Atlas Copco officially opens world-class custom engineering workshop
Published: 23 February, 2015
Atlas Copco’s Systems custom engineering workshop based in Hemel Hempstead in the UK, was officially opened by Nico Delvaux, president of Compressor Technique at Atlas Copco, following the completion of a £680,000 (€870,000) upgrade to strengthen its world-class credentials.
The workshop at Systems Hemel Hempstead, one of Atlas Copco’s six global competence centres that design and assemble bespoke compressed air and nitrogen generation packages primarily for the oil and gas industry, has more than doubled in size and been equipped with a range of new facilities in order to meet growing international demand for its services.
Visiting the UK to officially open the expanded workshop at Systems Hemel Hempstead, Nico Delvaux said: “As one of the first competence centres in our global Systems network, the Hemel Hempstead site was established in 1972 to serve customers operating in the North Sea but, since beginning to fulfil orders from oil and gas operators internationally in 2008, this facility has taken on even greater importance and the investment we have made is a testament to that.”
The upgrade of the workshop in Hemel Hempstead has seen the total floor area expanded from its original 850m2 to 1950m2. A new mezzanine level has been built above a section of the workshop to accommodate, alongside some new offices, a dedicated viewing area for customers to witness product testing. An external 12m x 15m covered test area has also been built, adding a valuable additional space for testing large engineered packages in any weather. These packages can now be moved around in the workshop more easily thanks to the provision of two new 5-tonne cranes, trackways and controls, which complement three existing cranes. These additions increase working capacity and throughput, shortening lead times to the customer.
Commenting on the expansion project, Paul Frost, Manager of Systems Hemel Hempstead, said: “Our workshop is now a truly world class facility. We have a competitive base here in Hemel Hempstead, with professional, experienced electrical and mechanical design and project management staff, plus 40 years of expertise.”
Other new additions include two modern spray paint booths to replace the original single unit and a new grit blast facility, meaning that virtually any customer paint specification can be met. Permanently installed test equipment, such as orifice plates, silencers and flow tubes, as well as an electrical panel housing 415V main contactors for safer and faster connections, mean that equipment no longer needs to be hired for string testing the finished compressed air and nitrogen systems prior to delivery. This speeds up the testing process and offers more flexibility to extend test runs if requested by the customer, all in accordance with ISO 1217.
