“The origins of Clan Munro are lost in the distant past. By tradition, 11th century mercenary soldiers from Ireland helped the highland king of Scotland defeat the marauding Viking invaders … In general, they were a law-abiding and peaceful clan, nevertheless when needs arose, they stoutly defended their interests against more powerful neighbours … Their military record is superb, providing the British government with some of its finest fighting troops through the Highland Regiments … Clansmen and women have excelled in many professions including medicine, engineering, and politics.” Clan Munro Association.
The power of the old Munro chieftains – achieved through military expeditions, adventurism, and social change – has gone, but the spirit of the clan lives on through a descendant, Iain Munro, president and CEO of StarPoint Engineering Inc. Originally from Aberdeen, Scotland, he came to Canada in 1995, following the proverbial Canadian lass who had won his heart. Since then, he has held executive positions with a number of well-respected, global service and supply companies. This summer, he decided to open a boutique engineering company.
On June 19, 2017, as the Canadian oilpatch slowly emerges from one of its severest recessions, Munro opened the doors of StarPoint. He’s betting his own intellectual prowess and physical brawn that producers in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin are ready to welcome another optimistic entrepreneur, ready and eager to help them solve their engineering challenges.
“StarPoint Engineering has the skills – ranging from knowledge to engineering, and management to design – to drive innovation for new small to medium-sized projects and within established operations,” Munro says confidently.
The company specializes in:
• FEED (front-end engineering and design), detailed engineering;
• MOC (management-of-change);
• Working on both greenfield and brownfield sites (including oil sands and mining; gas, chemical and industrial plants; compressor and gathering stations; well pads, sites, and tie-ins; tank farms; and oil waste treatment facilities); and
• Pipeline compliance.
“Our competitive advantage,” adds Munro, “is that we know what to do and we know how to get it done efficiently and cost-effectively. Our team is dedicated to always making our schedule and budget commitments.”
We use “science to discover creative, resourceful, practical, and hands-on solutions to help our clients address their issues,” Munro reports. We know and understand the equipment and systems producers use, from the wellhead to the delivery point, including water treatment, power generation, and pollution abatement. We’ve worked with pressure vessels, pumps, heaters, heat exchangers, compressors, boilers, tank farms, centrifuges, pipe racks, instrument and control systems, electrical systems, piping, and just about everything else needed to get the job done.
StarPoint had no trouble attracting employees. Not only did the team want to work with Munro, they also liked the network of clients, friends, and associates he has cultivated in Western Canada. Like his clansmen and women, Munro is committed to bring together a diverse group of employees, who have lived and worked around the world, and bring interesting out-of-the-box and fit-for-purpose solutions to its clients.
“The StarPoint group averages two decades of real-world experience in hard-rock and soft-rock resource development,” says Munro. “Several have worked on mega-projects while others have enjoyed staying within the EPCM (engineering, procurement, and construction management) fence.”
In addition, Munro adds, StarPoint Engineering offers a number of specialist services including: expert witness testimony, 3-D scanning, general automation and facilitation of HAZOP (hazards and operability analysis), and LOPA (layer of protective analysis) studies by a certified functional safety expert.
“StarPoint’s motto is ‘we commit, we deliver, no excuses,’” reports Munro. He’s optimistic the coming winter will be a very cold one to enable producers to get to places they couldn’t over the last couple of winters. This, he hopes, will stimulate more growth in the industry.
A Munro seems ideal to run a specialist engineering firm. After all, as a clansman, he knows how to defeat the marauding invaders (whether human or mechanical), is law-abiding and peaceful, yet stoutly defends the interests of his clients against more powerful neighbours. Canada, like Britain, should be proud of his engineering prowess.
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