Dashboard is a company newly based in Exeter offering data analysis of industrial processes. This technology can be applied across many industries, but Dashboard’s current focus is on the oil and gas sector.
In a farm west of Exeter, Dashboard has created a mini test-rig that mimics oil pipelines. Using 10 metres of pipe arranged into a complete circle, Steve Weber, Dashboard’s Solutions Architect, can recreate the flow of oil in pipes that would usually cross continents. By using data collected from this test-rig, Steve develops and refines the code that converts large, complex datasets into clear, easily understood data that can be used by businesses to monitor and assess issues before they become problems. Steve values the networks you can quickly develop here in Exeter:
“When creating something that cannot be ordered off the shelf you need an inventive bunch of people who can think on their feet as new project challenges are presented. Within 10 miles of our testing rig we were fortunate to find Brian, a highly skilled local mechanical engineer, and Matthew’s Pump engineers who had the requisite knowledge and skills to help us build the test rig. We can genuinely evidence the fact that Exeter has great business and community support.”
Based at the Science Park, Dashboard hopes to grow its current staff from 10 to 50 over the next 12 months, with a hiring requirement for skills in mobile communications and data analysis. The Company arrived in Exeter in January 2016, and has been able to benefit from the local business networks. CEO Piers Corfield comments:
“UKTI has been a great support and here in the South West, their knowledge of the global oil market has helped us enormously. Recent introductions to ProMexico, the India Business Council, and the China-Britain Business Council have further strengthened our abilities to reach new markets.”
There are clear applications for this software in other industries, and Dashboard aim to develop partnerships in new markets over the next 5 years.
