Page 30 - Signal Winter 2019

| ARQ |
‘Our Range of Experience Has Really
Stood to Us’
SIGNAL talks to Lieutenant Commander (Ret’d) Ronan Carey and Lieutenant Commander (Ret’d) Conor O’Sullivan, co-founders of ARQ Asset Solutions, a unique engineering service for the marine, pharma and energy sectors, amongst others. We asked about what the military has given both Ronan and Conor over two decades of service and how they have utilised their unique skills and experiences to help shape a successful launch to their business.
What was the genesis of your specialist engineering asset solutions company and what does ARQ do?
We were both working in Planning Inspectorate and Maintenance Management (PIMM) unit in 2014 and were tasked with preparing each ship in an engineering context, being deployed to the Mediterranean.
This represented a substantial mission pivot from the standard four week operational patrols where ships were deployed off the Irish coast and could receive support from the Naval Base if they experienced any engineering issues. Irish naval ships were now deploying for up to 14 weeks and had to be reliable and self sufficient. Increasing each ship’s reliability was going to be key to ensure they could meet their operational requirements.
We designed a Pre-Deployment Reliability Framework to establish each ship’s reliability by talking to the ship’s engineering staff and looking at;
• Engineering Annexes of Sailing Order Reports,
• Maintenance Returns and forecasted maintenance schedule,
• Annual Technical Survey reports and recommendations,
• Annual Flag Officer’s Inspection reports and recommendations,
• Annual H&S reports and recommendations,
• Oil Analysis Reports,
• Ships rigging warrants and various certifications.
A pre-deployment engineering worklist was developed based on the findings of the framework. After each deployment, the framework was reviewed and improved to ensure the next ship being prepped for deployment could do so better and in the shortest possible lead time.
Machinery Oil Analysis proved to be the biggest enabler in identifying the ‘as-is’ condition of onboard machinery and prioritising which assets required attention predeployment. This was backed up by an MIT research paper that found 70% of all machinery failures can be attributed to pure lubricant management. We did some costings and estimations based on the work carried out and the potential failures that were averted as a result of the Pre-Deployment Framework and oil analysis review versus worked previously carried out on machinery that had experienced failure. The savings were substantial.
We looked around to see if there were any companies providing a complete reliability package such as the above that improves machine Availability, Reliability and Quality (ARQ) performance.
Career Summary Lieutenant Commander (Ret’d) Ronan Carey
1998
Sept: Joined as a Naval Cadet (Engineering). Sept - Dec: 3 months basic military training.
Key career appointments in chronological order: 1999 - 2018
Cadet training on the Naval Base; Studied mechanical engineering in NUI Galway; Marine Engineering Officer under training onboard LE Aoife; Assistant Marine Engineering Officer onboard LE Ciara; Attained STCW Marine Engineering Officer (Class 2) through the Dept.
of Defence; Marine Engineering Officer, LE Ciara; Naval Diving Course. Qualified as a naval diver; OiC Naval Dockyard; KFOR, 2iC Liaison Monitoring Team; OiC Fleet Support Group; OiC Maintenance Management Section; OiC Planning & Inspectorate Section; Marine Engineering Officer (MEO), LE William Butler Yeats
Retired in November 2018.
Present: Co-Founder & Director ARQ Asset Solutions.
Career Summary Lieutenant Commander (Ret’d) Conor O’ Sullivan
2017 – Present: Co-Founder & Director ARQ Asset Solutions.
1991 – 1998
Naval Engineering Cadet/Naval Engineering Officer Under Training.
Key career appointments in chronological order:
1998 – 2015
Marine Engineering Officer (MEO) L.E. Ciara - civilian equivalent of MEO is Chief Engineer, Military Assistant (MA) to Chief Naval Engineer, MEO L.E. Niamh, Officer In Charge Planning & Inspectorate, MEO L.E. Eithne, Officer In Charge Planning & Inspectorate.
2015 - 2017 Officer In Charge Naval Dockyard.
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