I am now just over three months into my role as Vice President of the Western Hemisphere.
Originally, I heard about Paradigm’s technology because of its work with the inspection of fire protection systems and I found it to be incredibly intriguing.
Paradigm are focused on digitalisation, robotics, algorithms and artificial intelligence to test systems without using traditional methods.
Marc Pretorius
Their innovation meant that when I got the opportunity to join the organization- I jumped at the chance.
I believe that the technology Paradigm offers is something that is only going to grow as we move into the next decade, especially as we are moving towards accepting automation, algorithms and advanced AI systems.
Fire protection is a big part of what Paradigm does, but we are essentially a technology company, developing advanced technologies to help operators streamline their processes and save them money.
Paradigm currently have about 120 patents on our technology and take great pride in knowing we are a leading provider. Our fire protection services focus on the full life cycle of offshore fire protection systems.
By the full life cycle, I mean taking the system from the conceptual stage and the feed stage, all the way through to design, build, implementation, testing, inspection and reporting.
Marc Pretorius
We can take control from cradle to the grave.
Our state-of-the-art technology is used to carry out inspections, as opposed to using old and traditional methods of testing.
We do not just service oil and gas, we also serve other industries in mining, energy and power generation including nuclear.
The Dry-Flo® solution is an interesting one. When it comes to offshore deluge systems, they release thousands and thousands of gallons of water across your asset in an emergency should there be a fire or explosion.
These systems need to be tested every year, both on and offshore.
Regulators require us to test these systems once a year offshore by filling them up and flowing sea water through the system.
Marc Pretorius
Here, we are talking about thousands and thousands of litres of water being flushed over millions of dollars of process equipment- however, it is necessary to do to ensure that your system is functioning, especially during an emergency.
The downside of this testing is that it is incredibly costly over time.
Over the years, there have been some different ways of testing to try and avoid flowing water but there are a variety of issues associated with them.
Paradigm’s technology is the only technology that can test the system using air and sensors accurately.
We can measure airflow, density, pressure, temperature and volume within a piping network and make those measurements comparable to those that could be taken if you were flowing water.
Regulators then receive a report that covers all the parameters they require for testing.
Our technology is state-of-the-art, proprietary and uses a combination of science, engineering, maths, automation, algorithms and artificial intelligence to achieve better than what the traditional water test can do.
Using visual inspection such as smoke or paper checklist, you cannot report on the system’s integrity, but with the Dry-Flo® you absolutely can.
The reaction has been really positive.
When you are dealing with offshore engineering, usually the individuals that take care of these systems are process safety engineers or rotating equipment engineers- people who know firsthand the pitfalls of flowing water.
They are the individuals responsible for looking at the asset integrity of the FPSO, which is a huge ship that is responsible for the drilling and refining of oil.
These are massive vessels which typically cost over $1,000,000 a year.
In my experience, engineers truly understand the value in Dry-Flo® and actually using the technology. But, as with all new technology, nobody wants to be the first- everybody wants to follow someone else.
This is one of the stumbling blocks we have come across.
We are getting really positive feedback from discussions with clients and potential clients because we offer such a high-end technology.
Marc Pretorius
It just takes a bit of time to explain what we offer and break it down, however, once the client sees our product in action then it is almost always a no-brainer.
As our technology grows month on month, my focus is on working with our customer base and with industry to hone the technology so that it can suit different branches and needs.
At Paradigm, we don’t just develop a technology, put it out to market and hope for the best. The best technology is based on a lot of research and development.
We always want to listen to our clients so that we can make tweaks that cater our services to their needs.
As the Vice President of the Western Hemisphere, another huge facet of my role is bringing our technology to market and seeing it become globally adopted in all oil and gas and energy generating sectors.
Marc Pretorius
The customers who use Paradigm absolutely love it, but my focus is to take the learnings from those customers and continue to develop our technology in the Western Hemisphere; covering Canada, South America and North America.
As a service provider, there is also a need to become an equipment provider.
For us, this means that we can offer a service with great technology and complete testing and reports, but for us to grow we are amending our commercial models to the need of the client.
We can offer a service to customers so they are able to use our technology, but we also want to offer the ability for the customer to purchase the technology so them can own it themselves.
I believe our business is going to move from service provider to equipment provider or technology provider with training.
Marc Pretorius
