SPS International - Queen's Award winners

Westhill-based oil service company SPS International was one of only eight Scottish and 88 British companies and organisations to achieve success in the international trade category of the Queen's Awards for Enterprise 2005.

With overseas operations in 39 locations and export sales now accounting for 75% of overall turnover, the company is a classic example of strategic internationalisation in the oil and gas market.

Founded in 1991, SPS International initially concentrated on developing and patenting a wide range of innovative specialist tools and systems for cleaning up wells prior to the installation of completion equipment for oil and gas production

This was an neglected niche market, where drilling companies traditionally took unnecessary risks in not ensuring that no damaging debris would get into the wellbore, or used primitive scraping and cleaning tools which had changed in design very little since the 1930s.

SPS International "did a Dyson" and returned to first principles of design in developing a whole range of imaginatively branded mechanical systems to ensure wellbore protection and avoid expensive downhole "trainwrecks". (Non-Productive Time for an offshore installation can exceed £100,000 per day!)

"Razorback", "Well Patroller"," Junk Muncher" and "Centurion" are only some of the names which sound more at home in the world of blockbuster cinema than the mundane reality of oil exploration and production.

Commitment to R & D

Equally impressive was the company's attention to protection of intellectual property in a sector of the industry notorious for unauthorised cribbing of smart technology. Year on year, SPS International ploughed around 10% of turnover into research and development, resulting in a remarkable, (and possibly unique for a company of its size) portfolio of 83 individual patents held in 2005.

Strong branding and strategic protection of IP were therefore the cornerstones of the company's rapid international development during the late 1990's and early 2000's.

Sophisticated, highly-engineered products which had demonstrated their value in cost savings and productivity gains in the North Sea environment gained ready acceptance in overseas oil territories, and SPS International rapidly built up an efficient global supply chain to supply and service their branded products.

A very positive influence

Fresh from winning the company's first Queen's Award, Business Development Manager Iain Whyte believes that the commercial benefits in terms of recognition will prove to be a valuable long-term asset.

"We have already observed at first hand what winning a prestigious award means for a company like ours," he says.

"In some ways, it's the next difficult step up from Investors in People (IIP) and formal quality accreditation; it's really saying 'this is a really professional, well-run, quality company - and then some!'

"And, although it's early days, I suspect it will also greatly enhance the response to our future recruitment campaigns.

"As far as international customers go, I think it is fair to say that perceptions of the value of the award vary enormously from one overseas territory to another.

"Based solely on my own personal experience, I would say our Russian customers are predictably underwhelmed, our US customers bewildered, but our European and Far East customers distinctly impressed - especially in places like India and Singapore with their imperial heritage.

"But, overall, we have been able to generate huge amounts of excellent international PR very cost-effectively, and there is no doubt that a Queen's Award exerts a very positive influence on opinion formers in the financial market."

"The submission was not as daunting a process as we had anticipated, and we now have our sights set on a Queen's Award for Innovation in the near future to complete the set!".

"Finally, it has to be said, that awards of this nature certainly have an influence on investors and in situations where the SME is trying to borrow capital".

For more information on SPS International, visit www.spsinternational.com