Page 73: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (October 2017)

is no other company with a global footprint that has the ment and people, he believes the bene? t is bigger: “Our

The Family

Chris came into the business in 2001, and while he whole system to sell turnkey solution for ports & port key strength is our ability to offer a turnkey solution facilities, from manufacture to installation and mainte- with our own propietary products. This is really attrac- has a Bachelor’s degree in Science, he counts his Mas- ters in Marketing as the perfect counter balance to his nance. tive as we can better control the quality and the cost,

The Sealite advantage according to Procter is the and we can offer a high level of customization when a father’s accounting mind. “I don’t know if I ever real- company’s penchant for bringing in-house almost all customer needs it.” Another advantage is manufactur- ized that this was something that I wanted to do; it’s just aspects of design and production, from design to tool- ing on three continents, meaning manufacturing some what I did,” said Chris.

Building on innovative ideas and products, evolving ing and mold making. While Procter admits that this is of the larger buoy products closer to the customer, with them from the garage start-up to the full company and a capital intensive approach in terms of plant, equip- tremendous cost savings in shipping.

factory scale is a slippery slope, with the failure rate far exceeding success. In this regard, Chris said a key pivot point for the company was profesionalizing the

NAVCAD PREMIUM. BRING THE POWER.

manufacturing process. “When you grow from the ga- rage to 140 people in three countries (Australia, U.K., ®

NavCad has been the gold-standard of resistance prediction and propulsion

U.S.) the bigget change is putting in place the systems analysis for decades. Marine professionals around the world rely on its ease-of-use , reliability and calculation ?delity. Now, NavCad moves to a new level of analytical and processes to ensure that people in multiple loca- capability for the power user with NavCad Premium Edition. The power of tions have access to the same knowledge and database,

Premium provides: and are ‘working off of the same page,’” said Chris. + + Wave-theory resistance prediction Connect as resistance and propulsion solver

Chris takes a cue from his father’s management style Scripting (macro) API Floating network license Operating modes analysis + + + in helping to keep everyone working toward the same

When you need advanced performance prediction capabilities, visit goal. “Getting out, talking to people, literally wander- www.navcad-premium.com to learn how NavCad Premium Edition can drive ing around to ? nd out what they are doing and how they performance and develop business. are doing it – from the factory ? oor to your customers – is paramount to our success,” said Chris. “My father is still in when he can be, working in engineeering and www.hydrocompinc.com || Durham, New Hampshire USA || [email protected] || +603.868.3344 product development, helping to identify new oppor- ® ® ® ® ®

NavCad || PropCad || PropExpert || PropElements || SwiftCraft ©2017 HydroComp, Inc.

tunities. I don’t think that he’ll ever be out of the busi- ness, nor would we want him to be.”

Custom AtoN

Like any industry, the aids to navigation business is competitive, but it’s fragmented, too, according to

Chris Procter. “There are many buoy manufactureres, there are several LED manufacturers, but there really “

On cyber security

A physical aid is “ hard to hack.

Virtual AtoN

While Sealite is game to adopt new technolo- gies and it has partnershisp to offer virtual aids to navigation, according to Chris Procter, CEO, most customers still prefer a physical produce. “Most of our customers are opting for a real navi- gation aid where we have a buoy, a light and an

AIS transponder broadcasting its position. It is a permanent installation, and we’re doing a lot of that work in the U.K. for instance, predominently for offshore wind farms. We (and many of our customers) see VATONs as complimentary, not replacement for real aids.” And in a world where the size and scope of cyber attacks continues to grow, Procter offers a blunt assessment of real versus virtual: “A physical aid is hard to hack.” www.marinelink.com 73

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