RIVAL enters the Norwegian market

The Norwegian engine supplier Wartsila increasingly demand RIVAL’s skills in machining operations. This is primarily due to the creativity, skills and efficiency of RIVAL’s staff.

A supply ship runs into a pier and has to dock at the Polish port of Szczecin. Norway is notified and Wartsila’s office has to locate a new spare part as quickly as possible. Shortly after, an e-mail arrives in Benny Soerensen’s inbox at RIVAL with an order for a piston rod. “It had to be done in no time. It costs a lot of money to have a supply ship lying idle. At the same time as they sent the e-mail with the drawings, they shipped the raw material from Norway. We received that on Tuesday,” says Mr Soerensen, who is the sales manager at RIVAL with responsibility for “difficult” tasks. Staff at RIVAL completed the job in 72 hours. On Friday morning, a special transport service could ship the spare part to Poland, where it was fitted to allow the ship back at sea.

Competitive Denmark
RIVAL is well on the way to conquer the Norwegian offshore market, which is short of companies offering machining operations. Danish companies are known for being flexible and innovative. The relocation of many manufacturing operations to countries with lower costs has forced Danish companies to do things differently. “Our employees are very conscious of looking for the easiest way to solve a task. This allows us to compete on both time and price. We have been forced to hange the way we operate because demand has changed. We tell our staff that it is all about the end – not the means – and that we count on our people to achieve the optimum result,” says Mr  Soerensen, who has often experienced that Norwegian companies send the special material required for the manufacture of specific items to Denmark, whereupon RIVAL manufactures the item and returns it. The shipping costs are high, but it shows how great the need is. “In future, we will probably consider stocking the special stainless steel materials for the offshore industry so we  can become even more competitive.”

Houston calls Denmark