Chris Walcot with Progressive Technology Solutions

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

hexagon, absolutely, chris, customers, company, pushing, locations, solution, progressive, oil, talk, africa, reliability, world, focus, remoteness, gas, industrial, framework, part

00:03

Welcome to the Industrial Talk Podcast with Scott MacKenzie. Scott is a passionate industry professional dedicated to transferring cutting-edge industry focused innovations and trends while highlighting the men and women who keep the world moving. So put on your hard hat, grab your work boots, and let's get by right

00:22

once again, thank you very much for joining industrial talk a platform dedicated to industry professionals all around the world. You are bold, brave, you dare greatly you innovate, you collaborate and you are solving problems each and every day you are pushing the envelope. That's why we celebrate you on this wonderful podcast, the number one industrial related podcast in the universe. Beyond Galaxy Chris goes universe anyway. And we are broadcasting on site hexagon live. It is a bucket list thing that you need to put on an event that you need to put on your calendar. It's a five hard hat. I can't say I can't say it enough. It's absolutely a wonderful event. Put that on your calendar. You will not be disappointed. As you can tell by that voice. Chris Walcot is in the house progressive is the company. Let's get cracking it. Chris, are you having a good conference?

01:14

Oh, it's been a brilliant week. Yes, absolutely. Loads of people here. Lots of interesting conversations.

01:20

It really is. They do a great job. I have to say that hexagon does a great job with presentations. Yep. Movement. I don't know how they do that.

01:30

Absolutely. Absolutely. Very impressive. And I think also the venue is great as well here and being in Vegas. Come

01:35

on, are you walking miles and miles and miles if you had a little step counter, you walk in?

01:40

Absolutely. The venue is massive and getting from one end to the other. It takes a bit of time. But you're right. I'm keeping my steps up. So

01:47

every time I turn a corner is like Okay, I gotta turn this corner. And then you just look down this hallway. And you're going, Oh, I gotta go to 419 and I'm in 100. Oh,

01:59

exactly. No, you're absolutely right. Is one into the other. It's it's a massive venue. But I guess you needed this. This number of people here for the week.

02:06

NYTimes. Yes, it was like whoa, 3500 plus. Yep. Yep.

02:10

Around the World. Yep. And date and Date

02:13

Descending upon Las Vegas. I was. I gotta tell you, man, it's been an impressive sight to behold.

02:21

No, it has been and you know, it's it's great coming here. And I would say also, it's a it's a fun place to come as well. Vegas is lots to do outside after the conference. neatening Sobia. Heavy walked around. Absolutely been up and down the strip a million times. It feels like at the moment and yesterday, there were two Hell's Kitchen, which was, which was on my bucket list. So that was a bit of fun as well. So

02:46

Gordon Ramsay Come on, right.

02:48

I mean, I'm in the US. I'm from the UK. Going to a British chef. It's crazy.

02:53

It's like we go into because we're right outside of New Orleans. We go into a Cajun restaurant and like, Oh, come on.

02:59

I know. But it's an was a good. It was very good. And it's everything's just bigger than life here in Vegas. So it's all different

03:05

really is. Did you see the Bellagio fountain?

03:08

Yeah, yeah. And the volcano and after it? Yes.

03:11

That stuff. Yeah. Yeah. They need maintenance on that. Yes. Talk about pigeon holing, and you're not going. He's like, Hey, I'm working on the Bellagio fountains, and they, they swirl around and they fire it out. And they got the compressor of whatever. However they do it right. Yeah. You're never leaving?

03:30

No, indeed.

03:31

Nobody else does it.

03:33

Exactly. It's it's a full on week. And there's so much to do here. And yeah, you just walked down the strip. And it's, it's like you're in a different university.

03:42

They do it they do it really well. All right. For the listeners, give us background, Chris, on who you are.

03:47

Yeah, I'm Chris Walcot. I'm the CEO of a progressive. We're based out of the UK. But we work very internationally. With our core focus is on oil and gas and pushing out into the wider energy sector. So we tend to get quite a lot of exciting trips to interesting locations around the globe. So both in North America, but we also do a lot of work in Africa, Middle East and Europe as well.

04:13

When you say you're venturing beyond I've got the oil and gas from an energy perspective, what what other areas? What other verticals? Are you trying to sort of look into? Or?

04:22

Well, I guess the key? Yeah, I guess our key expertise is focusing on organizations where keeping your equipment running is critical to your business, absolute critical and that's all in gas, you know, you need to keep pumping the oil to to

04:35

you don't want shutdowns. Exactly, exactly don't want to do that. And

04:40

there are many other sectors like that. So for instance, we're pushing the boundaries out into a new technologies, you know, really focusing on the, you know, the new targets around renewables and ESG environmental social governance. So we're pushing out into working with companies on carbon capture. So like the reverse of an oil and gas company where they are, you know, taking In the co2, and I'm pumping it down the pipes and back into depleted fields. We're also working with companies in hydrogen production, power distribution. So pushing out, but really, the core focus is think organizations where it's critical to keep operating because you're

05:17

an international company. Do you see, there's the there's that reliability culture, right? And that philosophy and that passion to educate. From a reliability perspective. Now, there's the technology and all of that good stuff and being able to track those assets. Other parts of the world when you start talking about Africa? Are they where are they at with their reliability knowledge? And what what are they doing? What what tell us about that?

05:47

No, sure. And obviously, Africa, it's, you know, everyone has its own unique challenges. Yeah. And Africa is a great place to work. Because, you know, the culture is fun. When you go there, you get to meet interesting people. But it has its own unique challenges. And those challenges can be things like the remoteness of some of the locations you have to work in. And what you can't do, if you have a an outage, you need a part or something, you can't pick up the phone and get the guy to drive down the road to deliver to you what is such a great point. Yeah. So so it's even more critical there to actually keep your equipment working, make sure you have those spares, those parts, all those sorts of things available, the ones which maybe there's a longer lead time, because of the remoteness of the location. And that can be compounded by other things. So you know, things like, you know, data connectivity, you know, if you're in, you know, if you're in the sunlight, which is very arid, some have a dry desert, or, or jungles, something like that, and the bush, you know, there are technical issues around keeping things a good condition. And, you know, being able to report back via satellite link, for example,

06:55

because you're bringing up some really interesting points. And if your conversation, your conversations associated with these, these organizations that are in these remote areas, are, are significantly different, in a sense that when you look at an organization in the operations, you have to consider all of that. Absolutely, absolutely. As opposed to some place in the United States, which might be just a little bit different.

07:23

Yep. Yeah. Yeah, no, and I think the people there recognize the challenges, and they want to have them addressed. But they are different. And you're absolutely right, you, you, it's that remoteness. And but there are ways in which you can help and using modern technology, you know, for instance, we now travel some some locations with a Starlink. With us,

07:49

she was just gonna ask you about that, because that gives you that connectivity. But

07:53

absolutely. And, you know, it's, it's now pushing out into Africa. So if you look at Starlink, you can see it's initially focused on the North America, South America, Europe. Now it's pushed down, for instance, Nigeria now is covered by Starlink. So you know, we got a little backpack here, but the Starlink in it, you go to your location, as long as you've got power, you can get really fantastic data connection, really is a real game changer. Absolutely. Absolutely.

08:19

See, that just blows my mind. See, you can get you can get internet access from remote areas. But don't do that here in the conference area. Yes, yeah. Oh, no. As I whine and complain about the quality, all right. So you're in, you're in Africa, you've got some Middle East? And of course, South Africa, right? Did you say that?

08:49

Predominantly, I work in Africa, predominantly North Africa and West Africa. We do work in other locations. But

08:55

so you you approach your work in this international, the platform, the EHR platform, right, and you deploy that platform? Is there a sort of a sort of usability value, I mean, as it as I see, these internationals, there's a learning curve that has to happen, right?

09:15

There is an you know, you have to take you have to work with the client and take them on that journey. And, you know, our systems center around the EM platform, but what we've done over the last of Gosh, 1213 years is developed a series of specific frameworks for the energy sector, and also with components which address local requirements as well. So for instance, if you're in if you're in if you're in the Middle East, you've got, you know, very different tax regimes and in handling that those sorts of things are very different. And but it's a way of accelerating the deployment, you know, so rather than starting with a blank sheet of paper, we go in with our industry expertise, we go in with our friends Same works, we plug the things together. And it means you can deploy quickly. And it gives the client the customer real confidence because they know it's a proven solution. It's not just a theoretical solution.

10:11

See, that's interesting. So when you break into another country, let's just say you're, you've got these frameworks that are all sort of country centric, when you break into another country, you have to do the same thing, you have to understand all of that other framework that's specific to that country.

10:29

Absolutely. And I think we've got to a stage now, though, where we've worked in so many different countries that we have the majority of it covered. So what we expect is, you know, we, when we're presenting to people, we have a pyramid and you know, that bottom 60% is the core product, the hexagon products. And then on top of that, we have that 30%, which we say is our framework, it's got all the things we've learned over the years. And you've got that little tip of the triangle that 10% On top is the Pacific for that client. So and it works well. And, you know, in the old days, we would have spent, you know, hundreds and hundreds of days doing things, which now we do in I know, 50 days, so it's very efficient. So it's a win win,

11:10

ya know that that makes sense. And it's definitely a value proposition that is necessary. You're here at hexagon, yet, you were probably a part of the old in Florida. Yeah. Tell me about that. Sort of that change within your organization? How do you feel about all that?

11:30

Well, I guess initially, like everyone, when you first hear the news at the, the acquisition, you're a little bit nervous. But for us, and maybe more for us than anyone else, because of our alignment to you know, the vertical of oil and gas, it's just a perfect fit for us. Because hacks can have massive presence in the vertical. That's where we our focus is. And you know, what we were really seeing as value for us and our customers is expanding our offering to include other hexagon products, which is big,

12:00

that's a big deal. So with that said, what products are you seeing when you come here? What products? Are you seeing that that can that adds to you?

12:10

Oh, that there are just loads of them here. It's just amazing. And, you know, for us, it's things like products like J five and STX, and ECOSYS. All these things together? You know, not not every system is for every customer, that's for sure. But these are systems use widely across the oil and gas business. So you know, what we've certainly discovered as we have customers, and hexagon has the same customers. So you know, you get that cross fertilization of model share,

12:38

and it would be an easy conversation to go, you know, Acme oil and gas and your system is deployed there, the EIM system that you deployed in and just say, Hey, did you know what the check this out this J five minus j pas, you've been dealing with this problem, but here's J five. What do you think?

12:54

Yeah, yeah, no, exactly. Exactly. Yeah, yeah. And we're doing so in. So I'm doing a lot of traveling at the moment. So I'm obviously in Vegas this week. Great. On the weekend, I fly over to Lagos and Nigeria. And then for week, very different, but a real fast moving city, that's for sure. Like Lagos, it moves a million miles an hour. And then the week after I'm in Aberdeen, so in Scotland and the north of the head of the UK in all of Aberdeen. Okay, yeah. And we're doing an event with hexagon with the alr. Group.

13:27

So do you need an administrative assistant because I'm telling you, I can type mad? Because that's just it's just a travel. It's just exciting.

13:36

Yeah, I like getting out there. I like meeting customers and talking to people this

13:41

isn't that great. And then you get to see or talk to them about what challenges or learn from them. It's like, hey, we took this and we did this and you go, wow, yeah, think about that.

13:52

I often think you know, our jobs a bit like running a cooperative, because in reality, we're sharing our experience, we're sharing experience, which we've gained with other people ever customers, and you share that knowledge. It's yeah, it's good fun.

14:03

So here at hexagon, what what is the solution that excites you the most and why?

14:09

To be honest, I don't think there's a single solution. I think the strength is the breadth of the solutions. I think that's the key thing. I think they you know, when you're looking at G fiber STX, etc. They all serve a really good purpose at the Provan I think for us a key development now is the investment hexagons making in, in, in really integrating these products tightly together to make them a single, seamless solution for the customers. I think that's a key thing, which is ongoing at the moment, and I think that really adds a lot of value.

14:41

It's an exciting time. I gotta tell you, man, I wish I was younger, or wish I was your age. I think we all wish to be ready. Because this we're just at the tip of the iceberg here. We're just we're but the velocity of all of this is just blistering. It's just something about that is like, I'm trying to just hold on as long as you can.

15:05

Yeah, yeah, no, it is absolutely moving super fast. And I know, we've all heard, you know, everyone talks about AI and this sort of stuff. Yeah. And drones. And but this is, it's not the future, this is happening now, you know, ugly, you know, you know, we go to people, we work with companies who do inspections of wind turbines, you know, hundreds of feet high, you know, getting up a ladder, that's difficult, it's dangerous, it's time consuming. Sending a drone up is is super efficient. You know, using AI to analyze the data, it can do it quicker, faster and better than a human. And it allows you to get your guys focusing on the things they need to focus on.

15:43

The story needs to be told more and more, I think it needs to be amplified. Because you know, people have a natural resistance to the technology in general in the innovation, because they'll naturally go to what was that mean to me? What does that mean to this one of them and sort of go to that negative route, and I just, we just need to be we need to amplify the positive component and in you're going to do something bigger, better, greater whatever it is, that's more focused, you don't have to sit there and dig

16:13

salutely. You know, it's a competitive world. If you don't grab the opportunities as an organization, someone else will. Yeah, see,

16:19

so why not? Yep. You have to at least begin to learn, at least to talk or collaborate with people like you and others, to just ask questions, bounce it off what that's all about. I think it's so vital. How do people get a hold of you? If they say, Hey, I want to talk to Chris, because he's pretty cool. And he travels all over the world. And he's headquartered administrative assistant.

16:41

Absolutely. If you head over to progressive hyphen, tsl.com, you'll be able to find lots of information about us and our customers. What is TSL? Me, technology solutions limited?

16:53

Because I just kept on saying progressive now progressive is a car insurance company. But this

16:57

is SL here way, much more important.

17:01

More important. Well, you're absolutely wonderful. Thank you very much for being on the podcast. Thank

17:05

you, Tom Scott.

17:06

All right, listeners, we're gonna have all the contact information for Chris out on industrial talks. If you're not you know where to go. That's industrial talk.com. We're gonna wrap it up on the other side. So stay tuned, we will be right back.

17:17

You're listening to the Industrial Talk Podcast Network.

17:28

All right, that was Chris. Chris Walcot progressive is the company. Here's the deal. Reliability is global. And he definitely touched on a number of really big time challenges with critical assets that have to run, but they could be out in the middle of nowhere. What do you do? How do you manage those assets? What an interesting time. I really enjoyed that conversation. He flipped over some really interesting points on keeping those assets running. And I love what they're doing. I love what they're doing. All right, that was hexagon live. We were on site. And again, you need to put that on your calendar for next year. Excellent, excellent event. incredible innovation. They were talking about innovation, and how that is changing industry each and every day. All right. Go out to industrial talk. Get all the contact information for Chris. People. Be brave dare greatly hang out with Chris change the world. We're gonna have another great conversation coming from this event shortly so stay tuned.