Drilling Industry Uses Product Created by YBI's Accupoint
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- In 2006, an explosion sank the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, claiming 11 lives. What became known as the BP spill was the largest marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry.
The founder of Accupoint Software, Jeff Cianciola, says had his software been available at the time, the Deepwater accident likely would not have happened. Accupoint, a Youngstown Business Incubator portfolio company, has developed an online solution to help companies comply with new regulations that grew out of the disaster.
“When we look at those causes, a lot of it comes down to training. A lot of it comes down to communication. A lot of it comes down to effective procedures in place and these are typically where we find issues,” says Cianciola.
“Whether they are quality-related from a product, or incident-related from a service type of situation, by controlling, understanding and evaluating the process,” he says, “that helps to minimize adverse incidents.”
As a result of the BP spill, the American Petroleum Institute developed a new quality-control specification – Q2. Cianciola says the new standard focuses on those who once lacked formalized compliance management systems, such as drilling contractors, those involved in well-abandonment activities, equipment repair and calibration organizations.
“The Q2 is risk-based based in its approach. It’s rolling out in North America this year. We expect it to be a global mandate by 2016,” Cianciola says.
“If you’re doing business with any of the majors, Exxon, Shell any of those types, they’ll require that as part of the contract that the organization be certified to spec Q2 requirements.”
Cianciola says Accupoint Software is the first to market a leading edge Q2 solution as part of its compliance-management software. Its products are designed to help the gas and oil, and manufacturing industries streamline and navigate complex regulatory requirements with solutions for Q1 and Q2 specifications as well as ISO-based programs.
He says the software provides easier record-keeping and data retrieval, improved communications, organizational efficiency and performance metrics and reporting.
With the new Q2 solution, Cianciola expects Accupoint sales to triple this year and the number of employees to double to at least eight by adding more market development and sales personnel.
Cianciola, who grew up in Canfield, founded the company in 2007. After receiving his degree in business management from Ohio University, Cianciola worked for various manufacturing-based organizations, spending considerable time in compliance management.
“I noticed that many organizations were utilizing a lot of computer programs that they were spending a lot of money on and not really getting any return on their investment,” he recalls.
On his weekends and after work, Cianciola set about programming a solution that would be more user-friendly, more intuitive and better all-around.
He launched his product in 2008, funding the company himself, he says, except for some YBI Inspire loans.
“We were originally part of the YBI Inspire Lab and we had some success with that,” Cianciola says. “We were primarily focused on manufacturing-based organizations at that point, and about a year-and-a-half ago pivoted into the oil and gas industry and focused on their compliance management needs.”
Since then, Cianciola says Accupoint has experienced strong growth year-over-year and has seen a real uptick in sales and achieved a global footprint.
“The majority of our customers are based out of Texas and Louisiana,” Cianciola reports. Overseas clients are in Ghana, Australia and Norway. And the types of industries run the gamut, from valve and pipe manufacturers to any company involved in equipment used in the drilling component of oil and gas exploration.
According to Cianciola, the problem is many companies still use unconnected systems to keep records or they do so manually.
“What our system allows them to do is have one integrated system to electronically capture the data, report the data in terms of metrics and be able to analyze the data for reporting purposes,” he explains.
Another benefit of the Accupoint Software is that with the use of smartphones or tablets, it can be accessed from remote sites, and that allows for communication throughout the organization.
YBI chief operating officer Barb Ewing says Accupoint’s products ensure industry compliance with government regulations and voluntary standards.
“Given the nature of the shale industry – from environmental concerns to employee safety – it is absolutely critical that drilling companies and their suppliers be able to track and validate their compliance efforts,” Ewing points out. “Accupoint’s software enables firms to be proactive rather than reactive to health and safety issues.”
Cianciola explains that the solution itself is divided into sections that cover contacts, vendor management, corrective actions, audits and health and safety, from hazard assessments to incidents and injuries.
Cianciola couldn’t divulge the companies using Accupoint software, citing a strict privacy policy to ensure confidentiality and protect its clients’ products.
“There is industrial espionage out there and so, just as an added level of security for our clients, if you don’t know they’re our clients, you can’t go looking for them.”
One unidentified client stated in an email, “I feel confident that we have made the right software decision.”
So could Accupoint software have been used to prevent the Deepwater disaster?
“Absolutely. It’s all about process control,” Cianciola posits. “By having those process controls in place, by communicating requirements and standards and work instructions to individuals, it could have prevented that kind of catastrophic situation.”
As Accupoint expands, Cianciola anticipates staying in the Valley and growing as the incubator grows.
“We would like to stay involved with the YBI because it’s a good cluster,” he says. “It provides a lot of support for us. So we would hopefully be able to acquire additional space within the YBI campus.”
And Accupoint appears to be in a good position to do just that.
“There are some competitors from a Q1 standpoint. However, there are very few that are web-based from the Q2 standpoint,” Cianciola states. “We are, to the best of our knowledge, the only game in town.”
This story, the latest installment in our Trending: TechBelt series of reports, was published in the MidApril edition of The Business Journal.
Copyright 2014 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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