gas are brought up these long pipes, which stretch down thousands of feet from flotation devices on the surface, almost vertically, in one long catenary.

Because they are exposed to tidal and wave variation, these need to be designed to withstand high fatigue loading. For us, this means almost perfect welds with no flaws. As with everything we do, we design test pieces then Exova test to destruction to prove our product is fit for purpose. This is carried out at the Daventry test laboratory.

A trusted partner

We are a long-standing client of Exova, one of their biggest in the UK, and I think this is because our experience shows they are certainly one of the most professional of the test labs we’ve encountered. The documentation is superior and they offer the whole broad spectrum of testing and every service we need.

I think they're pretty unique in that l Afterword Exova does weldability trials (testing corrosion resistance) for clients some from as far afield as Japan. We need a supplier of welds that we can trust – whose high standards compliment our own – we use Subsea 7.

We respect their technical competence like they do ours.

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5 s u p d a te

5S: From theory into practice Last issue we asked you to help us innovate together and share your ideas on how we can implement the 5S principles in our working environment We had a great response from across our regions, and would like to thank everyone who entered. Here is how one of our winners, Rhonda Kirk, of Exova Edmonton in Western Canada, used a case-study of a recent lab renovation to show how 5S can translate into better working practice.

“Every one of us has had to move, downsize, relocate, or renovate their own personal household at some point in their lives. We want to make things better in the new place – either for aesthetic purposes, lower maintenance, or ergonomic and environmental reasons – so we begin the process of thinking about how we are going to do this and make conscientious decisions about how and what we are going to do to improve our living space.

Even if we don’t realize it, every improvement action we do in a personal household move is related to some of the principles of 5S, and many of the same thought processes went in to our “lab makeover” project in Surrey, BC Canada, to make it more organised, efficient and client-friendly.

Sort

Prior to construction starting, a massive cleanup and disposal effort took place. 75 boxes of outdated files were identified and recycled and 2 truckloads with several tons of miscellaneous material were discarded.

Set locations and limits

A number of new features to make the lab space more efficient and customer friendly were introduced, including reserved customer parking at the front of the lab, and new signage to visually identify the lab for walk-in clients; a self-serve area with water sample kits for clients to pick up their supplies without queuing; new writing area for clients to fill out their sample information sheets.

Shine and sweep

Some interior walls were removed to open up the space, and new flooring installed and paintwork carried out.

Standardize and sustain

The project is still ongoing, with a few features left to implement, and efforts will be made to maintain a lab bright, clean and uncluttered.

The two other winning entries came from Naveen Nandhu in Qatar, and Göran Fahlstrom in Sweden.

For their prizes, Naveen will will take to the sands in a desert safari, Göran will soak off a hard day’s work in a spa, while Rhonda will head for the hills for a dog sled ride through the Rockies.