Innovation

Grand Isle Shipyard has many great innovations just within the last couple of years. There are a total of 23 divisions/operations GIS provides. What we will mainly be focusing on is the Aerobotics division. This innovation has changed the way GIS operates in offshore, inshore, and land operations. A general description of this new division is the use of drones that fly into tight, dangerous spaces to do inspections on the pipes and material that pass through it. This has totally eliminated the dangers of putting a person inside and having to inspect it. The new division is used also to plot out land and dimensions of land for the engineers for projects. This innovation also has the capability of radiation detection and thermal view. This is a now much easier, quicker, and safer way to inspect anything the company may need to be looked at with great detail.

This innovation aligns with the 9th UN Sustainable Development Goal which is Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure. All of the employees and managers all feel happy and impressed with the innovation. The reason is because managers and employees do not have to worry about being put in dangerous situations.

Inspiration

Grand Isle Shipyard’s most important asset is their employees. The company’s slogan is “Putting People First!” This has inspired the company for this innovation in order to have a much safer operation process. Not only does this allow a much safer operation for their employees, but third-party employees as well. This specific job required employees to fit in tight spaces with very little available air flow. These spaces would also have some radiation coming from within. Many companies in the past have had to put their employees in an unavoidable dangerous working environment which have led to many unfortunate outcomes.

Grand Isle Shipyard’s leaders have come together to make sure their employees are never in a dangerous working environment. This led these leaders to search for opportunities to enhance the safety of their operations for their employees. They had met with a small group of people who have high quality drones that can fit in tight spaces and has high definition cameras. This led the company to the exact opportunity they were looking for now called the Aerobotics division.

Overall impact

The overall impact has eliminated the dangerous working environment for all of Grand Isle Shipyard’s employees. These drones are now able to do much more than what the employees were able to do because of the technology embedded within these drones. This innovation was created around the summer of 2019 with early development stages around late 2018. These drones are used in offshore, inshore, and land operations. The Aerobotics division leaders control these drones through a tablet which gives a live view of what is going on as well as specific readings on the environment it is in.

Business benefit

This innovation has benefited the business by creating many higher paying jobs as well as a much safer operation process. Because this is the only division of its type in the entire oil and gas industry, many companies have look to Grand Isle Shipyard for these operations. These companies as well as GIS have now eliminated putting their employees in these dangerous working environments. This has led to new opportunities for the company such as recent operations of doing land surveying. These drones have the capability to take overhead photos of land, interior photos of tight oil pipes, give dimensions of land, give readings on oxygen or radiation levels in pipes, and much more. Companies not associated with the oil and gas industry have reached out to GIS to inspect many projects which has offered a new gateway of opportunity with just this one innovation.

Social and environmental benefit

This innovation can benefit society by lessening the dangers of working offshore, inshore, and even on land. Because of Grand Isle Shipyard’s innovation to their company, society as well as the environment has benefited from it. GIS has done much in their community especially with the Aerobotics division. For example, the company took many photos and video clips for their local high school’s football team during a game for free. They have also done many land photo shoots for people at no costs as well. Not only does the society and community benefit from this innovation in this way, they also can benefit from the much safer and cleaner option of operation within the environment.

Before the Aerobotics division existed, people who would have to go into these tight dangerous spaces needed some type of ventilation which was ran by a generator that burns gas. These drones are completely electric which eliminates those fumes from going into the atmosphere. Also, before drones in general, photos of land from the air were done by helicopters or airplanes which also ran on costly fuel that burned many fumes into the atmosphere. These drones have benefitted the environment by offering a much cleaner and safer way to operate.

Interview

David Vega, Business Developement/Sales