ISOPARTNER Bergen is located in the city among the seven mountains and is managed by Gerry René Hilt, who is also regional manager for Western Norway. We had a chat with him to get to know the quick-witted Bergen native, who actually has a certificate as an insulator and has spent a few wet winter nights on many a platform in the North Sea.
- ‘Now we're going to make you a celebrity,’ we joke when we chat to Gerry on Teams.
He doesn't want that, he assures us, but we choose to believe that he thrives on the attention, like the genuine prototype of a Bergen he is, with witty comments, razor-sharp observations and a good dose of western sarcasm.
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Took over the Bergen branch in 2018
The Bergen branch was opened in 2016 and is strategically located at Kokstadvegen 27, between Flesland and Bergen, in a commercial area with many exciting offshore and maritime activities. Here you'll find most of what customers can dream of in terms of technical insulation on 1,000 square metres, a capacity they are currently working to expand.
- ‘When I was offered the opportunity to take over in 2018, the mandate was to make a strategic turnaround in Western Norway. We've done that,’ says Gerry.
One of the first things he did was to expand the range of offshore products, which involved entering into negotiations with manufacturers. Today, ISOPARTNER Bergen is known as a go-to place for the offshore industry in the area, and a supplier that delivers quickly. But the product range is not limited to offshore products:
- Insulation products for offshore account for perhaps seventy per cent of our deliveries, but we also supply industry, HVAC, building and construction. We recently supplied insulation for battery containers. I usually say that if you have an insulation need, we have a solution,’ assures Gerry.
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From plumber to insulator
When it comes to insulation, the 52-year-old has ‘been there, done that’ and speaks the customer's language. After a number of years as a plumber and roofer, he made a career change at the age of 33 that he has not regretted:
- ‘I started in the ISO industry in the early 2000s. I liked the concept of two weeks on and four weeks off, because I had some houses at home that I was renovating. So I treated myself to the safety course and took a capsule course via NAV. After that, it went from strength to strength,’ says Gerry.
After that, he went straight into work as an offshore helper in the StS Group.
Nomad for nine years for StS
- ‘I travelled around on platforms like a nomad for nine years, working on insulating pipes and tanks,’ says Gerry, noting that much in the industry has changed since then:
- ‘We didn't have ready-made job packages like today, but had to measure pipes, insulate them and make valve and flange boxes on board, draw them up and unfold them the old-fashioned way. Since then, the industry has become more efficient, with companies having prefabrication workshops on land and those working outside being more like fitters,’ says Gerry.
In 2010, Gerry qualified as an insulator. This was followed by a couple of years at CCB Ågotnes, a land base where they take in platforms for repair and maintenance. In 2014, he was certified as a level three FROSIO inspector.
- ‘I worked as a supervisor and was responsible for the five-year classification of floating rigs on the insulation side. There's a lot that happens to a rig that's lying out in a brine and rusting for five years in wind and weather. Sometimes they also have to be winterised, for use in northern regions, so we had plenty to do,’ says Gerry.
Entrance into Beerenberg
After many years in the field, Gerry was contacted by Beerenberg, who offered him a position as an iso-engineer. Here he became responsible for estimating hours on job packages and preparing isometric and 3D drawings. Here he took ownership of developing a new standard for job packages:
- ‘There's a lot of pipework out there and it's not always easy to find. ‘To streamline operations on the platform, I created 3D drawings where I coloured in tanks and pipes, sometimes with distance images on markers, so that the insulators could find the jobs on the installations more quickly,’ he says.
In his last year and a half at Beerenberg, Gerry was operational manager for all insulation on the company's 12 platforms and was involved in starting a Lean Management Group there. Through a contract with Apply Sørco (now Moreld), he was also responsible for seven of their platforms, totalling 19 platforms.
Free rein
After five years at Beerenberg, Gerry made yet another change of scene, this time from the execution side to the material and product side, where he accepted the position as Regional Manager Western Norway at ISOPARTNER, where he has now been for almost five years.
- ‘After many years in the operational side of things, it felt like a natural move, as I know our customers’ everyday lives and challenges very well. I was given free rein from day one, and together with Jørgen and Bjørn, I feel that we've got the ball rolling here in the west,’ Gerry concludes.
Jørgen Anfindsen (pictured left) has worked at ISOPARTNER since its inception in 2016 and is the warehouse manager responsible for purchasing, logistics and keeping the warehouse organised. Bjørn Veivåg (to the right in the picture) is a warehouse employee and, according to Gerry, a specialist in packing.
The two receive many customers every day at Kokstad. The team goes through the warehouse weekly and plans the ordering of new goods based on customer feedback from the previous week.
- We go all out to give our customers the best service, and fast deliveries are an important part of that. According to the feedback we get, we're good at it too, but that doesn't mean we rest on our laurels.
Gerry isn't the type to do that either. During the day, he spends his time working on projects, providing technical support and following up on customers. In his spare time, Gerry has his hands full as a father of three boys aged 13, 18 and 33, and as a husband to a woman with whom he celebrates his 20th wedding anniversary this year. If we add that he also works out several times a week, has a dog and cat, enjoys motorbikes and cars and is an active shooter in the pistol club, we can say that Gerry is and will remain an active man in his prime, and we at ISOPARTNER are very happy to have him as our man on the western front.
