Ship Design & Construction: Laurie Balan, COO, Genoa Design

Genoa Design International has been providing production design and 3D modeling services to shipbuilding and offshore industries from Newfoundland and Labrador for nearly 30 years. With a team of more than 200, Laurie Balan, COO, Genoa Design International, sees ample opportunity for future growth, with defense budgets booming around the world and the recently signed Icebreaker Collaboration Effort (“ICE PACT”) between the Canada, Finland and the U.S. which is a trilateral arrangement to collaborate on the production of polar icebreakers and other capabilities.

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• Watch the full interview with Laurie Balan, COO, Genoa Design International, on Maritime Reporter TV:

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Can you give us a personal and professional history with insights on your responsibilities today at Genoa Design International?

I've spent the majority of my career, over 20 years now, in shipbuilding, primarily in Canada. That's where we've seen a significant resurgence of ship design and shipbuilding over the last couple of decades. I graduated from Memorial University in Newfoundland & Labrador as a mechanical engineer, and I thought at the time I was going to spend my career in the offshore oil and gas industry because it was booming at the time. After a short stint overseas, I returned to the Atlantic provinces and was introduced to the working world of naval architecture and marine engineering. Over the next decade or so, I was engaged in design work, engineering changes for ships in operations, so the maintenance of ships in service support programs, mainly for the Canadian Navy, the Canadian patrol frigates.

After that [I transitioned] to newbuilds, as the national shipbuilding strategy took off and we started designing and building ships that were desperately needed in Canada.

Today at Genoa, as the chief operating officer, I'm responsible for, of course, all the operations and the business performance of the company. That includes everything, from customer delivery where make sure that we execute quality products with constant schedule certainty, to market and business development, communications, human resources and talent development. I really get to touch the entire organization, which I absolutely love. I also get to work really closely with a pretty tight executive team as well as our board of directors to develop the strategy for the company. At a time when geopolitical pressures are putting a lot of pressure on the industry, it's an exciting time to be here and to be the COO of a company that is thriving and innovative.

Can you give us a ‘by the numbers’ look at Genoa Design today?

I think it's worth looking at Genoa over the last 10 years or so to get a true picture of our growth. When Canada entered an era of rebuilding, the industry that had been essentially dormant for a couple of decades, meaning there were new and exciting programs to work on, and it gave companies like Genoa an opportunity to work on engineering projects that were design-related, problem-solving. We were fortunate to have joined forces with Seaspan and other supply chain partners from the early days, and that's where we grew and matured as a company. We grew from about 20 employees to about 240 across Canada and the US today. Our revenues grew exponentially as well over that timeframe.

“Looking out over the next five to 10 years, we will see more growth in the US, building on a base that we have started. We've built relationships there, we know the culture, we're part of the culture, and that's where the significant backlog of government work resides at the moment in the shipbuilding industry. Hopefully, the ICE Pact that's recently been announced between Canada, Finland and the US will promote opportunities for companies like Genoa to export our expertise and continue that growth and development in Canada, but also outside of Canada.”
Laurie Balan, COO, Genoa Design International
Image Courtesy Genoa Design International

Please give insight to your work today, with insight on where you see it growing in the coming decade?

Most of our work today is government and navy contracts. We still do commercial work from time to time when it aligns with our strategic direction, but for the most part, we work on major large programs in Canada and the US, mostly for the US Navy, US Coast Guard, or Canadian Navy and Canadian Coast Guard.

In terms of numbers, about 70% of our work is defense related. About 75% of that right now is currently in Canada. Looking out over the next five to 10 years, we will see more growth in the US, building on a base that we have started. We've built relationships there, we know the culture, we're part of the culture, and that's where the significant backlog of government work resides at the moment in the shipbuilding industry. Hopefully, the ICE Pact that's recently been announced between Canada, Finland and the US will promote opportunities for companies like Genoa to export our expertise and continue that growth and development in Canada, but also outside of Canada.

Image Courtesy Genoa Design International

There's a lot of geopolitical conflict right now. Obviously, there's a lot of investment in defense globally. Can you put in perspective this bump?

I don't know how big I expect it to get, but certainly the problem is massive now. There's not enough infrastructure, shipyards, design companies, people and innovation in one country to develop it and do it all in-house. We've been fortunate along the way to have worked successfully with US companies. We have all the security requirements and defense requirements to be able to partner. That demand is obvious. There's so much work to be done, there's so many new ships to be designed and to be built that we need expertise from more than just inside the US and more than just inside of Canada. Even under the national shipbuilding strategy, while the intent of that program was to build up the Canadian industry, that too is beyond ourselves and our expertise and we've reached out to other companies with expertise from the likes of Finland to be able to accomplish it all. I think there's a lot of opportunity for multiple companies, whether they're Canadian based, US based or elsewhere, to answer the call and stand up to the challenge and be innovative.

Image Courtesy Genoa Design International

Looking at recent projects, is there one or two that stand out in terms of showcasing the value that Genoa Design delivers?

Right now there are two major concurrent projects that we're working on: the icebreakers for Canada and the icebreakers for the US. Both countries are replenishing their heavy icebreaker fleet, as the current vessels in operation went into service before I was born. An opportunity to contribute to the designs of those complex vessels highlights Genoa's expertise in icebreaker design. While we typically ramp up our teams later in the functional design phases, our designers have to be intimately familiar with ice class rules and detail the design in a way that meets those rule sets, as well as the build strategy and processes. Working on those two programs, north and south of the border, two different designs, materials, shipyards, organizational structure, technical stacks, tools, you name it, the list goes on. That really speaks to Genoa's adaptability and agility that we show our clients.

The Newfoundland & Labrador cluster is unique in how it operates together. Looking at the cluster around you, can you discuss what your company puts into it, and what your company gets out of it?

More so than any other province, Newfoundland & Labrador's history is linked to the sea. We are uniquely positioned as the gateway to the Arctic as well as to Western Europe. Our schools are noteworthy in terms of how they support the industry. Our schools are second to none, whether it's MUN, the Marine Institute, College of the North Atlantic or other private colleges in the province. Graduates are recognized as top in their field and are ready to work anywhere in the world when they graduate. We have outstanding companies here, and you don't have to look far to find locally grown companies like Genoa, Kraken and Virtual Marine – to name a few – at the forefront of innovation. We have research & development, simulation and innovation centers here that are developing leading edge solutions that are being used across the globe.

If anything, our province could do a better job of promoting ourselves. We're a bit humble as a community, as a province, and maybe we need to toot our own horns a little bit more to share our knowledge and our expertise with the world. There's a real sense of cooperation and camaraderie here in the province of Newfoundland & Labrador that I don't think you see everywhere. There is something special about Newfoundland and Labrador, for sure; there's something special about Genoa, and the local supply chain here, too. Those are some of the reasons that I'm still so passionate about this industry, which is typically viewed as a ‘traditional’ industry. [Part of my job] is to share those stories and attract younger professionals [to fuel] the next generation of the industry. We're innovative, we're fun, and we apply new tools and technologies to make this industry better.

“We're innovative, we're fun, and we apply new tools and technologies to make this industry better.”
Image Courtesy Genoa Design International