Founded over 32 years ago, Oglaend System possesses a great legacy of industry leadership and innovation that has been driven by the product itself – an integrated support system for the main disciplines of electrical cables, instrumentation, HVAC, piping and telecom. 

Oglaend System's business is diversified in all regions of the globe, with 60 percent of sales achieved outside Norway. “We are operating from locations in 30 countries, and serving customers in more than 140 countries,” informs Mr Arentsen. “We have nine subsidiaries at present, which should grow to 10 in the near future.” 

Oglaend Industries (Holding Company), today boasts a turnover of $110m and over 200 employees. It has developed a reputation for innovation and development of Total System Cost reducing technologies and solutions. Such a position is born from its commitment to working collaboratively with clients to ensure the best solutions and systems are used for any given job or project.

Over 30 years in the system 

Gunnstein Austigard founded the company in 1977. “Back then, it was a division of the holding company Jonas Oglaend AS, and was actually called Oglaend Engineering,” announces Mr Arentsen. The name may have been different, but the company's vision for the product was clear from the very beginning: that it should have low weight but great strength, and that it should be a complete system for supporting cables and all kinds of equipment, as required in offshore installations. 

This product philosophy would prove to be a popular one, with the company securing a significant contract in 1978 to supply systems to Statoils Statfjord B and C platforms in the North Sea. “In 1980, we then won the contract for Amoco Valhall to provide cable tray and cable ladder products, coated with Epoxy– a big stepping stone for our company,” comments Mr Arentsen. “As oil companies began to realise the benefits of the system – most notably in the lower weight and dramatically reduced installation time – we experienced a series of orders and contracts and, with those, gained more and more respect in the business,” he recounts. 

“Oglaend System AS was formed in 1987, although it remained part of the same holding company,” he tells us. “In 1989, we launched the FlexoGrid system – today known as the MultiGrid™ system. This forms the DNA of our product philosophy – a support system that integrates the four main disciplines: electrical, HVAC, piping and instrumentation. So, instead of each system working in isolation, the support that these four elements are contained within is an integrated system, making installation a lot easier and, of course, allowing great savings in terms of installation time,” he asserts. ”So, we are really a front-runner in reducing costs – especially in the offshore environment.”

In 1991, Oglaend System changed ownership to a local group of owners and started to establish sales offices all over the world – “first in the Netherlands, then Singapore, then the UK, then Sweden, followed by our Korean office,” Mr Arentsen tells us. “In 2003, Oglaend Industries was formed – the mother company as we know it today. So, Oglaend System AS then became a subsidiary of the group, although it remained based at its headquarters in Klepp, Norway, with the product and brand remaining fully Oglaend System.” 

From then, the company has experienced a very rapid growth on the international market – something that has continued up until the present day. In 2006, its subsidiary in the Middle East was established in Dubai – “This is not only a sales office, but also a production facility. Up until then, we had only produced our product in Norway and in different kinds of steel. But, due to market demand, we also decided to establish a product line made out of the material called FRP (fibre reinforced polyester). 

In 2008, Oglaend relocated its production facilities from Dubai to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. “These new production facilities were for the FRP production,” he informs. “We also have a smaller level of production here, for our systems fabricated from steel and stainless steel. This year we also opened an office in Denmark.” 

Over the years, the system itself has been enhanced – whilst the range has also been expanded. 

Record-breaking facilities

The headquarters of the company are located in Klepp – 30 kilometres south of Stavanger in Norway. “Stavanger is actually the Norwegian oil capital – it is the equivalent of Houston, Texas in US,” remarks Mr Arentsen. “One would even go as far as to say that Stavanger is the oil capital of Europe. So, we are very close to a big cluster of operators, oil service companies and other sub-suppliers within the oil, gas and petrochemical area.” 

Oglaend's Norwegian headquarters feature a showroom, in-house sales team, production planners, as well as facilities for product seminars and training. However, Mr Arentsen is keen to point out that the company's work focuses heavily on product development: “Research and Development is key – one of Oglaend's four core values is our solutions development focus, and we co-operate very closely with our customers to create better and smarter solutions,” he tells us. “As such our R&D department works continuously on new products and on the improvement of existing ones. That is also part of our mission statement, which is to contribute to the lowest total system cost of the product, which is a very important message for us to send out to potential customers.” 

Oglaend's raw material inventory division is one of Norway's biggest consumers of stainless steel. “We use approximately 5,000 tonnes of stainless steel AISI 316L and 2,500 tonnes of carbon steel per year,” he discloses. “Then, there is the fully automatic 'night train': an automatic truck collects steel plates from the shelves and feeds them into the three full automatic CNC controlled punching machines. Pallets with semi-finished products are thereafter automatically taken to the Stacking System, where they are stacked to be picked up for finishing in the press brakes. The system generates a fantastic production flow 24 hours. “This is the biggest installation of its kind in Northern Europe, with a capacity of 450 shelves each weighing 3,000 kg,” advises Mr Arentsen.

“In addition to this main site, we have the new facility in Malaysia for the production of our FRP line, as well as some steel products,” he recaps. “And then, in terms of international sales, our nine subsidiaries are more or less responsible for sales on a regional basis, although we also have a prolonged sales arm in the form of agents with whom we co-operate.”

Multi-discipline systems 

As outlined, the flagship in Oglaend System’s product portfolio is the multi-discipline support system – MultiGrid™. “What is very special about our system is that you can both weld starter brackets up into the ceiling, and you can also bolt them up as a cold solution. This is obviously advantageous if you are doing modification work on an offshore facility where hot work is prohibited, It means that you don't have to shut down production or you don't need a hot work permit. 

“If you look at the diagram of the system, you will see that all of the red parts are the starting brackets and supporting channels. Then, the blue parts are specially designed to support the HVAC equipment; the small components marked in yellow are to support the piping; whilst the green parts are the cable trays, ladders and brackets designed to support the electro-instrumentation and telecom. So, the product provides the whole support system for these four disciplines and it is colour co-ordinated, which obviously makes installation and maintenance operations more simple,” he says, going on to emphasise the value that his company's products add for the client – “That is, time reduction, maximised volume utilisation, weight reduction, enhanced lifetime integrity, and improved safety performance.” 

Oglaend System supplies different industries – oil and gas being our predominant business area – it is also the market area from which our company originated from. “We have a big project for Shell and Qatar Petroleum in the Middle East that we are actually still supplying to – a project in Qatar called Pearl GTL,” he informs. “Another project that I have been working on personally as a key account is called Adriatic LNG – that is the world's first offshore floating gravity-based receiving terminal for LNG – off the coast of Rovigo in the Adriatic Sea, Italy.”   

Later on in the development of the system, it was discovered that Oglaend's solutions were also feasible for use in other sectors – one being on ships. “This is a particular market of growth for us – we have a separate line for ships which is a very tailored product range, with its own philosophy,” he advises. “Another application for which our system has achieved success – especially in Norway and in the UK – is in infrastructure systems – especially tunnels and bridges. A project that springs to mind is the Hindhead tunnel, which is currently being built on the A3 road near Surrey in the UK,” he reports. “Norway is a very mountainous country and here some 80 percent of all tunnels are equipped with our product. We have a great potential of supplying other mountainous regions in the world.”

Another area that is growing for Oglaend System is that of alternative energy applications. With its 91 windmills the Horns Rev II offshore wind park off the coast of Denmark is the world’s largest wind farm and the first with accommodation facilities. This installation is being supplied by Oglaend System. The company also caters for water treatment projects and the 'clean room' environment – “Typically, this is slaughter houses, dairy facilities, pharmaceutical production plants – all places where hygiene is a very important factor,” he reports. “For this environment, we have a very tailored system called 'clean-trunking' – a trunking system with a special design that enables you to clean it with high-pressure water, without risk of the water coming through the support system. So, the system is effectively encapsulated so that the water cannot get inside, but at the same time, everything is washed away from the outside to remove all of the bacteria. We also manufacture a specialised product line for civil construction,” he adds.   

 Tailored solutions 

“We have four key values: reliability, enthusiasm, entrepreneurial spirit and a focus on solutions, and when we approach a project, we always do so with a customer focus, assures Mr Arentsen. “So, we effectively have our product lines on the shelf, but we do a considerable amount of development work as well. We do a lot of tailored solutions, so, if the customer has a challenge, we obviously try to see if there is anything suitable in stock, but then, we will develop a great deal of specialised components or systems to overcome the individual challenges that are faced by each client. So, we gain a lot of customers due to our sharp focus on solutions – customers who stay with us for the same reason.” 

The drive for development has clearly been an essential factor behind Oglaend System's sustained success, as Mr Arentsen is keen to point out: “A lot of the competition that we have seen are trying to make money out of copying this kind of product, but we have spent more than 30 years in which we have been devoted to the production of this product –  developing it continuously, and in very close co-operation with our customers.”

The reliability of this ISO9001-certified company is another key value – and is reflected in the performance of its products. “We sell our system primarily in stainless steel, which is obviously non-corrosive,” assures Mr Arentsen. “Our MultiGrid™ system is also a bolted system, and utilises a self-locking bolt, which has fantastic resistance against vibration. It means that after installation, you would not need to re-screw any of the bolts – even a long time after the installation. So, there is a low need for maintenance with our systems.”

Reducing total system cost

In terms of trends, Mr Arentsen's first response is somewhat inevitable: “The subject that has been on everyone's lips has been the so-called credit crunch,”  he tells us. “At the same time, in the oil and gas sector, there is an enormous increase in demand for oil and gas – on a worldwide scale. There are a lot of projects where they have discovered it but just need to build a platform or an FPSO, in order to extract it. However, due to the economic crisis, some companies cannot now afford to finance these projects and, of course, we live to supply theses new platforms – such as FPSOs and LNG terminals. 

“This has, of course, brought about a great deal of discussion when it comes to the purchasing, because price is more important now than it has ever been – and we understand that,” he advises. “Our focus on total system cost and the values that our products add to a project are both aspects that should be stressed at this point in time,” he says and, indeed, MultiGrid™ can reduce the Total System Cost of a project by up to 50 percent, thanks to reduced installation time, optimised co-ordination between disciplines and the simplification of future modification work. “Our product has always been an important one, but it is perhaps more important than ever, at the moment,” he adds.

Future enhancements

Oglaend System's most immediate future plan is the launching of its new enhanced version of the MultiGrid™. “This is being done step by step,” advises Mr Arentsen, “The climax was our participation at the Offshore Europe exhibition in Aberdeen in September, where we introduced our new product to the market. And thereafter, we hope to integrate it into as many projects as possible – in Europe and beyond.” Another product that Oglaend System has just launched is its tailored variation of the MultiGrid™ system for ships.  

Explaining the advantages of the upgraded product, he tells us that: “The enhancements that have been made to the system mean that there are now many more parts, so that you can build enough supports, no matter what challenges there are. You can either weld or bolt according to the limitations of the installation environment, and, of course, we have many more parts in accordance with the disciplines already mentioned,” he says. “On top of this, the discipline parts also have a higher level of compatibility, which means that you can use them across the disciplines. So, you could say that it is more like Lego now: you have all of the components in a box and you can more or less build whatever you want,” he enthuses, adding, “It is basically more flexible and more integrated than it has ever been.” 

With regards to the FRP system manufactured in Malaysia, Mr Arentsen tells us that the company is now keen to market these more strongly. “Before, we only had cable trays and cable ladders and different special items, whereas now we have a complete multi-discipline support system for this FRP line as well, which is even more lightweight than the steel systems, and which, therefore, opens up a multitude of possibilities for new applications.

“We have also made a lot of investments over the past year in order to improve our supply chain systems so that we can both produce very high quality, at low cost and so that we are able to deliver large-scale projects on time,” he adds. Indeed, with a subsidiary or agent in every hotspot – especially in terms of oils and gas – around the world, providing access to sales, support and stock, Oglaend System offers a truly global supply chain – “This is another thing that makes us unique amongst our competitors,” asserts Mr Arentsen. With its new, improved MultiGrid™ system, capable of generating substantial reductions in the total system cost on both on-shore and offshore projects within the oil and gas sector, and many other well-suited applications emerging, it seems clear that Oglaend System can look forward to a busy and varied future.