Engineering expertise TBP Group

ENGINEERING EXPERTISE

The TBP Group provides engineering services for the paper and pulp and related industries. Abigail Saltmarsh reports

The Austria-based TBP Group is looking ahead to a solid future with development in wood-related areas and hopes of expansion into new geographical markets. Thomas Wimmer, who recently took over as one of the group’s new managing directors, said engineering services-focused TBP was planning to take on more skilled members of staff in order to cope with expected increased demand for its services in the future.

“At the moment, we are expanding in our wood and wood-related industries and we have some good developments in Europe. For example, we are developing some new relationships with new clients in wood for furniture,” he said.

Pulp and paper

The group has traditionally focused on engineering consultancy for industries concerned with pulp and paper, Mr Wimmer explained. It takes on independent consulting and deals with tasks of general planning for paper mills and suppliers. It assists customers as a partner from the first planning concept throughout the commissioning of the investment project and provides international customers with a diversity of tools permitting individual planning of investment projects.

Pulp production and processing has always been one of the commercial foundation stones of TBP. Especially the sulphite process on the basis of magnesium was a milestone in the development of TBP. Several pulp mills were equipped with a patented sulphite recovery.

However, TBP is also experienced in the sulphate process. It has supported sulphate pulp mills in being refitted to ECF/TCF bleaching and has carried out comprehensive engineering tasks for the erection of new mills.

The group is also working on the implementation of a new steam turbine into the existing steam distribution system of a pulp mill in Austria. The project is seeing it working on detail engineering for piping systems for the entire steam plant (steam turbine, reduction and distribution, cooling water, auxiliaries), as well as stress analysis, calculation of piping components, the preparation of pipe classes and structural steel engineering.

New markets

Founded approximately 60 years ago, and based in Linz, TBP also designs industrial plants for the energy and environmental industries. “We also work with related industries, such as the drinking water industry, chemical industries and petrochemical,” Mr Wimmer explained.

He added that with the development of the pulp and paper industry being up and down over a period of five years, the group had seen the necessity for spreading itself out into new markets: “The last two years have seen us focus on this as our main strategy,” he added.

Recent projects have seen TBP work on the erection of a glue factory in Radauti, Romania, for Fritz Egger GmbH and CoKG, St Johann in Tirol, Austria.

This has a planned start-up date in 2011 and saw the group work on civil guide arrangement, cable tray, tank guide and piping drawings, as well as stress analysis, isometrics and material reports. It also supplied support drawings, worked on procurement engineering for mechanical erection and looked at erection engineering.

Based in Europe

Today, the group’s companies include TBP Engineering GmbH, TBP Interprojekt Sp z.o.o., TBP Paperconsult GmbH, TBP Environmental Consult GmbH and TBP UPCON GmbH. At the group’s headquarters in Linz, some 60 people are employed. TBP also has an operation with 30 more members of staff in Poland, which started as a joint venture, and owns 50 per cent of a German business.

“Our main market will remain the European area,” said Mr Wimmer. “We are strongly focused on the German-speaking market but also see development in eastern Europe and Russia.”

But the group has also been looking at projects in China and other areas of Asia. These are through a network of European supplier companies.

“We will follow these up if possible,” he stressed. “We are also trying to make connections in North America, cooperating with supplier companies in this area.”

One of these could see TBP becoming involved in a project in New York. If this comes off it could be a first step into a new geographical market.”

More diversification

In India, for example, TBP is currently working as a subcontractor for DCPL (Development Consultants Pvt Ltd, India) working on a project for Hindustan Paper. This involves the modernisation and technological upgrade of Assam pulp and paper mills.

The planning contract is focusing on conceptual engineering for the rebuild of two pulp and paper mills in the federal state Assam, basic engineering and procurement assistance. The pulp bleaching will be adapted to a more environmentally-friendly technology and the paper production will also be enlarged.

“I do think we will see more diversification in our business in the future,” said Mr Wimmer. “As well as working on the larger projects we will work with more suppliers on smaller projects in different areas.” n