The Entertainment Systems Story

It all started with a call for help.

The stars of a major attraction in a brand new theme park were not capable of meeting the demands of their scheduled performances. The theme park was forced to cancel shows and leave visitors disappointed. Ordinarily, this type of problem would be remedied by the park’s engineering team. But, in this case, the performers were 6-ton, animated great white sharks, and the combination of animatronics and hydrodynamics exceeded the troubleshooting and repair capabilities of the park’s skilled team of technicians.

Who better to call to the rescue than a company responsible for designing and operating the world’s premier fleet of underwater robotic machines? While not an obvious choice to those in themed entertainment, Oceaneering had the right expertise and a willingness to help. Our experience in repairing and maintaining systems challenged to operate in the world’s harshest environments positioned us well to solve this unique challenge. We evaluated, re-engineered, manufactured, and installed a completely new set of animated predators, and the park successfully reopened the attraction. For more than 20 years, these animated stars performed their act hundreds of times daily.

Oceaneering Entertainment Systems was born. Now, more than 25 years later, that same can-do attitude, experience, engineering excellence, and innovative approach has been applied to some of the most sophisticated, complex, and challenging attractions ever built. With more than 50 high-profile projects, multiple Thea awards, industry-patented designs, and millions of pounds of equipment installed globally, we continue to deliver. The biggest names in the industry trust us to interpret their ideas and deliver innovative systems.

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Company page Since our founding in the early 1960s, Oceaneering has expanded and grown globally to service several industries such as the offshore energy industry, defense, entertainment, material handling, aerospace, science, and renewable energy industries. In 1964, Mike Hughes and Johnny Johnson formed a Gulf of Mexico diving company called World Wide Divers. The company grew in response to increasing demand for their services and in 1969 merged with two other diving companies to form Oceaneering International, Inc. To solve the toughest challenges, we do things differently, creatively, and smarter. As your trusted partner, our unmatched experience and truly innovative portfolio of technologies and solutions give us the flexibility to adapt and evolve, regardless of market conditions. Our mission is to solve the unsolvable. We thrive by creating industry-changing technically creative solutions for the most complex operational challenges under water, on land, and in space. Our five core values establish a common culture and demonstrate what is most important for us as a company. Since the beginning, the company has transformed from a small regional diving company into a global provider of engineered products and services. Today, we develop products and services for use throughout the lifecycle of an offshore oilfield, from drilling to decommissioning. We operate the world's premier fleet of work class ROVs. Additionally, we are a leader in offshore oilfield maintenance services, umbilicals, subsea hardware, and tooling. We also serve the aerospace, defense, and theme park industries. Underpinning everything we do, safety is not only the foundation of our core values, but it is vital to our unmatched performance record and company culture. The industries we serve are as diverse as they are complex. Whether we are engineering deepwater umbilicals or developing robotics for aerospace applications, the safety and health of our employees, vendors, and customers is an integral part of our day-to-day business. If we are working, then our responsibility is to be working safely. Since our inception in 1964, we have placed a high value on employee safety—from diving services and subsea inspection to vessel-based installation operations. We have and will continue to evolve not only our health, safety, and environmental (HSE) processes, but those of the industries in which we work. Although we have been fatality-free since 1999, our HSE journey goes beyond statistics. As our portfolio of services has grown, we have continued to prioritize and advance our approach to HSE.