GSE
GSE is World-Class Business in Carroll County It’s hard for giants to hide, though that is exactly what GSE
Systems, located in the heart of Eldersburg, has done for the past year.
GSE’s corporate headquarters took up residence in the old London
Fog building at 1332 Londontown Blvd. after a 15-mile move from Baltimore
County. It’s managed to fly under the radar of average town residents,
though those in the business-know have known of the company’s presence for
some time. At a recent luncheon of the South Carroll Business Association
(SCBA), John Moran, CEO of GSE Systems and also a nuclear engineer, spoke
about his company and explained just how large the enterprise was.
Unearthing GSE
GSE Systems, according to its Web site, is “the world leader
in real-time simulation and training solutions for the electric power, oil
and gas and chemical process industries,” or as Moran put it, high fidelity
real time simulators. Don’t feel alone if left blank-faced at that
description – even he recognized how confusing it could be.
Moran put it in terms of a flight simulator, which pilots use to
get the feel of an aircraft before taking the risk of piloting an actual
airplane. The idea is that the aircraft simulation and piloting the real
deal are so similar that whatever the pilot in training learns in the
digital world is applicable to the real world. In this way the simulation
acts as training wheels. Similarly, GSE produces and provides simulations
that help energy technicians (nuclear technicians, for example) better do
their jobs. Just as you would not want and unskilled pilot flying your 747,
you would not want an unskilled technician monitoring nuclear processes.
According to Moran there are about 100 simulators in the United
States, of which GSE has built 86. In this way GSE not only trains people to
use devices, but builds them as well.
Hometown feel, worldwide impact
The Eldersburg location acts as the headquarters of GSE, but its
roots spread across the globe. It has locations in Sweden and China, and has
been involved with the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
“The company enjoys a very strong presence in the industry,” Moran stated.
Even with a global presence GSE has not lost sight of its
surrounding community, as evidenced by Moran’s speech at the SCBA luncheon.
“We hope to be a part of the Carroll community for some time to come,” he
said.
Moran mentioned that GSE was at the beginning of its growth
curve. He said the facility in Eldersburg, which he stressed was not just an
administrative center, could potentially grow to 400 engineers.
The company does not leave its workers to fend for themselves either – Moran
said they would pay for college costs for those interested in becoming
energy technicians. In addition to this he said GSE could help expedite
security clearance authorization or green card acquisition for employees, if
need be.
The future of energy
Who to better hypothesize about the future of energy than the
CEO of a company that exists to train up and coming energy technicians?
Moran’s view on U.S. energy policy was a little bit grim.
“We are the only industrialized country in the world that does
not have a standardized energy policy,” he explained. “Here in the U.S we’ll
have to go through brown outs before somebody wakes up.”
Though he had hopes for cleaner energy in the not-so-distant
future, saying it could be achievable in about 30 more years. What to do
until then? “For the next 30 years you need a bridge,” he mentioned. His
bridge was made from plutonium.
Moran explained that nuclear power would be a good way to
transition to clean energy. Despite the high initial construction and
start-up costs for such plants, he said that fact that they cost less to
maintain, gave more output and were cleaner than their coal-fired brethren
made them a good choice. To emphasize his point Moran made mention of new
nuclear plant set to go online in 2015 at Maryland’s Calvert Cliffs.
Links:
GSE Systems Web site: http://www.gses.com/
