50 years of innovation

In a couple of days’ time I’ll be flying over to Houston, Texas, for this year’s Offshore Technology Conference – one of the biggest events in the oil and gas industry, which brings together energy experts from around the globe to discuss the latest trends and innovations. This year will be particularly special, as it’s OTC’s 50th anniversary – and the 45th time Trelleborg has participated at the event.

To mark the occasion, I decided to dig into our photo archives here at Trelleborg show you what we were up to 50 years ago.

Looking back at some of the old photographs, it’s remarkable to think how far we’ve come. Back in 1905 when Trelleborg was first founded by Henry Dunker and Johan Kock, the team consisted of just 150 employees, specialising in bicycle tires and rubber for industrial applications. When you look at some of the images from 1969, OTC’s inaugural year, you can see just how much we had already begun to transform as a business. The development of motoring in the 1930s had led to car tires becoming our single largest product, and we had also started to apply our pioneering polymer engineering to other product lines such as the raincoat you can see being modelled below. 

While car tires are no longer our main area of focus, we still produce tires for tractors, forklifts, construction vehicles, bicycles and motorcycles - and we’ve had the opportunity to share this technology across our business units in order to create products for the oil and gas industry. For instance, the steel cords used to reinforce our oil hoses originally come from automotive tire industry, delivering the outstanding durability and service life they are known for.

Today we are one of the world’s largest industrial producers of rubber, with divisions stretching across multiple industries. Our small team of 150 has grown into over 23,000 employees working in multiple locations across the globe.

Embracing a new age of technology

One of the other things that struck me while I was looking through our archives was just how much of an effect technology has had on the way we live and work. The photo below, taken in Swedish office in 1969, shows a workspace without any laptops or desktop computers. As modern technologies continue to revolutionise our offices and factories, it becomes increasingly difficult to remember a time when we didn’t use emails or smartphones. In the oil and gas industry, we are now seeing the first applications of like blockchain, Artificial Intelligence and big data. These pioneering, disruptive technologies have the potential to shape the future of the industry, allowing for smarter, more efficient business operations.

At Trelleborg, we’ve always embraced new technologies and ways of working; innovation is truly key to our success. At Trelleborg Oil & Marine, we are constantly coming up with new and innovative ways to solve the problems faced by the oil & gas industry today. We do this by building on our existing knowledge and expertise. For example, our innovative oil hose transfer solutions are the culmination of 40 years’ research and development at our renowned testing centre in Clermont-Ferrand, France.

Over the past 40 years, we’ve responded to the most pressing issues in the oil and gas industries, creating hoses that are safer, more durable, easier to install and better suited to a range of challenging environments. This includes our signature ‘nippleless’ oil hose technology, a unique design that allows the creation of more flexible, durable hoses. [MOU1] We’re still investigating how this technology can be put to use in new applications, such as ship-to-ship transfer[MOU2] .

Today, one of the biggest challenges the offshore sectors faces is the need for infrastructure that can be quickly and safely deployed, in a cost-efficient manner, to a range of environments, no matter how challenging. While LNG demand is growing, the cost of developing safe, reliable transfer infrastructure risks reducing feasibility of power generation, terminal and bunkering projects. Infrastructure needs to move quickly to meet demand, and at the same time, ensure that projects are economically feasible, and sustainable in the long term.

At OTC this year, we’ll be highlighting our solution - Cryoline LNG hoses that have been specially developed to address pressing infrastructure challenges in the LNG market. Find out what we learned from a sea launch of this technology last year here[MOU3] .

Want to know more?

If you would like to hear more about our Cryoline floating hose technology and how it is being used to solve the infrastructure conundrum, I’ll be presenting my paper titled “Re-Shaping LNG Transfer” on Monday April 30 at 14.00 in room 602 as part of the session on FLNG and Gas Monetization - Innovative Processing and Design.