News Items...
Quality Shows at Red Spider
12th November 2004
Red Spider has achieved conformance to the ISO 9001:2000 management system standard for the design and assembly of downhole tools for the global oil and gas industry. Accreditation was formally notified by Det Norske Veritas this week.
Chris Oliver, General Manager, says “Achieving conformance to ISO 9001 after just 14 months of operation is a great achievement for the company. We have spent a lot of time on the design and adoption of sound management practices to enable us to meet our clients’ needs and ensure the integrity of our design and service delivery and these will stand us in good stead as the business grows. This is further evidence of the quality of the people in Red Spider and their desire to do things well and this is reflected in our products and approach to business”.
Red Spider Picks Up Business Award
October 2004
Aberdeen Independent
A city firm has been recognised as one of the UK’s top 10 new businesses at the final of the HSBC Start-Up Stars Awards.
Chris Oliver, Irvine Brown, Mike Reid and Andy Skinner, directors of Red Spider Technology, accepted their trophy in front of 300 leading businessmen and women at London’s Savoy Hotel. The company also receives £4,000 of consultancy services courtesy of Croner Consulting and software company Intuit.
Red Spider Technology was established in August last year and the directors, who share many years experience in the North Sea oil industry, recognised a gap in the market they plan to fill with an innovative and responsive approach to tool design and development.
Changes in the industry over the past few years mean that operators in the North Sea oil industry are looking for new ways of working that will reduce recovery costs. This is where the Red Spider team plans to make its mark, offering a range of products designed to meet the current needs and offering solutions to specific problems. Every tool they develop will, they claim, offer advantages over their competitors in terms of performance, ease of use or increased production capabilities.
The company is building a client base in the area and are also looking to expand overseas, with Norway their prime focus, followed by West Africa and the Gulf of Mexico.
John Rendall, chair of the judging panel and head of business banking at HSBC bank said: “The quality of entries for this year’s Start-Up Stars Awards was exceptional and highlights the creativity, determination and sound business skills of British entrepreneurs. Red Spider should be proud of their success in reaching the top 10”.
Red Spider’s Two Legged Friends
September 2004
On a beautiful September morning 36 colleagues, friends and family of Red Spider Technology joined 2,000 others in the Walk to Cure Diabetes at Hazlehead Park, Aberdeen.
The walk was led locally by oil company Talisman to raise money to fund research into juvenile type 1 diabetes, a disease which strikes children when they are very young, makes them insulin dependent for life and carries the constant threat of devastating complications. The incidence of the disease among under-5s has doubled in the last ten years but no one knows why.
The overall fundraising target for this year was £130,000 and the exact amount raised is still to be confirmed. Red Spider, however, has contributed £1,400 to this total largely through donations from suppliers and friends.
Chris Oliver, General Manager, says “The walk was a success on many levels. It raised awareness and money for the work of the charity and it showed that the corporate world can think about more than profit. We were amazed at how much we as a company were able to raise and were impressed at the response from our suppliers in particular. Finally, it was good to link up with people away from the work environment and to enjoy some exercise and an ice cream together! We are already planning a repeat for next year”
Thanks to all those who sponsored us.
Red Spider Enjoys a Slice of Norwegian Pie
September 2004
Following a successful visit to ONS in August we’re delighted to announce that PI Intervention will be our representatives in Norway. PI is a young ambitious company offering a range of intervention tools and services to operators in Norway and Denmark. Chris Oliver, General Manager, says "We approached PI after speaking to potential customers in Norway and asking for their recommendations. PI is well-respected in the market and shares many of the corporate values of Red Spider including integrity, innovation and teamwork. Both parties are looking forward to a successful collaboration"
"This is an exciting time for us to be entering the Norwegian market. New players and independents are moving in to extend the lives of the aging fields, while the major players remain committed to Norway as centre of excellence for their research and development. Norway has an established infrastructure for evaluating and testing new products, the industry works to a longer future timeframe than the UK and is known for its meticulous forward planning"
Tor Olav Meberg, Managing Director of PI Intervention, says "Red Spider is a great example of the type of company that PI likes to work with. They have already commercialised a number of exciting products, including the RED Plug and we are sure that they will do well in Norway."
For more information on PI Intervention visit their website at:
Norwegian Showcase for The RED™ Plug
August 2004
Red Spider Technology has been selected to exhibit at the Innovation Park at ONS 2004 (the Norwegian oil show which is being held in Stavanger from 24th to 27th August). The Innovation Park is the focus for new technology at the show and is where the winners of the ONS innovation awards will be announced.
Red Spider will present The RED Plug™, a revolutionary remote equalisation device for use during completions and well intervention.
To find out how this tool can make a difference to your operations come and see us in Hall G, Stand 701 at the show.
2004 Best New Business Award
June 2004
On 10th June Red Spider Technology were recognised for the third time this year as a business with great potential for the future. The occasion was the Grampian Awards for Business Enterprise 2004 sponsored by Scottish Enterprise and The Royal Bank of Scotland at a dinner in Aberdeen attended by 420 business people. Red Spider Technology was one of three finalists for the Best New Business Award.
Chris Oliver, General Manager, said “It is very encouraging for the team to receive recognition in this way. The Grampian Awards for Business are growing in status year by year and we are very proud to be associated with them. We took a table at the dinner and had a great evening celebrating our success with our banker, business advisers and others who have given us support over the last few months.”
Mike Reid is seen above collecting our finalist’s certificate from Jenny Moultrie of The Royal Bank of Scotland.
Techno-Spidermen Use Their Initiative
May 2004
The Press and Journal ENERGY
Around Halloween last year, giant red spiders were seen invading selected target companies in and around Aberdeen. But some of the unlucky ones were captured by children, all of them blissfully unaware that these confectionery arachnids were core to one of the most successful marketing ploys attempted by an oil service company in many years. The perpetrators were Chris Oliver, Mike Reid, Irvine Brown and Andy Skinner, persuaded by PR specialist Beverly Tricker.
It was a stunning way of launching the new engineering product design firm, Red Spider Technology, by four individuals who had known one another for years and who possessed the drive to collectively create an independent future instead of kowtowing to their respective bosses for the remainder of their working lives.
Last month, Energy caught up with two of the Red Spider directors, Oliver and Reid, only they eschew the trappings of director titles in favour of general manager and product development manager, respectively. "We're hands-on people. The director thing on business cards is a bit crass for a company of our size," says Reid. "It's far better developing a flat organisation where we pull for one another. We're not about building a hierarchy, but a team that's effective. When you look at why we set up -- to develop a brand of highly innovative tools and to become a place where people want to work, then the old school tie, fancy titles and know-your-place stuff is not on."
Reid, especially, has direct experience of working in both camps, having been a founder of Well Equip, which was subsequently acquired by Petroleum Engineering Services (PES), which was, in turn, captured by Halliburton. And then he was spun-off into WellDynamics to lead project work.
"Well Equip had a family spirit, and it was similar at PES even though it was a much bigger company. But once PES was swallowed by Halliburton, that feeling disappeared. The small-company ethos is more conducive to innovation than is the case for large ones. At Well Equip, we decided our own priorities for product development. You can't do that in a big organisation where you can be stuck in a long-term, assigned project." That said, Reid says he gained valuable experience at WellDynamics, the focus of which is smart well solutions.
Oliver is an accountant by discipline, but had limited chance to display leadership skills when working for large companies. What sowed the seeds of independence for him was working as a part-time financial babysitter for Well Equip and for a firm in Glasgow. This enabled him to tap into the free-wheeling sparkiness that is so often the hallmark of a successful small company.
"We wanted to create a business that would be fun, that would offer enough variety to make it exciting for all of us and to have the potential to be taken international."
Dreaming is one thing. Converting it to reality by scraping enough money together and being sufficiently attractive to a bank or venture-capital provider is quite another. "The four of us talked at length about how we would do it," said Oliver. "I felt I needed to put a (likely investment) number up that was scary enough for everyone to show they were really committed, but that we could also afford."
Some £200,000 in setting-up costs and seven months in business later, how is Red Spider faring? "One thing that struck us and which we didn't plan for was the extent that we have had to fund product development," says Reid. "A lot of products and equipment developed by the bigger players (like Halliburton and Schlumberger) do get funding from the end user (oil companies)."Perhaps it was because we were a new-start, but funding from the end user has not been forthcoming. We've had to fund our own product development, though we've had grant aid from Scottish Enterprise and Aberdeenshire Council."
In other words, Red Spider is not untypical of a fair number of technology-driven energy SMEs established by individuals with a good, even excellent, track record, but who are left to flounder by the oil companies. And they are ignored even if they offer a potential game-changer technology, which is the category into which Reid believes his company's second product -- an innovative re openable downhole plug device -- will fit.
He says it should prove especially useful in long-reach horizontal wells where the plug can be remotely opened and shut with ease and which can be produced through. It will also be retrievable.
It is this innovative streak that stood Well Equip and PES in such good stead and which Reid believes can be replicated at Red Spider. It's not just about tools; it's about providing solutions to difficult, even intractable, problems and in a bespoke manner if necessary.
Ironically, however, the spiders have to prove themselves all over again, despite their prior track records, notably Reid and Irvine. The former has a Hart's Innovation Award to his credit and Irvine has a number of patents and SPE papers with his name on. "You can have all the experience that you could ask for, but because we're a new company, it's almost like starting again ... six months old and with only six months' experience," says Reid.
That said, he says the spiders have received their "fair share of inquiries" and people do know who they are. And the need to get products designed, built and out into the marketplace is clearly acknowledged. Year one is the most critical period for any new-start firm. One way or another, it has to meet its key objectives, including surviving financially. At Red Spider, they had given themselves a year to get that crucial foundation laid and, as one would expect, they are ahead of plan in some respects and lagging in others.
It's about juggling balls: developing and offering products and services, finding and securing customers and keeping the bank manager happy -- VC provider, too, if one is involved. "While we of course drew a business plan before starting up, since then, we have had to move the goalposts somewhat. But having a financial person (Oliver) on board from day one is a big help," adds Reid.
www.thisisnorthofscotland.co.uk
Twice the Bridesmaid...
March 2004
This was a heady week at Red Spider Technology as we were finalists in two prestigious business awards.
The first event was the Orange ‘Small is Beautiful’ Awards held at the Institute of Directors building in Pall Mall, London where we reached a short list of three companies for ‘Best Marketing Campaign’.
The second event was the Scottish Offshore Achievements Awards held at Ardoe House Hotel, Aberdeen and attended by the UK Energy Minister, Stephen Timms, where we were short listed for ‘Most Promising Company’.
Chris Oliver, General Manager, says "It is very encouraging to be recognised by our industry peers so early in the development of the company. This helps increase our profile and assists us in building relationships at a strategic level with our key customers".
In-House Test Facility Completed
February 2004
Red Spider Technology completed the kitting out of its workshop this month with the installation of a hot and cold pressure testing facility. Irvine Brown, Engineering Manager, says “This gives us greater control over prototype testing and reinforces our commitment to innovation and product development”.
Oil-Related Firm Gets Cash Bonus
February 2004
The Press and Journal
Red Spider Technology has been awarded a grant of £10,000 from Aberdeenshire Council, to help in the development of downhole tools for the global oil and gas industry.
The council has given a Support for Aberdeenshire Business Grant to Red Spider as part of its drive to encourage new and existing firms. Aberdeenshire economic development executive Graeme Rigg said such grants were offered to businesses which could prove that they would play a part in developing and strengthening the local economy. The grant to Red Spider will specifically aid in the development of a water injection valve that offers high flow rates and is debris-tolerant. The firms key target markets are UK, Norway, West Africa, Gulf of Mexico, Brazil and the Middle East.
New Position Created At Red Spider Technology
January 2004
Red Spider Technology has appointed Steve Nicol to the position of Assembly and Test Manager. This is a newly created post at Red Spider, the oil and gas engineering product design company based at Westhill by Aberdeen, which was launched in October of this year. Steve Nicol previously worked for Petroleum Engineering Services and Welldynamics in Aberdeen and Houston.
“Steve is well known in the oil and gas industry,” says Chris Oliver, General Manager at Red Spider. “He will be a valuable asset to the Red Spider team as we develop new products for the industry. This is a key appointment for us. We plan to expand the Red Spider team throughout 2004, and Steve’s early appointment is as a result of the market confidence which is being expressed in our new designs.”
Steve’s role as Assembly and Test Manager will be in developing the Red Spider workshop operation, putting procedures in place and building relationships with key suppliers.
Steve joins a rapidly growing business which aims to have a turnover in excess of £2 million in three years. New Red Spider products will be unveiled in January 2004. Red Spider can be contacted at Westhill Business Centre, Arnhall Business Park, Westhill on 01224 330533 or by emailing sales@redspiders.com