EPC Groupe is a world leader in explosives manufacturing, storage and distribution, and primarily drilling and blasting. With multiple dynamic roles, including Area Manager of EPC Groupe’s Northern Europe Area, Managing Director of EPC-UK, and Chairman of the Institute of Quarrying, Ben Williams talks about the company’s roles and priorities in an evolving industry.
EXECUTING EXPLOSIVE EVOLUTION
Having been in operation for over 130 years, EPC Groupe is a proven trailblazer in designing effective solutions and technological innovations for the mining, surface quarrying, and tunnelling sectors.
Constantly adapting to perform in a more globalised and dynamic market, the organisation provides services for some of the world’s leading names in mining, cement, aggregates, civil engineering, and underground operations.
Believing that sustainability is impossible without evolution and adaptation, EPC Groupe prides itself on performing global operations in demanding fields safely, securely, and ethically.
Supporting customers across all five continents with high-performance products and services for diverse and complex needs, the company is a pioneer in the field of integrated drilling and blasting, blast engineering, and special works.
Its permanent investment in the R&D of products, tools, and solutions improves customer performance, enables specialised logistics, and adds value without losing sight of a set of guiding SPIRIT values: safety, passion, integrity, respect, innovation, and teamwork.
AN INNATE PASSION
“Headquartered in France, EPC Groupe operates in almost 30 countries around the world, within assigned areas of Mediterranean Europe, Africa, Asia Pacific, Americas, and my own region,” opens Ben Williams, Area Manager of EPC Groupe’s Northern Europe Area.
“We are operating in an exciting space, utilising the maturity of the continent’s markets in both surface and underground mining to create, develop, and apply new and relevant technologies and sustainable solutions. This is the template to support our industry on a wider global scale.
“The trends within Northern Europe right now are focused on mining’s evolution to become a sector that contributes to the long-term answers that benefit the planet, achievable through supporting industries’ battery technologies, alongside sustainable energy and transport solutions,” he elaborates.
Williams’ Northern European Area covers the markets of Ireland, the UK, Scandinavia, Greenland, Iceland, and the Baltics. Supported by a passionate team, he is working to expand business in these areas through the supply of EPC Groupe’s technology and products to regional operators.
INDUSTRY INNOVATOR
“I feel that internationally, we’re leading the way in providing the very drilling and blasting services needed to evolve the industry for the better,” Williams sets out.
Developments to achieve this are supported by four upper-tier Seveso sites, comprising three emulsion manufacturing sites in Sweden, the UK, and a joint venture in Ireland, as well as a logistics, energetics, and storage hub in the South East of England.
“In the UK, we’re producing and transporting surface bulk emulsion and delivering a fully integrated rock-on-ground (ROG) service, which includes all the elements required from drilling, blast design, and profiling through to the final blast,” he continues.
“Using our ROG+ service and 360-degree measurement, as well as combining smart blasting integration with a mine’s reporting tools, we can establish the best value for customers. In Sweden, concentration is placed on providing contractors with bulk emulsion production services for tunnelling, underground mining, and surface quarrying applications. Meanwhile, operations in Ireland are delivered as a technology-based bulk emulsion supplier, renowned for providing effective services to assist the customer in extracting value in their operations.”
PROJECT PROGRESSION
Williams goes on to detail the projects EPC Groupe’s Northern Europe Area currently has in the pipeline, including a successfully deployed drilling and blasting solution in Greenland led by EPC Sverige (Sweden).
Its product, manufactured in Sweden, has contributed to the infrastructure of two Greenland airport extensions in Nuuk and Ilulissat.
Working for different main contractors, EPC Sverige has provided explosives and project blasting advice for these two key projects to support tourism, as well as local mining companies’ logistical efforts to fly employees to and from the island, helping to generate commerce opportunities for Greenland in the long term.
Other key investments include the finalisation of a TNT booster manufacturing plant in the UK, intended to supply domestic and worldwide markets by early 2025.
Furthermore, priority is also being given to an increasing number of sustainability projects.
Through EPC Renewables activity, EPC-UK has enabled the delivery of a number of energy windfarm developments, whilst enabling a sustainable ‘countryside stewardship practice’ across its two buffer zone farmland estates.
In Sweden, EPC Groupe’s services to support battery production, in addition to windfarm infrastructure, have increased further.
RESPECT AND INTEGRITY
From a personal perspective, Williams believes that you don’t choose this industry- it chooses you. Having joined the sector in 1995 with a background in leisure management, he found that once he’d had a taste for the work and culture involved and experienced the gravitas of blasts out in a surface quarry environment, he couldn’t look back.
“The personal passion I share with my teams for working in this industry is a driving force of our growing success, which must also be attributed to the trust and relationships we’ve developed with our key suppliers,” Williams says.
“We’re proud of the certified business continuity we have in place, which has contributed to forming the strengthened relationships that unquestionably saw us through the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“During that time, team efforts came to the fore, and our commitment to safety was unwavering. I am always proud of our employees’ support of our SPIRIT values, which are consistently reflected throughout all areas of our business practices and beyond. The positive impact of our values was recognised last year when we won the prestigious Sir Frank Davies Trophy in the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) category of the MPA Awards for performing as one of the safest operators and suppliers in the industry,” he enthuses.
“Our ongoing charitable endeavours also contribute to the SPIRIT value ethos and as a company, we have so far succeeded in raising funds to purchase, install, and provide training for over 30 lifesaving defibrillators within junior sports clubs and schools across the UK,” Williams extends.
“We’re proud of the certified business continuity we have in place, which has contributed to forming the strengthened relationships that unquestionably saw us through the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic”
Ben Williams, Area Manager, EPC Groupe Northern Europe
LOOKING AHEAD
As the industry’s landscape evolves, EPC Groupe’s Northern Europe Area’s key priorities for the forthcoming months will involve effectively delivering its booster manufacturing project and generating added value for customers through a new ROG+ service in the UK and Sweden.
“In Ireland, the focus will be on applying existing and proven expertise in establishing a robust logistics solution. Attention will also be paid to new areas for expansion. We’re looking to progress opportunities for EPC Renewables, collaborating with windfarm construction companies and furthering additional sustainable energy projects,” acclaims Williams.
Headway will also be made as a result of EPC Groupe’s recent acquisition of Vibraquipo, an international vibration measurement equipment manufacturer.
“This exciting development will enable us to progress our activities around seismic measurement and technology and add a further integrated element to our core services compatible with VERTEX© technological solutions. Moving forward, we’ll be looking to expand those capabilities to provide surface and underground seismic monitoring for related industries, including construction and civil engineering,” he expands.
As the company’s projects progress, so too do Williams’ professional capabilities to support developments. In 2023, his contribution to the industry to date was rewarded when he was appointed Chairman of the Institute of Quarrying (IQ) in the UK, a mineral extractives professional body with branches in Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Asia, South Africa, and Hong Kong.
Williams’ work to progress the global influence of the IQ will grow further in the coming months when he becomes the organisation’s incoming President in 2024.
A PINNACLE ROLE
“With so much change on the horizon, it’s an important time for the drilling and blasting and mining industries,” Williams states.
“I would encourage anyone with an appetite to develop the skills our business needs to consider the opportunities that are out there. For us, the most important qualities we look for in a team member are passion, initiative, and a demonstrated desire to be part of our company culture.
“In my role as Chairman of the IQ, we have developed new career pathways, including a UK university-accredited diploma in the use of explosives, which will be launched in Autumn 2024. Also, within the year, we are launching a suite of underground, tunnelling, and demolition courses to complement current material delivered by EPC-UK in collaboration with awarding bodies.
“EPC Groupe’s record of investment in education and people’s development is something to be very proud of, as is our ability to provide longevity and career progression across all levels in the business. Our industry is its people, and by applying knowledge, commitment, and technological solutions, their capabilities and passion will forge the way to shaping this sector’s future,” he concludes.
