Solid Foundation for Growth Built with ISO 9001 and Maintenance Excellence Training

Semper Offshore, LLC, is a veteran-owned, Boston-based marine business established in 2018. Semper operates a variety of commercial work vessels designed and outfitted to perform marine support services including marine construction, scientific and military research, geophysical and geotechnical survey work and deep-sea mooring services.

Semper Offshore sought out assistance from MassMEP, part of the MEP National Network™, to assist them in a growth strategy that would allow the company to remain competitive in the developing offshore energy field. As a result, MassMEP recommended implementing ISO 9001 and a maintenance excellence training program for Semper’s support vessel fleet and management.

ISO 9001 is an international standard that specifies requirements for a quality management system. It created a standardization of all the Semper’s policies from HR, product quality, risk identification, and customer processes. Through implementation, ISO 9001 better prepared Semper for success in third party vetting outcomes, routine regulatory audits, and set a foundation for growth.

It is also critical that Semper's equipment is operational every day and that the company is prepared for quick corrective maintenance to remain lean and competitive. Unexpected engineering casualties and equipment failure can result in lost revenue of up to $20,000 a day, and long lead times in sourcing replacement parts. Maintenance excellence training has helped Semper Offshore improve their existing vessel maintenance program and created an overall safer work environment for crew and clients.

Semper Offshore also credits ISO 9001 and maintenance excellence training with shifting their workplace culture. While maintenance was often a reactive process in the past, crew and management now focus on preventive maintenance efficiently through the implementation of scheduled maintenance and inspection tasks on an online cloud platform. Shoreside staff now can oversee maintenance progress, trends, and corrective action in real-time while company vessels are on hire away from the dock. The financial impact of preventative maintenance is expected to be realized in future scheduled shipyard visits where the consequences of poor maintenance oversight are often discovered. A shipyard visit can easily cost over $ 100,000 in addition to lost revenue from an out of commission vessel. Each additional day in the shipyard drives up overhead by thousands of dollars. Specialized marine technicians required for emergency servicing of equipment can cost the company up to $5,000 for a single day of work and travel costs.