Hardide brings in Mark Hanania as oil, gas and energy market takes off

Advanced surface coating technology provider Hardide has appointed Mark Hanania as its business development engineer based in Houston, to help drive growth in the oil, gas and energy sectors throughout North America.

The AIM-traded firm said strong growth in demand from oil and gas customers in North America and its recent entry into the aerospace market was underpinning “significant” investment in coating technology and quality accreditation at the company's US coating facility in Martinsville, Virginia.

It said a third coating reactor would be installed by the fourth quarter of 2018 to accommodate increased demand from major oil and gas operating and service companies.

The Martinsville facility was on-track to receive accreditation to aerospace quality management standard AS9100 during summer 2018.

Hardide’s board said Hanania was joining from 3M Canada, where he was responsible for “driving innovation” into the Alberta/British Columbia oil and gas markets.

He was bringing 20 years of engineering and business development experience, previously spending more than 13 years with Hilti Canada where he held several engineering roles.

It said Hanania has a B.Sc. in mechanical engineering from the University of Calgary.

“We are seeing a strong rise in demand from oil and gas customers in North America and Mark's appointment will enable existing North America VP business development, Dan Wilson, to concentrate on other high-tech markets including aerospace, where we believe there are significant opportunities throughout the region,” said Hardide chief executive officer Philip Kirkham.

“We are expanding our capacity in the USA with investment in people, equipment and technology supported by the highest, aerospace quality standards.”