Change at the DCA Board – President Marc Schnau announces resignation for 2019

DCA Members Forum will take place again in early 2019 - Topic: "HDD Small Scale Drilling“

At the end of a very interesting and informative annual congress in Oberursel, President Marc Schnau informed the participants that for professional reasons he will not be available for the re-election of the DCA President next February. To what extent he would take over another position in the board, he left open. Two years ago, the 45-year-old native of Lower Saxony took over the board from honorary member Hermann Lübbers and continued the successful work with his board members.

Schnau also explained that he would like to reorient himself professionally and that he would like to end his many years of work at Bohlen & Doyen at his own request at the end of 2018. At the beginning of 2019 he will then work with his own engineering office for planning and consulting in the HDD industry. A continuation of the DCA presidency would not be justifiable in the course of the professional change. However, he left no doubt about the question of succession to the DCA president. The board had already dealt intensively with the situation and would present a viable solution proposal to the members at the members meeting next February.

Since its election two years ago, the Executive Board has worked intensively on the existing tasks and set new goals, which will be continued by its follower. One of these tasks consists in particular of directing the focus more on the drilling companies as members of the association and in particular the requests of the small drilling technology more to consider. Schnau announced among other things changes in the structure and responsibility of the board. To this end, an amendment to the statutes is currently being worked on, which would then be submitted to the members for voting at the beginning of 2019.

Finally, he drew the attention of the participants to the DCA Members' Forum 2019, which will take place again at the beginning of 2019. The date and place will be announced shortly. Participation is reserved for members only. This year's forum will primarily deal with the topic "HDD small scale drilling”. The programme and registration documents will be sent to members at the beginning of December.

DCA Annual Congress 2018 - IOT and workshops in focus

24th DCA Annual Congress 2019 in Krakow, Poland

The 23rd DCA Annual Conference in Frankfurt, Oberursel in mid-October was held under the motto "HDD towards 4.0". The DCA welcomed more than 150 participants from 10 countries to the Dorint-Hotel Oberursel for interesting lectures and two workshops in beautiful autumn weather. The more than 150 participants mean a new attendance record at a DCA annual conference.

After the obligatory greeting and introduction by the management and by President Marc Schnau, Adri Wischmann from IOT from the Netherlands knew how to introduce the participants in an excellent way to the topic Internet of things. The Internet has revolutionised communication in the world and will continue to make its way into everyday life and completely change many areas. Besides the topic IOT he could give the participants exciting insights into the world of bitcoins and blockchains.

A blockchain is a decentralized database that maintains a constantly growing list of transaction records. The database is extended chronologically linearly, comparable to a chain to which new elements are constantly added at the lower end (hence the term "blockchain"). In contrast to previous methods for documenting transfers of ownership, such as those used in payment transactions or stock exchange trading, the blockchain is designed in such a way that the application and the associated data are not stored in a central instance, such as on a server at a bank or at a notary, but are distributed across all participants of the system. All users of the technology jointly assume the function of a control authority that is responsible for the integrity and correctness of the system. This prevents attacks on the system itself without having to trust a central authority. With blockchain technology, there is no need for a trusted third party. An interesting approach in times of bank crashes and credibility crises, says Wischmann.

The extent to which the use of digitization has found its way into HDD technology was intensively discussed in lectures by Ernst Fengler among others and in the workshops. In addition, a further workshop on the subject of "DCA guidelines/requirements for small drilling technology" also included intensive discussions on possible simplifications for small drilling technology in everyday business. In the course of the discussion, however, it quickly became clear that there was still a considerable need for clarification and information among the members. The board is not concerned with reducing the minimum standards for HDD drillings laid down in the guidelines, but with drawing up a recommendation for action for special types of HDD drillings analogous to the categorisation in the guidelines. At this point, however, small drilling technology companies in particular are called upon to play an active role. Oberursel was only a small approach. Further steps must follow here.  

On Friday further interesting HDD lectures took place, which, together with a varied supporting programme, ensured a successful mix of technology and networking in the course of the event. Place and time of the next DCA annual conference are already fixed.

The 24th DCA Annual Conference will take place from 16-18.10.2019 in Poland in the Hotel Qubus in Krakow.

See you in mid October 2019!

23^rd DCA Annual Congress 2018 – Frankfurt/Oberursel

The Drilling Contractors Association DCA is organising its annual congress again this year; we cordially invite to Frankfurt am Main/Oberursel in Germany. Members, friends and partners of the DCA will meet from October 17 - 19, 2018 at Hotel Dorint to hear interesting specialist lectures and exchange experiences.

Sponsors of this annual congress are Ditch Witch, Herrenknecht, L-Team, Tracto-Technik, Normag, Prime Drilling and Vermeer. Many thanks for their support go to all these sponsors!

The motto of the 23^rd annual congress is: HDD towards 4.0

The focus of the event will be two workshops on the topics "HDD small drilling technology and the associated requirements in the DCA technical guidelines" and "Digitisation, automation (plant engineering, mud technology, control technology)". Against this background, we have selected the guiding topic "HDD towards 4.0" for the annual congress 2018. What do our customers expect from the DCA, what do the association expect from the technology and what can technology achieve in a meaningful way? What of it already today and what in the future? Exciting questions that we would like to discuss with you in Frankfurt! On Friday, lectures on HDD projects will be presented again, among others two new members from Italy and Germany will present their projects. Furthermore, an interesting companion programme is planned.

Application forms

Association has appointed European Representatives

The DCA, the leading European Association of the HDD-Industry, has appointed DCA representatives to support its presence in individual European countries. The task of the DCA representatives is primarily to act as contact persons of the association for the respective domestic HDD-Industry, to make contacts and to communicate the goals of the association. In addition, the focus is on the support of member companies and the promotion of new members, both in the drilling companies as well as clients and in the supply industry.

With Renzo Chirulli, Veemer, who looks after the Italian HDD market, and Brian Jorgensen, Ditch Witch, who focuses on the Spanish HDD industry for the DCA, two representatives have already been gained.

Course for Site Managers at TRACTO-TECHNIK

On this year’s March 8, TRACTO-TECHNIK GmbH & Co. KG had again invited decision makers, project leaders and site managers of HDD contractors to a seminar of further education in Lennestadt. The seminar had as title “Change-Order-Management and Disposal of Drilling Fluids in HDD Projects” and had been collectively organised and shaped by the DCA, Tracto-Technik, AMC Germany and the engineering office Moll-prd. 15 participants had accepted the invitation and arrived from all over Germany.