It's All About Sharing A Passion

I arranged a meeting with Mattias to talk to him about the projects he’s been working on and to follow up on the story of the Polarcus Naila one year after its twin fin propulsion retrofit (see the previous page). As I sat on the ferry and crossed the narrow strait that separates the Swedish mainland from the small island of Hönö where Caterpillar Propulsion has its headquarters, I contemplated the inter - view ahead. It would take an hour, hour and a half tops. I was looking for information, a few quotes for backup, maybe a small insight or two. Over the next four hours (including lunch), I got much more than that.

NEW PARTNERSHIPS

We sat in Mattias’ office that looks out over the Swedish west coast archipelago, the dark, leaden sky matching the gray sea and granite islands. But inside the atmosphere was warm and bright. I asked about the Naila project, with Mattias responding enthusiastically. Throughout it seemed that we kept coming back to the same theme: the collaboration and commitment shared between Mattias and his colleagues at Caterpillar Propulsion, the customer Peter Zickerman at Polarcus, the architects Bjørn Moving (Odense Maritime Technology) and Bjørnar Helgesen (Scandinavian Marine Group), not to mention the Damen shipyard in Amsterdam and a long list of suppliers who needed to be on board and, most importantly, on time. As an engineer and marine architect, Mattias is proud of the technology side but I got the feeling he was even more proud of the new partnership and way of working that let them overcome a brand new challenge with unexpected success.

NEW WAYS OF WORKING

It needed to start with a chance meeting, outside of the traditional channels. “I bumped into Bjørnar at a trade show a couple of years ago,” explains Mattias. “We got talking and it turned out we might have a solution for a problem he had with a new vessel design of his. That conversation led to more conversations with Bjørn at OMT about new build designs then to Polarcus and discussions about a retrofit for one of their seismic vessels. It all happened quickly and unexpectedly”. It was the opposite of the traditional path where operators look at their needs with architects and specify the power and then the propulsion solution as a result. This time, the solution was the starting point and an operator responded when the value became clear.

"WE COULDN’T FAIL”

As Mattias talks you get the sense of how hard it was to work in a new way and for a completely new, untested solution. “From the concept and product itself to the deadlines and Naila getting out to sea and proving the technology, we just couldn’t afford to fail. But we designed it with the statistically most reliable equipment so we were still confident.” With everyone in the group experts in their own field, the ultimate key to success was the personal relationships, knowledge and passion they shared, and the support of the colleagues behind them.

LASTING IMPACT

These relationships have lasted too, “I can pick up the phone and call the customer at any time, night or day. He can do the same to me. And we’ll pick up because we know and trust each other that it’s important.” If he wasn’t before, Mattias is now a firm believer in the value of working differently and in close cooperation to make sure new knowledge and unexpected insights can be shared. He’s also a very nice guy who I owe a lunch.

Get all the details about the TwinFin at
catpropulsion.com