Perry Slingsby Systems: Pioneering Excellence in Remote Intervention Equipment Systems

Under control

As a leading expert in the design and manufacture of remote intervention technologies and equipment systems, Perry Slingsby Systems is known worldwide for its dedication to quality and professional excellence.

The business has been at the forefront of remote intervention since its establishment nearly 50 years ago. Through employing specialist capabilities and technologies, it has developed a market leading position in a number of industries, including telecommunications, defence, oil and gas, and other related markets all requiring remote solutions to problems in hostile environments.

Perry Slingsby Systems is a member of Triton Group Holdings, an international group of businesses offering a range of control system based products and systems with complimentary services. Products include a wide range of market leading electric and hydraulic ROVs for inspection, survey and light intervention applications, right through to deepwater heavy construction applications.

From offices and agents around the world, Perry Slingsby Systems offers a worldwide support network that is available to customers 24/7. Kevin Taylor, general manager at the business, outlines the structure of the organisation: “Perry Slingsby was formed through the combination of Perry in the US and Slingsby Engineering in the UK. Originally they were competitors and were acquired by one of the previous parent companies of Perry.

Both businesses have a long tradition in subsea engineering, and have a breadth of experience in designing and building ROVs (remotely operated vehicles) submarines and trenchers. We currently have two manufacturing facilities, one in Jupiter in Florida and one at Kirbymoorside in the UK, together with three sales and support centres in Houston, Aberdeen and Singapore.

“The business is currently organised into regions; we have an organisational side that
serves North and South America, a side that serves Europe, the Middle East and India, and one that serves Asia Pacific and Australia. Our key market segments are the oil and gas subsea construction industry, with major clients including Technip, DOF, Canyon, ISS Group, TSMarine, OceanTeam, Subsea 7 and Hallin Marine; in fact most of the major players in the modern subsea construction market.”

The experience that has been gained through the design and production of hundreds of ROVs, trenchers, tether management systems, submarine rescue systems, submarine cable plows, tooling systems and remote intervention technologies is unmatched across the globe. Kevin comments on what sets the company apart from competitors in the industry: “There are a number of business assets, the first is that currently we have the largest number of ROVs in the open marketplace by far, allowing us to pass on our expertise to the operators and maintainers of our products. Strengths equally lay in our engineering capabilities; we have the ability to design bespoke tooling and control systems, whether it be from small systems all the way up to multi-million pound submarine rescue systems, all using a similar technology base. We currently employ in the region of 60 to 70 engineers operating in different parts of the world, but working as a combined team on a number of international projects and products”

For the past half century the company has established and maintained itself as the world’s leading supplier of ROVs, having produced over 400 ROV systems. Recently, the business has launched a state-of-the-art, smaller ROV, the XLR, to be used in drill support. Kevin expands: “Around two years ago, we launched the XLX workclass ROV. Its main duty is subsea construction, but it is not suitable for the drill support market. The Triton XLX has a proven history in reliability and efficiency being based on its predecessor the XLS, and is a highly advanced workclass ROV. It incorporates thrust, payload and space, which are features that the organisation’s clients have been quick to capitalise on. Additionally, all of its components and controls are proven to be reliable and robust.”

He continues: “We took the core components of the XLX, being its control system and flexibility, and effectively reduced the vehicle in size. The XLR vehicle is much smaller, and lighter and is being directly marketed towards drill support and other markets where the size of the vehicle is important. It has been designed in house and we’ve used around 75 to 80 per cent of the knowledge that we’ve already gained on the XLX. This allows us to offer a similar operating environment for the pilots, and experience gained on the XLX will be beneficial when operating the XLR.” From the pioneering development of the industry’s early workclass ROV, through to the introduction of computer hardware and software technologies, Perry Slingsby Systems has led the market, providing enabling technologies to it clients’ remote intervention needs.

Commenting on how the organisation maintains highly efficient standards, Kevin says: “We allow product duplication between our different sites if the market demands are there. This means that we can have a common product base between companies that can be manufactured or supported out of either of our two manufacturing facilities or service centres in the three regions.”

Continuing he explains other advantages from being split across two continents: “Because we’re located in both Europe and the US, we’re able to protect ourselves better against currency fluctuations. For instance, two years ago the pound and dollar exchange rates gave UK companies a disadvantage in exporting. However, we realised that we could manage clients and contracts between regions to give us an advantage in cost and flexibility.”

Concluding, Kevin summarises the company’s future prospects and expansion plans: “Although there is a global downturn the XLR ROV’s biggest opportunities are potentially in South America, where there is a lot of promise in the drill support market, and in the Asian market, where we see potential areas for growth. We’ve invested heavily into Singapore, so that we can provide service and support out of our base there to our Asian and Australian clients. The long-term vision is to, along with Triton, create a leading edge technology company with efficient manufacturing bases in the UK and US. This will drive efficiency, to allow us to compete better in these difficult times and when the market does pick up, we will be well positioned to react.”

Perry Slingsby Systems

Products Remote intervention technology and equipment