Proserv focuses on Saudisation

Gordon Geekie, general manager, Proserv Arabia Saudia spoke to Pipeline Magazine about Proserv’s Saudi Arabia business and why they have focused on achieving greater Saudisation.

Proserv is a global leader and a fresh alternative in the delivery of engineering and technical services to the energy, process and utility markets. Supporting clients for the lifecycle of their assets,the firm operates in more than six regions throughout 22 facilities and 12 countries, offering 24/7 local support services.

Core to the Proserv offering is its ability to manufacture, deliver and support solutions locally by its highly experienced pool of technicians, engineers and project teams. Proserv is an Aramco Approved Manufacturing and Service Facility with over 50 per cent achieved Saudisation.

You head up Proserv’s Saudi Arabia unit. Can you tell us about it?
Proserv has been serving Aramco for over 30 years, mainly through our legacy brands, approved Proserv manufacturing facilities in Dubai and our service centre in Abu Dhabi.  
We believe in adding value to the local supply chain and creating jobs and opportunities for the people in the communities in which we operate, so working with our JV partner (Bandariyah International Company – BIC) to establish Proserv Arabia Saudia (PAS) was a natural development.  
We’ve transferred technology from our global sites to the new business in Saudi Arabia, invested heavily in our facility and put a great team in place. Having secured our Aramco plant ID and 9COM approvals to manufacture production equipment this year, it’s clear we’ve made the right decision.  

What advice would you give to other companies expanding into new markets?
Proserv has embraced the potential of Saudisation, exceeding the localisation targets, resulting in PAS achieving a platinum rating with the Saudi Ministry of Labour.
For us, Saudisation is a great opportunity to add diversity to our workforce by including Saudi nationals and embracing their culture. Having a strong in-house learning and development programme enables us to train our KSA employees to world-class standards. We are constantly running technical training programmes for new employees in our global facilities, as well as hosting our own online learning platform - Proserv Academy.
Saudi Arabia is an exciting place to be and we are proud to support its Vision 2030. We share those aims and look forward to being part of the country’s future successes.
We feel that businesses should empower local talent and support the country to grow. This has worked to great effect in our other locations such as Nigeria, Indonesia and Singapore.  

Collaboration is a word often bandied around by operators and contractors alike. How does PAS view collaboration?
With over 40 years of experience we can draw on a wealth of internal experience and collaboration to deliver technology and services to the market.
In KSA not only do we have a whole host of legacy brands which we work with, we also have  service agreements with complementary production equipment OEMs to allow us to service their equipment both infield and at our PAS service centre.
We also work closely with our clients, to not just fix problems but to actually understand why it happened in the first place and stop it from reoccurring. Of course, it takes time to build up that level of trust, but once you have it, it really pays off.

How does Proserv help its clients extend the lives of their assets?
In today’s market, no one can afford to wait for breakdowns to happen. Responding to breakdowns should be the exception, certainly not the norm. We are supporting our clients in planning and executing successful and effective maintenance operations and to break away from the ‘fix it when it breaks’ mentality.
By reducing the need to always replace old with new equipment, we can make real savings. We have countless examples where we have been able to repair or upgrade existing equipment for our clients, who would have traditionally bought a new replacement asset.
Our ultimate goal is to prevent or minimise operational down time, ensure efficiency and thereby increase assets’ productivity and reliability. This can be achieved through implementing a preventative maintenance programme – something we can do or train our clients to do.
We’ve also developed a web based asset management site. This assists our clients in mapping their assets and managing and planning optimal maintenance and to control their cost.