People, innovation and technology

Abu Dhabi

Matteo Colombo, CEO of Profile Middle East, talks to The Energy Year about the company’s work in providing resources to EPC contractors and the various activities its drones can perform. Profile Middle East is a service provider specialised in technical and HR consultancy services for the industrial sector.

What are Profile Middle East’s main services?
For more than 20 years we have been operating in the Middle East, and more recently everywhere in the world. Our core business is related to assisting our clients, who are mainly major EPC contractors, in engineering, construction, commissioning, operation and maintenance of industrial plants.
We support the client in the different phases of their projects with our vast pool of resources, such as technicians, engineers and high-calibre discipline specialists for field operations.
As a company, we are specialised in turnaround commissioning services, which range from design procedures to the field operation.

What has been your involvement in key projects in recent years?
One of the biggest projects we did last year was the commissioning of the Al Dabb’iya project with Tecnimont for phase three of the plant and surface facilities. We contributed to designing part of the commissioning procedures. We supported the client in the execution of the commissioning activities with a team made up of more than 70 expatriates of different expertise, skills and disciplines.

Tell us about Technometer Middle East and its drone technology applications.
Technometer is part of Profile Middle East group. It was established in Abu Dhabi in 2014.
Technometer is one of the first (and one of the few) companies fully registered and approved by the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority, Ministry of Defence and other authorities to operate with its drone in high-risk areas, including oilfields.
We offer different kinds of aerial services, carrying out inspection, surveys and photogrammetry activities from the sky. During the early stages of this pandemic, we even supported the municipality to carry out its sanitisation programme: our in-house laboratory technicians modified and equipped special drones to carry out this special task. Custom and special modifications of our fleet are pretty common to meet every need of our clients.

Besides aerial surveys, what other energy-related services can drones perform?
The number would be too big to mention.
An interesting service is the visual inspection: thermal cameras installed on drones can see and detect any damage on the sealing used for the glass façade of buildings, affecting cooling systems and thermal insulation efficiency.
Flare inspection in the oil and gas sector is often required as well.
Laser scanner technology, installed on our drones, allows us to carry out the “as-built” of any physical structure, wherever it is needed, and however tall it is. The result of such operations is rich in data (including geo-reference) and is perfect to be imported in CAD applications.
Topography and land survey activities have to mentioned too, of course, such as the one we are carrying out for the Etihad Rail project.

How do you assess the ease of doing business in the UAE?
I believe bureaucracy is generally easy to deal with here. The UAE is very straightforward and strict about requirements, permits, etc. Whether you are a huge organisation or a “Mr. Nobody,” the rules are the same for everyone and have to be fully respected. By doing so, your success chances in the market are always high.

What’s next for Profile Middle East?
At Profile Middle East we strongly believe in the potential expansion of this great country. We believe in the vision of our rules and we are confident that the future will be flourishing even more. This certainty leads me as a CEO to invest constantly in people, ideas, innovation and technology as I am sure that every effort will be soon rewarded.
Besides what we’ve discussed, we are about to start a new division: a highly equipped special service centre will be soon open in Mussafah ICAD 2. We will provide maintenance to all kinds of rotating equipment, such as industrial pumps and compressors.

Are you planning any new technology-driven ventures?
A struggle we constantly have to confront with is related to the recruitment world.
We funded a company in Europe dedicated to the development of a new, innovative IT platform.
Our goal is to support clients around the world on their recruitment needs, with speed and accuracy without compromises.
Our new baby is a new platform named HEVOR and that will be launching soon. We are completing the final functionality testing and bug fixing before going live.

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