In this foreword, we look at the important topics for this year; the energy transition and digitalisation. KH Engineering and its sister companies Smart AIS and Euro Drone Inspections notice that digitalisation is in full swing among our customers and relations. More and more customers are asking us to perform high-quality inspections, including 3D scans and drones. By combining these techniques, we can offer a total solution of data collection, inspection, final reporting and advice. A big advantage of drone inspection is that it requires less human effort and therefore has less risk.
Because we use the most modern equipment - just recently, for example, we acquired an Elios 3 drone - and because we have highly qualified people, we are more and more in demand for increasingly versatile assignments. I like the fact that one day we are inspecting pipe sections in an old refinery to make sure timely investments are made in repair or replacement, the next day we are measuring the emissions of a sea-going vessel and then we move on to the QA/QC inspection of a brand new gas production platform in the North Sea. The latter job, by the way, is linked to an entirely different trend, namely the need to become more independent of natural gas from abroad. To this end, a client of ours is now building a new gas production platform, driven by electricity from offshore wind. Thus everything comes together: energy transition, digitalisation and the geopolitical desire to be responsible for our own energy production again.
What I find important in this and what sets us apart is the open and service-oriented cooperation with our customers. By this I mean that we get the most done in an equal partnership. We are always there for our customers and think carefully about the right and smartest solution. Given the many long-term relationships, our customers are very satisfied. What we have achieved in recent years with our organisation is a team effort and we are very proud of that. After all, our work remains human work. I look forward to going into the new year based on that vision!
Martijn van ’t Wout
Business Unit Manager Smart Asset Integrity Solutions & Euro Drone Inspections