OMS receives third Queen’s Award for Innovation from Lord-Lieutenant of Essex

Mrs Jennifer Tolhurst, Lord-Lieutenant of Essex, visited the OMS offices in Stansted to present our third Queen’s Award for Innovation. OMS won the award in 2020 but the coronavirus pandemic prevented any kind of presentation until now.

The Queen’s Awards, one of the most prestigious for UK businesses, are won by businesses that have demonstrated outstanding achievement in innovation, international trade, sustainability or promoting opportunity through social mobility. OMS has previously won a Queen’s Award for Innovation in 2014 and 2007, one of very few businesses to achieve three awards. Our 2020 award was given for our latest weld inspection system, which is used in the energy industry to inspect the quality of pipeline welds.

The OMS weld inspection system, the AUGA.node, can drive itself to a weld up to 1km from entry point, adapting to variations in pipe size and shape to reach the most critical and difficult-to-access locations. A combination of ultra HD cameras and laser sensors provide images and scans which are analysed by OMS’ sophisticated software programme to provide a detailed picture of the condition of a weld, highlighting any problem areas that may affect weld quality. OMS clients can reduce their costs because defective welds are spotted before pipeline is laid. Pipeline integrity and lifetime is improved because all welds have been guaranteed to meet stringent standards and the risk of leaks or other environmental damage caused by weld failure is diminished.

Alex Felce, OMS CEO, said, ‘As a business with innovation at our heart, OMS was delighted to win a third Queen’s Award last year. I am very proud of our dedicated team, who are always focused on improving the services and technology we offer our customers. We hope to win a fourth Queen’s Award one day.’