SMD is one of the world's leading manufacturers of remote intervention equipment, operating in hazardous environments worldwide.
The business has a strong heritage in subsea engineering, going back to the 1970s when it pioneered the design and manufacture of seabed ploughs. Following the acquisition of Hydrovision in 2003, SMD has grown to be the world's number one independent designer and manufacturer of workclass and specialist subsea remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). SMD underwent a management buy-out in 2008, funded by the private equity group, Inflexion. It is headquartered near Newcastle in the UK, with additional facilities in Malton (UK), Houston, Singapore and Macaé in Brazil.
SMD is organised along five key business streams: ROVs, Trenching, Mining, Renewables, and Nuclear. These business streams are each led by a dedicated business stream manager reporting into one of the two joint managing directors.
We are members of the FPAL scheme, and accredited to ISO 9001 (quality management system) and ISO 18001 (occupational health and safety) standards.
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.
Malton, North Yorkshire
Our design office in Malton, North Yorkshire, houses a specialist team of engineers focussed on the application of SMD's remote intervention expertise in support of nuclear decommissioining activities.
Cobalt Business Park, North Tyneside
SMD's subsea mining business stream is housed in modern offices at the Cobalt business park and focusses on the development of deep sea mining vehicle solutions. The offices also house our tracked vehicle engineering team.
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 engineers have a breadth of skills across all disciplines including electrical, mechanical, hydraulic, control, software and soil mechanics. We bring these together in a project based organisation focused on delivering our customers’ needs. SMD places a high value on our unique atmosphere and culture, and on the skill and dedication of all of our staff.
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.
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.
