Latest innovation drives efficiency in subsea equipment rental

The world’s number one independent provider of subsea equipment rental, sales and services has launched a new service which will deliver efficiencies and cost savings to companies renting its subsea equipment globally. Following a £2.5million investment in information technology, Ashtead Technology has launched Aperto – a simple, easy-to-use web portal that allows customers to rent and track subsea rental equipment anywhere in the world, at any time on any mobile device. “Every day millions of pounds of valuable subsea equipment is being moved around the globe to meet the demands of complex projects in which multiple people are involved,” explained Peter Simpson, operations director of Ashtead Technology. “Increasing efficiency and streamlining processes are the order of the day in the current lower oil price environment. Smart innovations are key to delivering real-time information to achieve cost savings. This is why we have created Aperto. It is our way of simplifying, speeding-up and streamlining the various processes involved in ordering and tracking rental equipment and ensuring that the multiple people involved are all up to speed at the touch of a log-in button.” Aperto gives customers complete visibility on their rental equipment from initial enquiry through to order preparation and delivery. This ability to track the equipment in real-time throughout its project lifecycle and beyond will enable Ashtead and its customers to improve planning and project execution by knowing exactly what equipment they have on rental, where it is at any given time and having full access to key information critical to its operation. By using Aperto, companies will have greater insight into their equipment rental activity, a simplified and more transparent order process which can be more easily modified to meet changing project requirements, 24-hour access to data and better monitoring of service provision, support and performance. This in turn provides greater collaboration and knowledge sharing, swifter response times and increased control over rental equipment spend. Aperto, the Italian word for open, is essentially a technology-driven gateway into the whole subsea equipment rental process which can be added onto any organisations’ intranet or extranet for even simpler access and use. Mr Simpson added: “The feedback from trials of Aperto is over-whelmingly positive with tangible efficiencies already identified. With increasing scrutiny on service and cost across our industry, we are able to demonstrate an added-value service which will deliver results immediately to our customers.”