A Decade of Digital Due Diligence: The Partnership Forging Resilience

DALLAS, TX – November 24, 2025 – In the world of high-stakes industrial operations, trust isn’t just a handshake; it’s a meticulously documented, continuously verified, and digitally managed process. This reality is underscored by the recent celebration of a decade-long partnership between Burckhardt Compression, a pivotal provider of industrial compression equipment, and ISN, a global leader in contractor and supplier information management. While anniversaries are common, this milestone offers a deeper insight into the strategic necessity of long-term technological integration for building resilient, safe, and efficient supply chains.

The collaboration, centered on ISN’s flagship platform ISNetworld, has become the backbone of Burckhardt Compression’s subcontractor management program. For a company operating in the demanding upstream, downstream, and burgeoning hydrogen sectors, the network of third-party contractors is not a peripheral concern—it is central to operational integrity and safety. This partnership is a testament to a foundational shift in the industry: managing third-party risk is no longer a reactive compliance task but a proactive strategy for competitive advantage.

The Strategic Value of Sustained Digital Oversight

When Burckhardt Compression initially partnered with ISN, it faced a common corporate growing pain: its subcontractor management needs were outpacing its internal capacity. The challenge was to maintain rigorous safety and performance standards across a sprawling and dynamic network of specialized partners. A decade later, the company now manages over 350 subcontractors through the centralized ISNetworld platform, a scale that would be untenable through manual, decentralized processes.

“ISN has been a longstanding partner, helping Burckhardt Compression’s subcontractor management program excel,” noted Rob Leger, Director of HSE at Burckhardt Compression, in the original announcement. “Its intuitive platform and responsive support allow Burckhardt to uphold safety and performance standards across our sites and help streamline risk management.”

This long-term adoption moves beyond simple software-as-a-service (SaaS) usage. A decade of shared data, process refinement, and incident tracking creates a deep well of institutional knowledge. It allows for sophisticated trend analysis and benchmarking, turning historical performance data into predictive risk indicators. For capital-intensive industries, where a single subcontractor error can lead to catastrophic financial and human costs, this level of embedded digital oversight is becoming the price of entry. The platform acts as a single source of truth, ensuring that every contractor, whether they are installing equipment at a refinery or servicing a hydrogen compressor, meets a consistent, verifiable standard of safety and qualification.

From Compliance Checkbox to ESG Powerhouse

The partnership's evolution mirrors the supply chain industry's own maturation from a narrow focus on compliance to a holistic embrace of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles. Burckhardt Compression is not just using ISNetworld to check insurance certificates; it is leveraging advanced tools to drive its forward-thinking corporate strategy. This is particularly critical as the company pivots to support a sustainable energy future, with ambitious goals to derive 40% of its order intake from energy transition applications by 2027 and achieve operational net-zero emissions by 2035.

To this end, Burckhardt utilizes ISN’s Sustainability Questionnaire to gain crucial insights into the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policies of its 350-plus subcontractors. This extends Burckhardt’s own ESG commitments deep into its supply chain, ensuring partners align with its sustainability vision. Furthermore, the recent implementation of a CultureSight® assessment signifies a move toward a more profound, proactive safety culture. This tool gathers insights on the internal perception of safety, helping the organization identify and address cultural weaknesses before they manifest as incidents.

This proactive stance is indispensable as the company deepens its involvement in the hydrogen economy. Hydrogen production, storage, and transport involve unique and significant risks. By ensuring its entire contractor ecosystem is vetted not just for technical skill but for safety culture and sustainability practices, Burckhardt de-risks its expansion into this critical but volatile sector, protecting its projects, personnel, and reputation.

The Invisible Engine of Industrial Scalability

In the intricate dance of a modern industrial supply chain, platforms like ISNetworld are the unseen choreographers. They are the invisible engines that enable companies to expand their operational footprint without a proportional increase in administrative overhead. By centralizing subcontractor data, verification, training, and monitoring, ISN provides a scalable framework that fosters both control and flexibility.

For Burckhardt, this means its core team can focus on strategic objectives—like developing next-generation compression solutions for hydrogen liquefaction—rather than being mired in the administrative churn of vetting hundreds of suppliers. ISNetworld’s tools, such as the Online Training module used for site orientation, automate and standardize processes that are otherwise resource-intensive and prone to inconsistency. This digital infrastructure is what allows a company to be agile, scaling its use of specialized third-party talent up or down in response to project demands while maintaining a uniform standard of excellence.

“Burckhardt Compression’s continued partnership with ISN reflects a proactive approach to risk mitigation and organizational transparency,” said Rick Dorsett, Vice President of Energy Operations at ISN. This transparency is the key. In an era of heightened regulatory scrutiny and stakeholder expectations, being able to demonstrate robust due diligence across the entire supply chain is no longer a secondary benefit; it is a primary business function.

A Competitive Landscape Built on Trust and Data

ISN operates in a highly competitive market for contractor and supplier management, holding a significant but not monopolistic share against formidable players like Avetta and Veriforce. The fact that a relationship like the one with Burckhardt Compression has endured and deepened over ten years speaks volumes. It indicates that the platform delivers tangible, long-term value that goes beyond a simple transactional service. This long-term retention is a powerful market signal, demonstrating an ability to integrate deeply into a client’s operational DNA and evolve with their strategic needs.

Clients across various sectors, from chemical giants like Arkema to energy producers, echo the value of this integrated approach. They cite improved risk mitigation, streamlined onboarding, and enhanced safety performance as key benefits. The common thread is the power of a centralized, data-driven platform to bring order to the inherent complexity of managing a distributed, third-party workforce.

Ultimately, the decade-long alliance between Burckhardt Compression and ISN serves as a powerful case study for the entire industrial sector. It illustrates that in the pursuit of a more resilient, sustainable, and efficient future, the most critical innovations may not be the physical machinery, but the digital ecosystems that connect, verify, and empower the people who operate them.