One thing that stands out about Innovative Fluid Systems is the company’s strive to be number one. As the company, a specialty provider of solids and liquids separation service works towards this goal—which is only a few years off, says Russell Condon, general manager—the company continues to acquire new technology that is geared towards the separation of high tepidity fluid. A chemical engineer is currently consulting with Innovative Fluid Systems. Once the data from his analysis is complete, the company will develop the equipment.
Australian Made
Since its foundation in 2007, the company has moved towards a 90 percent Australian-made strategy on its equipment. The distance and timeframe of flying equipment in and out of other countries was not cost effective, and Innovative Fluid needed to find another solution. With its high certification requirements, the company was also facing a quality control problem.
“The only way we could achieve these certifications without basing an employee overseas was to actually bring it back into our workshop where we could control it here,” said Condon. “Our clients expect the highest quality out of us, and to provide that high quality something had to change. By engineering a majority of our equipment—90 percent of it—here, we can guarantee that high quality.”
The other 10 percent of materials are made in other countries like the Netherlands that also requires a high certification process on manufacturing and equipment, helping the company keep their equipment quality promise to their customers.
“There are some components we will not change. Even if we did, it would take us five or six years of development and program to get a reliable system again, and we want to provide for our customers now, not five years down the road,” said Condon.
High Employee Expectations
To produce the high-quality equipment, Innovative Fluid has high expectations for their employees. One of the ways the company keeps their workplace fresh and consistently learning is by bringing in a couple apprentices at a time from the local community. Key members of the team train the apprentices on the company’s standards and expectations. The apprentices learn valuable skills, and the members of the staff doing the training also get a lot of out the experience. Currently, there are two apprentices on the team, working under a boiler maker and a fitter.
Perhaps the best learning opportunity Innovative Fluid Systems employees experience is the chance to go out into the field and see how the machinery and equipment functions in its real-life applications. The field-based training for different oil and gas rigs gives the workers a unique view into the performance of their equipment, and the chance to see if there are any improvements or changes they can make in their process to improve its performance.
Zero-Liquid discharge projects
One of Innovative Fluid’ biggest assets is its machinery that works on the zero-liquid discharge projects. A closed loop system in the equipment keeps the drilling mud from ever reaching the ground. As the mud comes out of the drill rig, the machine cleans it, stores it, and transfers it back to the pump—everything is recycled through.
“Some other companies can do this, but those companies use a product that actually removes the drilling components—the drilling additives. Our systems leave the drilling additives in there, allowing our machinery to operate for a lower cost for the drilling companies,” said Condon.
Condon also personally provides a service where he attends the oil and gas worksites and watches Innovative Fluid Systems equipment work. From there he speaks with the clients to make sure the company is doing as much as possible to ensure success at the site.
“If there is a change that needs to be made, our team goes back and take the feedback in-house and we hold a meeting. From there, and if necessary, we redevelop something to suit the client’s needs. We have a baseline procedure then we fine-tune the rest of it with the customer to deliver the custom experience.”
Current Projects
Innovative Fluid’ current projects are based on remediation.
“We believe remediation is going to be the future here in Australia: the remediation of ponds, dredging, mining ponds where fluid are being discharged and stored, and something has to be done with it. The technology is slowly catching up to where we can actually process that stuff now, where we've never had that before in Australia. We're hoping that's the direction the company will go in,” shared Condon.
Currently, their technology is top notch. Innovative Fluid delivers the driest cut with their equipment. According to Condon, no other company can provide a discharge of shakers as dry as they do. This benefits everyone on each side of the equipment, and is one of the many factors that will continue to contribute to Innovative Fluid journey to number one in its industry.