Re-Gen Robotics – disruptive innovation in the oil tank cleaning sector
Fintan Duffy, managing director of Re-Gen Robotics discusses how innovation and disruption are the defining features of his business model, and how they are critical to his company’s mission.
As agents of change, we mean to disrupt the sector to offer a safer, better quality, new value offering to the tank cleaning sector.
The stages in the cycle of disruption affirm that the newcomer develops a better system, the industry ignores the newcomer, brand recognition grows, the industry bullies the newcomer, the industry adopts and improves, consumers reap benefits.
It can be incredibly difficult to launch innovative products to corporations because middle managers are often resistant to change. They fear they have more to lose in making a bad decision than they must gain by making a good one.
However, Re-Gen Robotics is an outlier, our products and service yield such sustainable differentiation that we can’t be ignored.
Companies in the tank cleaning sector have rarely innovated, competitors haven’t seemed to recognise that the disruption cycle is perpetually turning because until now it has turned so slowly.
That was until Re-Gen Robotics launched our Zone 0, EX certified, remote controlled, 100 percent ‘No Man Entry’ robotic tank cleaning company to the market.
The fully submersible robots are designed to operate in the most inhospitable environments and with specialised access cranes, remote camera systems and engineering expertise, any size or shape of oil, gas or chemical tank can be cleaned.
Our patented tank cleaning service is transforming safety within the tank cleaning industry and is adding value to our clients’ reputations and bottom line.
Prior to launching our new 100 percent ‘No Man Entry’ technology, the only tank cleaning option available to oil and gas terminal operators was to send personnel inside colossal fuel tanks with highly explosive atmospheres, using breathing apparatus and chemical suits.
Despite the necessary safety precautions and confined spaced entry procedures enforced, accidents and fatalities were still commonplace due to human error and industry apathy.
Our transformational technology delivers entirely new scale, reliability and flexibility at a cost that upends the old industry model. What we have created is a truly reimagined product and service that makes tank cleaning inconceivably better than anything that has gone before.
The market has been redefined and is waking up to the capabilities of our new technology and service. We have gradually built a major position in the mainstream tank cleaning sector as it in turn, makes a seismic shift in attitude towards safety.
It has taken hard work and perseverance to get Re-Gen Robotics’ offering over the line, challenging the industry mindset with discourse, onsite demonstrations and by engaging with likeminded customers keen to enhance their onsite safety.
Now that they have a trusted no man entry cleaning service they can rely on, the oil majors have adopted this method as their only preference for tank cleaning, it now sits at the core of their safety strategy.
By replacing confined space crews, they are seeing clear advantages for their terminals; fixed costs, reduced paperwork and permits (Re-Gen Robotics is classed as a medium risk contractor) and no requirement for capital outlay or standby rescue teams.
Shell has committed to end manned tank cleaning across its operations by the end of 2022, with other oil majors committing to end it by 2025.
So far Re-Gen Robotics has eliminated 11,000+ hours of confined space entry cleaning in oil and gas tanks. Over 40 tanks consisting of white oil, black oil and distillate tanks in gas plants have been cleaned and we have completed the first worldwide, 100 percent no man entry tank cleans for oil majors such as Shell, P66, Valero and Vermilion, among others.
As the sole, authorised operator of 100 percent no man entry tank cleaning technology in the UK, we are gathering priceless on the ground intelligence, that gives us the ability to detect and understand clients’ requisites, the willingness to engage in substantial and transformational innovation, and the agility to capitalise on opportunities when they arise.
Our teams’ greatest skill set is their ability to translate new intelligence into working technology at pace, far swifter than any competitor could ever keep up with. We are constantly improving our products and service and growing aggressively with acute focus upon our sector.
Nothing is final, nothing is permanent, you can’t stop the wheels of change. The most important element of our business model is having a coherent viewpoint about the forces at work and ensuring we have the capability to modify our plan, if necessary.
For more information visit www.regenrobotics.com
3rd May 2022
