Competetive advantage in deep water

Minister Sylvia Brustad handed out The Honours Award for Design Excellence 2009 (f.l.) Nenad Pavel, industrial designer in Abyssus Marine Services, and Fredrik Næs, technical manager in SeaBed Geophysical. Photo: Johnny Syversen/Norwegian Design Council.

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The revolutionary deep water sensor CASE Abyss has provided the Norwegian company Seabed Geophysical with clear competitive advantages in the international oil industry. Now, CASE Abyss has also been awarded by the Norwegian Design Council with the the Honours Award for Design Excellence 2009.

- We have been very lucky to be able to do such a throrough design process. Especially in an industry that does not nessecarily appreciate the importance of design, commented a very happy Fredrik Næs in SeaBed Geophysical. He received the price together with industrial designer Nenad Pavel from Abyssus Marine Services. The highly sought after Honours Award for Design Excellence was handed out on the 11th of March at the Design day at DogA in Oslo.

- The winner of The Honours Award for Design Excellence should pave the way for other Norwegian companies to do he same. Especially as it shows how design can be used to make innovative and competitive products and services. We need more of this in Norway, in order to elevate ourselves in an ever-tougher international market, said Jan R. Stavik, the managing director of The Norwegian Design Council.

Sylvia Brustad, the Minister of Trade and Industry in Norway, is hoping more Norwegian businesses find inspiration to use design as a part of their innovation process.
- By using design in a goal-oriented and a strategic way, Norwegian businesses can strengthen both its sales and bottom line, said Brustad before handing over The Honours Award for Design Excellence to SeaBed Geophysical.

Tough competition spawned innovation
Tough competition and a strong focus on price levels between companies dealing with geophysical search on deep-water. This situation made SeaBed Geophysical begin development process of the CASE Abyss. The Trondheim based SeaBed Geophysical has today 20 employees, after starting out as a project by people connected to the Statoil research center at Rotvoll. In 2006 the SeaBird group, a vital move in order to make the industrialization of CASE Abyss possible, bought the company.

- It is of course difficult to measure exactly how much the CASE Abyss has contributed to our sales numbers. This because the sensors is only one part of a service offering, i.e. the seismic data we deliver to the international oil companies. But while we in the past have put a lot of afford in getting new projects, jobs are now queuing up on us, stated Fredrik Næs in SeaBed Geophysicals Trondheim department.

Old habits was left behind
When SeaBed Geophysical was to make a new seismic sensor for geophysical mapping on deep-water oceans, they choose to think new.

- We walked away from the old model of evolution, which gave high costs and little function. Neither did it fulfill the new regulations on storage and handling. We therefore had to break with the existing design and start something new.

Industrial designers were involved at an early stage to work with the difficult and often contradicting demands. A designer from Abyssus Marine Services has been sitting in the office of SeaBed Geophysical during much of the development process. The result, which was named CASE Abyss, has received a lot of attention in the oil business. The production costs per unit is reduced by 50 percent compared to similar solutions. The Case Abyss is also a lighter and smaller to handle than its competitors.  It can also be stored in height, which makes it possible to transport twice as many units. The batteries can also be changed without opening the shells, damaged parts can be replaced and the process of getting the data information out of the unit is also quicker.

500 sensors at work
At the same time the esthetics of the Case Abyss has been of great importance. Surprisingly important, one might say, as the sensors are placed 3000 meters below the surface.

– The product has become an important tool in order for us to explain the system for our clients. The shape of the product is attention grabbing and unique and reflects the identity of the service in a very god way. Experience tells us that oil firms remember us better when we bring the CASE Abyss with us to sales meetings and can document our presentation in something visual and concrete, says Fredrik Næs, head of SeaBed Geophysicals Trondheim department.

SeaBed Geophysicals has alrady produced 500 units of CASE Abyss, and most of these are always in action. SeaBed Geophysicals is now contemplating to produce 500 more units of the sensor, in order to meet future demands.

Contact:

• Marte Grevsgard, Project manager for Award for Design Excellence,
  The Norwegian Design Council: +47 917 74 683, mg@norskdesign.no
• Grete Kobro, Head of Information, The Norwegian Design Council:
  +47 23 29 25 57, gk@norskdesign.no
• Fredrik Næs head of SeaBed Geophysicals Trondheim department,
  tel: +47 986 34 163

This article is writen by Pressenytt for The Norwegian Design Council. Pressenytt has the editorial responsiblity for the content of the article.