Despite several forecasts of a possible recession throughout the global economy, Dexon Technology chief executive Mallika Kaekla believes her company's strategy to expand overseas would help drive income this year.
Founded in 1996 near Map Ta Phut industrial estate in Rayong province, tech firm Dexon initially provided engineering inspection services for the energy and petrochemical industries to ensure efficiency and safety in pipeline systems and offshore petroleum production pipelines, also known as risers.
"Examples of the examinations we offer are crude oil and natural gas pipelines, along with water and chemical storage tanks. These represent our core business," Mrs Mallika told the Bangkok Post.
"Our company also creates innovation in the technology that is used for inspecting structures and production equipment in all industries," she said.
The testing method adopted by the company is called non-destructive testing (NDT). It is a technique which is used to inspect and evaluate materials, components, or assemblies without destroying their serviceability, according to the American Society for Nondestructive Testing.
The company mainly relies on two types of NDT which are conventional non-destructive testing (CNDT), which is a combination fo examining equipment and inspectors' analysis, as well as advanced non-destructive testing. Through the use of software, the latter offers inspection results in the form of 2D and 3D simulations, including the use of rope routing techniques in order to reach desired inspection points that are difficult to access.
"Advanced inline inspection is the technique used for examining pipelines. It is also the main source of our income," Mrs Mallika said, adding that 65% of the company's income comes from the domestic market and 35% from overseas.
Mrs Mallika said she believes Dezon is unlikely to feel the impact from the output cut agreed on by the Opec+ group of oil exporting countries as global demands for equipment and pipeline inspection are expected to increase continuously.
According to data provided by Fortune Business Insights, the size of the global Pipeline Integrity Management market reached US$8.65 billion in 2020, while the size of the market in North America alone was $5.42 billion. Globally, it is projected to expand from $8.80 billion in 2021 to $11.2 billion by 2028 at a compound annual growth rate of 3.6% during the period 2021 to 2028.
"The company is in the process of expanding the business in the US and Europe where we already have a registered subsidiary company in the Netherlands," she noted.
Dexon recently listed on the Market for Alternative Investment to raise over 550 million baht in fresh capital. Mrs Mallika said about 120 million baht of the proceeds would be used for the company's expansion overseas.
In 2023, Dexon is aiming for a 15-20% growth in revenue. The expansion in the international markets is expected to boost Dexon's income to 750 million baht from 610 million baht reported last year.
"Our quarterly performance growth this year continues to improve as expected, thanks to the market demand that remains at a high level," said Mrs Mallika.
Meanwhile, Dexon will also expand its inspection services to green energy industries, leveraging the company's technology, and will develop new solutions to serve demand in the global markets, especially in the US where the conversion of renewables such as hydrogen faces more technical issues in the pipelines than carbon or gasoline.
According to the International Energy Agency's World Energy Outlook, demand for oil will continue to drop between 2030 and 2040. Coal demand is expected to further decline in 2025, due to the shift towards clean energy and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
"We have advanced technology that can meet the needs of our existing customer base both in Thailand and foreign markets. The continuous development of our technology will be able to support the company's growth in the future," said Mrs Mallika.
