For many companies, 30 years of history would mean treading on the same trail for 30 years. If you have kept up with our series so far, you’ll know this hasn’t been the reality at SSI. Because of our commitment to shipbuilding, we have had to evolve in lock-step with, or even a step ahead of, the ever-accelerating technical innovations that would define “competitive advantage” in the industry. That consistent evolution has allowed us to grow into the leader we are today.
This post is part of a series that celebrates SSI’s 30th Anniversary. Click here to see the entire series.
Where we find ourselves now is as a global name, known for looking ahead at what’s to come in shipbuilding. SSI’s ability to see the future comes from the leadership of our co-CEOs Darren Larkins and Denis Morais, who have a combined 39 years with SSI. Their ability to uniquely grasp the worlds of cutting-edge technology and shipbuilding is a unique combination hard to find in the industry.
From the days of our founder Rolf Oetter, we have been focused on finding the underlying similarities behind every shipbuilder’s unique problems. The culmination of this has resulted in the development of solutions that work within the actual, on-the-ground world of shipbuilding. Organizations struggling to take control of the massive scale of projects have someone to turn to, shipbuilders in emerging markets can augment their existing workflows by implementing just what they need, and the benefits of every new advancement in shipbuilding can be taken advantage of, without risking existing projects.
These realities of shipbuilding, and our commitment to addressing them in everything we do, fundamentally shapes our current strategy and is a major reason behind why we have been trusted by over 600 shipbuilders, multiple navies around the world, and countless shipbuilding leaders worldwide.
“Without exception we like to sit down with our customer and chew on a problem, and then be able to say ‘Wow. That’s a really tough one’ and really work at it. Those hard problems are really satisfying when we can deliver an improvement on ship building, design or maintenance.”
Darren Larkins, co-CEO
This trust has allowed us to work closely with many shipbuilders and get to a place where we can understand what they are actually struggling with. What can appear as a challenge unique to just one project is often just a shade of an industry-wide phenomenon. As an example, the yard being frustrated with a build sequence is often just a symptom of the massive scale of modern shipbuilding projects and not an isolated incident. Developing a better understanding of your projects can trickle down into better build sequences, eliminating that frustration.
“When looking at the future, it is important to not get hung up with where our industry is today. Tomorrow (the future) is different, and we need to at least look at the trends to anticipate the landscape of tomorrow.”
Denis Morais, co-CEO
It’s clear that SSI has been charting the right path over the past three decades. By truly understanding where we are today, we have a strong foundation from which to build from for the future. We are working to solve some of shipbuilding’s biggest technical challenges, helping to build up the future engineers of the marine industry, and ultimately helping shipbuilders focus on the business of shipbuilding. Our past and present accomplishments will serve as a launchpad for our next 30 years. Stay tuned to this series to see how.