SMD

Head Office
SMD’s head office and main factory is located at Turbinia Works, in Wallsend near Newcastle upon Tyne. The site includes modern design, service, support and production offices and state of the art production control, inventory systems, and engineering design software. The extensive workshop has 2 x 50te overhead cranes, assembly space for parallel vehicle builds and height clearance for A-Frame test. Specialist facilities include hydraulics and electronic assembly rooms, vehicle assembly pods and dedicated commissioning bays, and a training and simulation suite. The factory is equipped with indoor and outdoor test tanks. Offices are available for use by visiting customers with telephone, fax, and wireless internet facilities.

ROV Centre of Excellence, North Shields
SMD has a new manufacturing facility at the Tyne Tunnel Trading Estate (Intersect 19) in North Shields, within a few miles of our headquarters. This modern facility is currently being outfitted in preparation to receive our ROV production and engineering teams.

Asia Pacific Office
SMD’s APAC office is located in Singapore and opened in early 2009. SMD will continue the expansion of the APAC office to include workshop facilities, spares holding and engineering technical support.

Houston Office
SMD’s Houston office was established in 2010. The office and workshop facility provide support, service, spares, training and sales to SMD customers in North, South and Central America.

Our company was founded in 1971 as Soil Machine Dynamics Limited and developed a reputation for supplying innovative equipment for the burial of pipelines and cables. Since then we have applied our engineering skills in subsea markets ranging from oil and gas, telecommunications, military, scientific and mining.

With the acquisition of Hydrovision in 2003 we entered the Workclass ROV market. Our continued strength and success come from being independent and stable and from the long term relationships we develop with our customers. We are still innovating today and extending our knowledge and expertise into new areas such as renewable energy and subsea mining.

Minimising the environmental impact of operations will be one of the main sustainability objectives for SMD in 2013. SMD’s strong clients, employees, and suppliers relationships will be key in enabling SMD to meet these objectives.
As a world leading manufacturer of remote intervention equipment, SMD’s environmental impact comes mostly from carbon emissions, particularly emissions generated by business travel and by energy used within company buildings. This in mind, the company’s carbon mitigation programme will be central to SMD’s efforts. SMD also work to reduce the waste generated such as wood, and resources consumed, such as paper.
Clearly defined environmental considerations will be embedded across SMD using standards, targets and regular performance measurement. Environmental awareness programmes will also be considered where deemed necessary.
SMD’s environmental policy sets out the company’s approach to managing and reducing impacts, and staff will endeavour to make noticeable improvements. In 2013 SMD will assess its environmental management system for all of operational buildings within the UK to move closer to compliance of the ISO 14001 standard. SMD’s current environmental management systems will provide assurance that key environmental risks and impacts are managed, and the commitments of SMD’s environmental policy are met.
Environmental performance will be monitored, measuring environmental impacts throughout the year and reporting the findings at the end of each financial year to the management team.
Last year SMD introduced the Rewards program which potentially provides financial incentives to all full time employees who opt to purchase cars from a company sponsored lease deal. The financial savings are specifically dependant on the environmental criteria of the car selected car selected. Environmentally friendly goods are also available both through a staff discount site and a staff benefits package. A Cycle to work schemes has also been introduced whereby SMD employee can purchase a bicycle at a significantly reduced cost.
During 2012 all chemical substance used by SMD were assessed and wherever possible safer and more environmentally friendly alternatives will now be purchased. The purchasing procedure has been amended to reflect the importance of the selection of such substances and this initiative was followed up with an awareness program across procurement.
SMD’s main oil storage area which was located in very close proximity to the river Tyne has been relocated and now fully bunded storage lockers have been repositioned in an area which reduces the risk of any accidental release into the water table. A new procurement initiative which will enable SMD to store less oil on site has also been introduced. SMD policy of recycling, reusing or reselling waste oil will continue wherever possible.
2013 will be an important year for SMD, as it will be the first phase of a program of reporting that will lead to SMD being a contributor to the Global Reporting Initiative. As a result SMD will not only report on those achievements that are successful but also on any internal objectives which are not successfully met.

Ian Softley

SMD HSE Advisor (13/12/2012)

Our Vision:

“SMD will be the leading provider of integrated solutions for remotely operated systems working in challenging environments worldwide”

Our Values

We have a business based on the following values:

Respect and Honesty - We show respect, integrity and empathy in all our dealings with stakeholders and encourage open and honest communication at all levels.

A Passion for Excellence - We make a long term commitment to our employees to develop them in an environment which is stimulating, enjoyable and equitable; and promotes a passion for excellence. We empower our employees to make courageous decisions.

In Partnership with Customers - We foster close partnerships with our customers, which together with our creativity and innovation, ensures they get the best possible value.

Committed to Safety and Quality - We are committed at all levels in the business to ensuring a safe working environment, and focus on quality in all we do.

SMD supply an innovative range of remotely operated remote intervention equipment, a range of associated deck and handling equipment, control systems, and the Curvetech™ range of ROV components. End solutions vary from one-off bespoke engineering systems to a standard range of workclass ROVs. SMD’s customers operate our equipment in hazardous environments from the deep sea to radioactive buildings, and therefore value the fact that it is robust, reliable and easily maintained.

The equipment is of diverse size and complexity, ranging from 250 tonne tracked mining machines to two-tonne free-flying ROVs. In 2010 SMD delivered the world’s largest free stream tidal turbine (to Atlantis Resources Corporation), and is designing and manufacturing the world’s first deep seabed mining vehicles (for Nautilus Minerals, Inc.).

SMD prides itself on providing integrated solutions and working in long term cooperation with our customers to help them meet their own market requirements. We aim to offer the best customer support in each of our markets.