Wood Group GTS Cited by Frost & Sullivan for Innovative Gas Turbine Power Plant Solutions

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Apr 14, 2010, 07:45 ET

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., April 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Based on its recent analysis of the gas turbine power plant services market, Frost & Sullivan recognizes Wood Group GTS with the 2009 North American Frost & Sullivan Award for Customer Service Leadership. Wood Group GTS provides a complete range of maintenance support activities for the widest range of industrial gas turbines in the global power generation, oil and gas, and marine markets.

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Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to the company that has demonstrated excellence in customer service leadership within its industry. The recipient company has shown tremendous responsiveness to customer needs and has continually focused on long and short-term customer profitability goals. In addition, the recipient company demonstrated flexibility in tailoring its product offerings to suit customer businesses.

Frost & Sullivan's Best Practices Awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis, and extensive secondary research in order to identify best practices in the industry.

"For Wood Group GTS, offering high-quality customer service not only enhances its visibility but also helps expand its customer base," says Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Rajalingam. "The company supplies new, refurbished, and Advanced Parts Manufacture® (APM®) parts and provides control system repair and upgrades." The company also offers long-term service agreements, fleet management, and a full suite of on-site field services. It is constantly looking for ways to improve its customer service through a significant reduction in the service time.

GTS' global repair and overhaul facilities are dedicated to offering high-quality services to operators of light industrial turbines, aero-derivative gas turbines, and heavy industrial turbines. Its service portfolio includes operations and maintenance, overhaul, performance testing, engine exchange, and advanced technology component repair.

The gas turbine power plant services market, despite its potential, is challenged with the rise in competition between local service providers and the established original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). It must also contend with the constant customer demand for customized solutions. In such a demanding and mature market, customer service leadership is paramount, as it positions vendors to meet these challenges more effectively.

By streamlining internal process and procedures, GTS was able to achieve a turnaround time of 56 days as opposed to the 70 to 84 days it formerly required. GTS was able to repeat this for a number of Rolls-Royce RB211 engines, including a major overhaul of a DLE engine for Northern Border Pipeline in the U.S., which was completed in just 53 days.

Wood Group GTS also focuses on providing repairs that help extend component life, and keep maintenance costs and downtime of the plant to a minimum. Recently, it developed an advanced technology component repair for GE Frame 6FA first stage turbine blades. The repair, developed and carried out at Wood Group GTS facilities in Scotland and the United States, was completed within an extremely short span of time to allow the customer to meet an engine outage.

"In the power generation service sector, factors such as reliability and the on-peak availability of the power plant should be considered crucial to gain the loyalty of the existing customer and widen the customer base," notes Rajalingam. "Wood Group GTS' main goal in the services business is to improve its customers' bottom line results by offering reliable and best-in class quality service."

About Wood Group GTS

Wood Group GTS is a leading independent provider of services and solutions for clients in the power, oil & gas and renewable energy markets. Worldwide, these services include; power plant engineering, procurement and construction management, facility operations & maintenance, repair & overhaul of gas, wind and steam turbines, pumps, compressors and other high-speed rotating equipment.

About Wood Group ("John Wood Group PLC")

Wood Group is an international energy services company with approximately $5bn revenues, employing approximately 28,000 people and operating in 50 countries. The Group has three businesses - Engineering & Production Facilities, Well Support and Gas Turbine Services - providing a range of engineering, production support, maintenance management and industrial gas turbine overhaul and repair services to the oil & gas, and power generation industries worldwide.

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, enables clients to accelerate growth and achieve best-in-class positions in growth, innovation and leadership. The company's Growth Partnership Service provides the CEO and the CEO's Growth Team with disciplined research and best-practice models to drive the generation, evaluation, and implementation of powerful growth strategies. Frost & Sullivan leverages over 45 years of experience in partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses and the investment community from 40 offices on six continents. To join our Growth Partnership, please visit http://www.awards.frost.com.