Mike Earlam joined Aberdeen-based Offshore Installation Services (OIS), an Aceton company, as president in April. OIS specializes in providing support for construction, maintenance, installation and decommissioning projects.
As leader of OIS, Earlam says his immediate focus is on growing the business in 2014. These efforts will include further expansion of OIS’ suspended well abandonment tool (SWAT) – designed by fellow Aceton company Claxton Engineering – and also moving OIS’ abandonment services into the Malaysian market.
Earlam says he’s also keen to pursue opportunities to partner with other Acteon companies, encouraged by past pair ups with Aquatic and 2H Offshore in Brazil. “We’re looking at synergies,” he says. “We have some core skills internally within Acteon Group and we want to see how to work together to execute future contracts.”
Since joining OIS, Earlam hit the ground running, learning more about the business from not only his management team, but his customer base as well. During his first few weeks on the job, he scheduled meetings with numerous clients in order to discover what Acteon and OIS can do to better serve them.
“It’s about getting back to basics,” Earlam says. “First, you have to listen to your team and what they tell you, and then you have to get out in front of clients and figure out what you can do for them.
“You can have a very short-sighted view of the world until you’ve chatted with your client and seen what his expectations are; (until you’ve done that) you’re probably barking up the wrong tree.”
Earlam comes to OIS from Fugro Salt Subsea where he worked in the company’s subsea construction and trenching businesses in the North Sea and Europe. From his experience at Fugro, Earlam took with him a commitment to safety culture. “Safety is key. It has to be a part of our ethos,” he says. “If you can’t manage safety, you can’t manage anything.
“We always start all our meetings with a safety moment this way safety stays and the forefront of everybody’s mind.”
Prior to Fugro, Earlam worked with Subsea 7 as its global chartering manager, helping to develop the company’s fleet. In addition, he spent 10 years with ASCO managing its marine operations and logistics. OE
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