A catalyst for investment

Vital Energi’s plans for expansion of their Operation and Maintenance Department have received a significant boost in recent months, fuelled by a number of high profile project wins across the UK.

Blue chip clients, Barratt Developments and Berkeley Group’s St James Homes are amongst those who have recently placed their trust in Vital to perform long term operation and maintenance services on their newly installed sustainable energy systems, incorporating, Biomass Boilers and Combined Heat and Power (CHP) plants at their heart.
Covering a broad geographic area, the awards include newly completed projects in Northern Ireland, Scotland and the South of England, enabling Vital Energi’s further consolidation of the regional support network.

Already doubled in size over the past year, Vital Energi’s operations and maintenance (O&M) department is set to receive even greater investment over the coming months with new specialist personnel joining the team in both technical and administrative roles. New positions will include systems engineers, mechanical and electrical engineers as well as site operators, enabling the team to provide greater depth of cover across the whole of the UK.

The Best People

Neil Thompson, Vital Energi’s Operation and Maintenance Manager, is the man spearheading the growth of the O&M department. With over twenty years experience in the petro-chemical, utilities, waste management, power generation and manufacturing industries Neil has unrivalled technical knowledge which has been instrumental in planning the strategy for the growth of this key area of the business.

Commenting on the investment in his department Neil says:

 ”Operations and maintenance is an increasingly essential service and this investment reflects the company’s commitment to ensuring that we are able to offer the highest levels of service from the leading experts in this field. Our engineers will plan, manage, centralize and remotely co-ordinate the entire operation, on schemes across the UK.. We make sure that they are not only technically the best in the country but that they are customer focused to meet the highest levels of client service and ultimately ensure optimum performance of their client’s plant and equipment.”

Neil’s team offers maintenance services on schemes that Vital Energi has designed and installed, however they also have the capability, knowledge and experience to deliver the same level of service to existing schemes installed by others. 

The Best Process and Asset management systems

Vital Energi has also invested over £150,000 on the introduction and implementation of a state-of-the-art, web-based, asset management software system known as ‘Maximo’. This is capable of delivering many of the administration requirements within the department such as a service desk function which allows clients to log a service request and receive acknowledge and update. It also handles health and safety, contract management, inventory and purchasing issues. 

As Neil explains:

 “Maximo allows us to manage more effectively planned maintenance which reduces unscheduled maintenance and thus downtime. The system enables us to streamline procurement, improve overall operational performance and thus extend the life cycle of the plant and equipment which ultimately optimises the clients’ return on their investment.”

O&M starts at the beginning…not at the end.

Vital Energi specialises in designing, supplying and installing schemes for both public and private sector clients which incorporate low and zero carbon technologies.
Whether beginning with a blank sheet of paper or a clients own design concept Vital Energi always ensure that operability, long service life and reliability are key criteria when designing systems procuring plant and configuring system installations.

What makes its service unique to the marketplace is not only is Vital Energi’s experience based foresight and attention to whole life cycle cost and operation but that it can also operate and maintain schemes entirely from its own in-house resources, offering a complete turnkey approach and service that lasts a life time, maximising service delivery and quality, ensuring minimum downtime and disruption which ultimately leads to significant returns on the client’s investment.

Vital Energi’s team of engineers are strategically located across the country and on hand 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. 

Our comprehensive services also uniquely include energy metering, customer billing, cash collection and 24 hour front end Customer Services with the added functionality of web access for connected consumers empowering them to manage their own energy consumption as well as their personal finances.