Machinery Repairs New service centre for Sulzer Work on Sulzer’s new state-of-the-art service centre in Birmingham, UK, is continuing to schedule. As planned, the building is now watertight, and attention is turning to the internal construction of the workshop area and the offices. Customers can expect the new facility to be open towards the end of autumn 2020, and in the meantime, the existing service centre will continue to work at full capacity. Located in the prestigious Birmingham Business Park, Sulzer’s new service centre is rapidly taking shape with the main building shell in place and sealed. While the construction continues, plans for moving all the staff and their tools and equipment are being finalised so as to avoid any interruption in service to customers. Warren Bell, Project Manager for Sulzer, commented, “Now that it is watertight, we can really make some progress inside this fantastic building. The office floors are in and soon we will have a massive concrete pour for the workshop floor. Once this is complete, we will really start to see the various business areas take shape.” A great deal of planning has gone into developing the most efficient work flows for each area of the service centre. Together, they will deliver a wide range of capabilities, all using lean manufacturing techniques, to ensure all maintenance and repair projects are optimised. A specialist logistics company will be relocating all of the machinery and equipment over a two-month period with a seamless move that will ensure that every customer has a smooth transition to the new site. In addition to the
The new Sulzer service centre in Birmingham, UK
existing equipment such as the copper rolling mill, winding machines and the high voltage test-bed, Sulzer is also investing in additional equipment, such as new ovens and paint booths. Chris Powles, Head of Electro Mechanical Services – EMEA, added, “This new facility will be an engineering centre of excellence using lean manufacturing principles to ensure an enhanced customer experience. The improved working environment and more efficient processes will benefit our employees as well as our customers, who will have uninterrupted, high-level service throughout the transition to the new site.”
Dredger repair by Thordon Bearings The 7,800 kW cutter suction dredger (CSD) Umm Al Anber, operated by Abu Dhabi’s National Marine Dredging Company (NMDC), has completed the refurbishment of its cutterhead shaft bearings as part of an extensive refit at Dubai Maritime City (DMC). Thordon Bearings’ Dubai-based distributor for the Middle East, Ocean Power International (OPI), replaced the cutterhead and intermediate line shaft bearings like-for-like with Thordon’s water-lubricated Composite system. The turnkey project included shaft dismantlement, laser alignment, in-situ line boring, calibration, installation and commissioning. Mohammed Fawzy Khalifa, Fleet Manager, NMDC, said, “We have been using Thordon’s grease-free elastomeric polymer bearings since the 1990s. Compared to traditional rubber cutterhead bearings, we find that Thordon Composite reduces vessel operating costs substantially. The bearing requires no lubricating grease and extends bearing wear life fourfold, which is very impressive given the type of environments in which these dredgers operate.” The 1995-built Umm Al Anber has an 800 mm diameter suction pipe and can dredge to depths of 16 m. Rafid Qureshi and Ayman Saad, Managing Partners, Ocean Power International LLC, added, “Together, OPI and Thordon Bearings have been optimising the performance of NMDC’s cutterhead dredgers for more than two decades. Thordon Composite bearings are the preferred choice for NMDC dredgers.” NMDC has converted all of its dredgers except two to the Thordon system. However,
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The composite cutterhead bearing installed on the Umm Al Anber Qureshi revealed OPI is in discussions to convert the rubber bearings on-board these final two vessels. “We are also in talks to convert the intermediate line shaft bearing to Composite. Replacing worn out rubber bearings with Thordon’s ever-lasting material offers NDMC excellent wear rates, high performance in harsh, abrasive environments, and reduced OPEX,” he said. George Morrison, Thordon Bearings’ Regional Manager, commented, NMDC has established a strong reputation for delivering high quality projects and services. It is nice to think that Thordon’s water lubricated Composite cutterhead shaft and intermediate bearings have played an important role in that success.” Late last year, OPI and Thordon replaced the rubber cutterhead shaft bearings on the CSD Al Khatem and the IHC beaver dredgers Embarka 2, Embarka 5 and Embarka 6. The projects followed the success of similar conversions to the Al Sadr, Al Mirfa, Al Hamra, Umm Al Zemoul and the IHC beaver Dredge 2. After 100,000 operating hours dredging up silt, sand, rocks and stones in some of the toughest marine environments the Thordon Composite bearing installed on the Al Mirfa’s dredge cutterhead shaft “did not need replacing and was still in perfect working condition,” said Morrison. “This is due to the bearing’s black homogeneous material, GM2401, which is fused to a stiff, high strength (yellow) polymer sleeve to provide unprecedented performance and environmental safety. Thordon Composite bearings are available for a wide range of shaft diameters in both tube and stave configuration.”
