Gigantic growth from small town

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Stavanger Aftenblad (Thomas Førde)

At the beginning of the year, Omega employed 274 people. Now the company, based in the small, yet creative town of Ølensvåg just enrolled employee number 408.

INTERNATIONAL: Omega has employees from 25 nations and are represented in 20 countries. Kenneth Steinsvik (left) is a computer engineer, and has had longer spells in both Australia and Canada. Petter Aalvik, CEO, to the right.

Ølensvåg

On the idyllic fjord shores of Ølensvåg lies one strong and busy company upon another. The biggest is Westcon, with a capacity of 1000 workers. They offer heavy duty products and services such as ship construction and oil rig repairs. Innermost in the fjord lies Omega, which houses 50 employees at their headquarters. The rest of the 350 employees are spread around oil- gas- and petrochemical installations around the world. Omega's main product is their computer-based project management system, and the hiring out of personnel with trade- and computer skills. In addition, Omega hires out processing plant commissioning specialists.

Snøhvit

During the construction of the onshore plant for the Snøhvit gas field on Melkøya by Hammerfest, Omega has had up to 100 employees outhired. Statoil is by far Omega's biggest customer, with many different projects. Gradually, more and more customers have come along. - We are represented in almost every continent, and help with project management whether there's a new petrochemical plant or offshore-bound installations being manufactured, says CEO Petter Aalvik.

The CEO

Aalvik has been the head of Omega for the last three years. He is resided in Sola, and has several office days in Omega at Forus. Aalvik is educated as a naval constructor, in addition to further economics and finance courses. His background is in international consultancy. Previous employers also include Stolt Comex, Smedvig and others in the financial sector.

The entrepreneurs

The Omega adventure started in Ølensvåg in the late 80's with the Lunde brothers' computer business. The development of the project information management system, PIMS, in combination with an emphasis on project services has proved a winning formula for the company. The system development has been ongoing, while consulting with the customers. The Tjeldbergodden development accelerated Omega. The Lunde brothers are still the biggest owners, as well as key players in the company management.

India and Lithuania

Kenneth Steinsvik is one of Omega's young computer engineers. Despite his mere 24 years, he has had several longer spells abroad. He has been three months in Australia and nine months in Canada, among other things. Maybe Brazil will be his next stop. Before that, though, computer tools need to be developed in Ølen. This is done in close collaboration with Omega's newly founded developer environments in India and Lithuania. - It's quite unproblematic to discuss and solve problems with our colleagues far away, says Steinsvik. He adds that only different time zones can prove practical challenges.

Wants to grow more

- The growth at Omega will continue. We will exceed 500 employees, though I'm not sure when, says CEO Petter Aalvik. He also adds that recruitment has gone well so far. - Large projects give exciting tasks. We are looking for a wide range of manpower, like computer engineers, graduate engineers, MBA's and people without higher education but relevant and interesting experience. Older employees are also a vitally important resource to us, says Petter Aalvik.