Issue 3
www.exova.com
It’s up to ME Integrity/teamwork performance/innovation
Inside this issue
Integrity: a question of life or death Drake Landing: sunny side up PCC Structurals: hot metal masters
The future of energy Tackling the 21st century conundrum
F r o m t h e Edi to r
p4 keeping it together
Manus McGonigle on the challenges of IT... and junior football p6 snapshots
Global news and views from across Exova group
CLAIRE PURVES
p9 our values: Integrity
What price a promise? Six-page feature 14
p14 the bigger picture
Sunny side up at the Drake Landing Solar Community p16 power to the peoples
How Exova is helping tackle 'the energy question' p22 in the mix
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t's probably one of the more positive consequences of last year's banking crisis, but the word 'integrity' seems to be back in fashion in business circles. At Exova, however, it's never been out of fashion. Integrity is at the heart of everything we do, from the professionalism of our labs to the assurance our clients take from knowing that their products are built to perform. It's an interesting story that we explore in depth in this issue. Enjoy the issue and keep the feedback coming – it's much appreciated!
PCC Structurals - forging a special relationship
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p21 personally speaking
Five minutes with Colin Speedie
Claire.Purves@Exova.com Communications Manager
special contributor
Published by Exova in association with White Light Media www.whitelightmedia.co.uk. Editorial: Fraser Allen & Liz Longden Design: Adam Wilson. Members of APA and PPA. Exova, Queen Anne Drive, Newbridge Midlothian EH28 8LP. www.exova.com
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Many thanks to Rhonda Kirk, from our Edmonton lab in Canada, for providing us with some great images of Exova's work in the Alberta oil sands.
No.3 Keeping our food safe Our Clients
Major high street retailers, produce suppliers and food manufacturers What does Exova do?
There are over 800 pesticides in common use throughout the world, and stringent international regulations control their use to restrict the residues that can make their way into the food chain. Exova Shady Lane, Birmingham, UK, employs state-of-the-art technology to perform UKAS-accredited multiresidue tests. These are capable of detecting and quantifying extremely low levels – in parts per billion – of over 300 compounds.
How does Exova make a difference?
Testing for excessive pesticide residues is an essential part in assuring the safety of our food and protecting public health. But the lab also has serious responsibilities towards its clients. “The consequences of adverse residue findings can have a major impact on retailers, suppliers, importers, farmers and growers, so we have to be confident our data is accurate,” explains Don Brown, Head of Pesticide & Residue Services at the lab. “Because the legislation is in constant flux,
our clients rely on us to use our knowledge and expertise to advise them on our findings, which, because we are often dealing with short shelf-life foods, have to be delivered quickly – sometimes within the same day.” The lab takes its responsibilities towards the planet equally seriously, pioneering rapid extraction methods with reduced amounts of solvent – minimising the environmental, as well as financial, cost.
All that glitters is not gold: pesticide residues pose serious health risks
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Pic: Alan McCredie
Keeping it together Group Chief Information Officer Manus McGonigle joined Exova in November last year. He explains his role and highlights the challenges ahead. you have previously worked for Motorola and RBS, amongst others. Why did you join Exova?
Actually there are a number of reasons. Firstly, because it is an engineering company, and that is my background. I actually began my career in electronic engineering, and, as they say, ‘old engineers never die, they just lose their bearings’. Secondly, I believe Exova is a company with a point to prove, a potential to be realised and the opportunity to do both. And thirdly, I believe IT has a huge responsibility and part to play in delivering on the opportunity and, importantly, has the support to do so. What are your responsibilities?
I lead the IT group within Exova and it is our responsibility to provide IT and systems support across Exova group, in all the different regions. Our primary task is what we call ‘keeping the show on the road’ – taking care of systems access and availability, forgotten passwords, hardware problems, e-mail and internet access, and so on. This has always got to be our number one priority as it is the most visible face of IT. On top of that, it’s about working closely with the very different businesses to help them gain strategic advantage by integrating IT into our business models and business processes. This will help us run more efficiently and effectively and adapt to everchanging business climates and demands, and, ultimately, win and retain customers. My job is to ensure that we do both of these things in an optimal manner by executing regional priorities from within a central IT function. That will allow us to deliver locally, whilst still leveraging technologies and resources across the Group.
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Interview
What are the main challenges for Exova, in terms of IT and IS?
If you could invite anyone to dinner, who would you pick?
I believe successful IT leadership in general is about building a relationship with the business, and understanding its objectives. I have tended, in my career, to move between business roles and IT roles, and I think that has given me a better understanding of business, and what it needs from technology. Within Exova, we’re trying to foster collaboration and build a joined-up company, and I think IT has a big responsibility here, both through the way we work and through the systems we provide. We have to work with the business to prioritise activities, and then deliver on our promises. It sounds easy but, with our diverse range of rapidly evolving businesses, this makes for a challenge that’s both exciting and daunting. We also need to standardise the approach to each business, without making things too complicated. The key to success will be team working at all levels. If we can achieve that, I think the actual technology challenges are relatively easy.
My wife – she says we never get time together so I guess I should invite her!
Where’s home? I live in Livingston, near Edinburgh, but home will always be Donegal, in Ireland. The weather isn’t any better than here though – they get the same rain as in Scotland, just a day earlier!
What happens on a Saturday? My four kids all play football for different teams in different locations, so the morning is about sorting them out, and also coaching my third boy’s team in their game. Saturday afternoon is washing four sets of football boots and wondering why my tactics didn’t work again!
What do you hope will be your greatest achievement at Exova?
For me, one of the most important leadership competencies is effective team building, and I would be delighted if I could look back and see that I created the environment for, and then leveraged the power of, team working in order to accelerate the performance of the company. The other thing I’d like to be able to say would be that I made a significant impact to some people’s careers, by creating the opportunity for them to fulfil their potential. That would give me immense satisfaction.
What’s on the coffee table? A book on why winning is not important in kids’ football. And ‘Round Ireland with a Fridge’, which is the funniest book I have ever read.
Who most inspires you?
I draw inspiration from many different people all the time. For example, I know and have also read about several people who have had setbacks, either with health or personal problems, and have overcome these and gone on to give more back to society that those of us who have been ‘luckier’. That determination not to let a setback hinder a meaningful life, and having the selflessness to help others, is really inspirational.
Tell us a secret... I was once hijacked and held at gun-point, when I was 16. It was terrifying, but the good thing is that I could run faster then!
What one thing would improve your working life?
Pic: DN Anderson
A transporter. I’d like to be able to visit the different locations in Exova more frequently. As we attempt to improve collaboration levels within the company, it’s important to make people feel that they are part of a bigger team and re-assure them when they feel isolated l
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From innovations to accreditations, we take a look at the latest news across Exova group
Snapshots Protecting the oceans
hile the millions of barrels of oil reserves that lie beneath the seabed of the Gulf of Mexico are a precious resource, the surrounding ocean, with its rich array of marine life, is even more precious. Recent events in the area have given a glimpse of how devastating an oil leak can be, with the aftermath of the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig causing millions of gallons of oil to gush into the gulf. The incident is estimated to be the worst environmental catastrophe in American history,
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and the consequences could yet prove to be devastating for marine and coastal wildlife, with oil encroaching upon areas rich with bird life during the nesting and breeding season. Exova’s Houston lab is to play a major role in preventing such disasters, carrying out extensive tests on behalf of pipeline welding companies and subsea equipment manufacturers to ensure that only the highest integrity products and processes are used. The Houston lab will carry out corrosion tests, to ensure pipelines can withstand the highly aggressive
hydrogen sulphide naturally present in the oil, as well as tests on the pipelines’ inner coatings, and fracture mechanics tests. These are essential to ensure the pipes can withstand the extremely high stresses and fatigue inherent in installing the pipeline from a ship potentially thousands of feet above the ocean floor. In an excellent example of teamwork and knowledge transfer across Exova globally, the technology for the fracture mechanics tests have been developed and transferred to Houston and Singapore from Daventry as part of the Global Technology Transfer programme.
Estimates of the amount of oil leaked as a result of the Deepwater Horizon disaster have been as high as 60,000 barrels a day
grant's view
‘Sound’ start for acoustic lab
Exova’s recently-opened acoustic testing facility in Dubai has hit the ground running, with work already begun on a number of key projects. The Exova lab became operational in February this year and an application for ISO17025 accreditation is underway. These were for the testing of curtain wall acoustic sound transmission in the King Abdul Aziz Endowment Project in Makkah, Saudi Arabia – a multi-purpose development which includes five tower blocks – and in the ITC luxury hotel project in Chennai, India. The new facility has been opened to further expand and diversify Exova’s specialised testing services in the Middle East, and has the capacity to carry out sound transmission testing on a wide variety of building components, including lightweight partition, masonry, doors and cinema walls. Not content to rest on their laurels, however, the Exova team are already expanding their capability and, in addition to their laboratory-based work, will be offering on-site testing to cover areas such as noise criteria, noise rating, reverberation time and sound transmission testing. The first on-site testing service has already been performed at the new Sorbonne University project in Abu Dhabi and the ISO17025 accreditation application process is underway. Making Exova carbon-conscious
As part of our commitment to responsibly address the issue of our carbon footprint, Exova recently invited the Carbon Trust – an independent UK Government-funded company that supports businesses in cutting carbon emissions – to conduct a series of carbon surveys in a sample of our UK operations. The survey was conducted across seven sites, and offered some
interesting insights into how each facility could further improve its energy efficiency. And while each site predictably demonstrated some variation in results, there were a number of issues that impacted universally. Lighting costs, for example, account for around 20-40% of electricity costs, while heating can account for as much as 60% of a total energy bill. Air conditioning was also identified as a key source of energy consumption. Each of the sites now has a revised effective energy management policy to support them in making the necessary changes. By following these guidelines, employees will not only be helping to improve energy efficiency within their place of work, but will also be making an important contribution to the wider environment. Global appeal of Exova expertise
The expertise of Exova group is recognised across the world, and Inner Mongolia is the latest of many regions to call on our help. In 2009, the lab in St-Bruno, Quebec was asked by one of its clients to carry out stack sampling certification – a process for testing the emissions produced from an industrial plant – at gas and fume treatment centres at two separate aluminium smelters in Inner Mongolia. Because the equipment had been previously implemented in smelters in Canada, Exova’s proven methodologies and procedures were ideal for the job, with the results subsequently studied against our own criteria. The specialist team of three carried out a series of up to nine separate tests over 22 days, checking both inlets and outlets for the presence of tiny particles in the air (‘particulate matter’), as well as polyaromatic hydrocarbons, tar and fluoride. The project posed some unique challenges, including problematic interference with the team’s power generator caused by the smelter’s huge magnetic field, differences in current between Canadian and Chinese electricity mains supplies,
There is an estimated 30% more carbon in the earth's atmosphere today than in 1800
Twelve months ago, I travelled around the business in a series of road shows, speaking to you at the beginning of a huge period of change for us - the launch of our new brand, new vision and mission, and of our values. I talked then about 'stakeholder balance', and why our customers, shareholders, communities and we, the employees, are all equally important. In the same way, each of our values - integrity, innovation, performance and teamwork - is equally crucial to the success of our business. We all understand that these values underpin our business and inspire our working culture, and that integrity, specifically, comes from within. Another way to think about what integrity means in relation to how we carry out our everyday work, can be summed up in the maxim: 'Treat others as you would expect to be treated yourself'. This magazine is full of stories about how we treat both our customers and our colleagues - with fairness, honesty, dedication and respect, and I hope we can all draw inspiration from them. Reading the comments on the postcards you were asked to return after the road shows, I am reminded that we all share a common purpose, and that the desire to be the number one supplier of choice in testing and advisory services is shared across the business. That gives me huge encouragement that, if we continue to work with integrity in everything we do, we can go on to achieve just that. Enjoy reading the stories in the magazine and remember that these stories are only possible because of your commitment and dedication. You should feel proud.
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Snapshots
and the language barrier. The expertise and professionalism of the team, however, ensured the project was a resounding success. sem - anywhere!
An innovative new service has been recently introduced at Exova Glendale Heights, Illinois, USA, enabling test results to be viewed remotely. SEM ANYWHERE™ is an upgrade of the lab’s existing scanning electron microscope (SEM) technology, and allows clients and Exova specialists to view the same results on their own computers simultaneously, from anywhere in the world. The same system is also being used by Exova in Sweden and Scotland. The service means the Exova team will be able to conduct detailed over-the-phone discussions with clients to explain test results. Michael Nakonechny, General Manager, Exova Glendale Heights, said the new system is a major innovation. “We believe we are the first commercial materials testing laboratory in the US, maybe North America, to offer this service to its outside clients,” he said. Over the next couple of weeks, we will be promoting this service to the failure analysts, consultants, engineers and scientists of the industrial, manufacturing, research and many other materials-related communities.” Senior Metallurgist Chirag Shah and SEM Operator Donnie Svederus are heading up the new service, and can be contacted for more information. Questions about the system’s capabilities, as well as samples to be analysed, can be submitted at SEManywhere@exova.com, where a demo of the new system in action is also available.
excellent example of this ethic. Together, the labs service customers such as Serimax and Vilmar, two of Exova’s important international clients in the field of energy engineering. In order to provide the necessary range of complex and demanding tests, the Spijkenisse lab receives the clients’ test pieces, and breaks the components down to their essential parts. Those requiring more complex tests are then distributed to the high-expertise facilities in Daventry and Dudley. Throughout the testing period, Spijkenisse remains the single point of contact for the client, offering a single brand, unified billing and first-class
customer service. The system is also more cost-effective – by ensuring that only the necessary material is shipped across to the UK, the cost of shipping large pieces of heavy steel is cut out, providing a better customer proposition. Sander van Nieuwenhuijzen, Operational Manager at Spijkenisse and Emmen, says the service is a key selling point. “These projects are great examples of cross-selling and working together to benefit our customers. Our clients are aware that there are a lot of competitors in this market, but they tell us that they see the benefit in working with Exova as a world leader with a far wider scope of expertise.”
Clean, green and Ice-FREE
xova experts have played a key role in helping to develop a series of innovative ‘green’ de-icers. With vital support from a number of different groups within Exova, the Mississauga lab assisted Sears Ecological Application Co. with the development and patenting of a number of environmentally friendly (EPA approved) liquid de-icer products. The project was driven by the discovery by Exova scientists that molasses, one of the components of the de-icer formulation, contains a corrosion inhibiting component that can be concentrated and
collected using ultra-filtration. These new products also perform better at low temperatures than chloride salts traditionally used in de-icing. The work has led to our client receiving patents for a new type of environmentally friendly corrosion inhibitor, with potential application in a number of industries. The exciting research was recently featured in Materials Performance Magazine – the world’s largest circulation journal dedicated to corrosion prevention and control, published by NACE International.
Teamwork in action
The previous issue of The Exova Magazine looked at the importance of working across boundaries to bring together Exova’s diverse, global expertise. The close collaboration between our Spijkenisse lab in the Netherlands and the Dudley and Daventry labs in the UK offers an
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As well as being used in deicers, molasses can also be used to make explosives and fuels
our values | integrity
The
bond
of trust In the third instalment of our series examining Exova’s core values, we take a closer look at ‘integrity’ - and what it means to keep our word
rom some of the world’s most iconic structures to thousands of metres of underground pipelines, from life-saving vaccines to supermarket food – our work is all around us. It touches every area of our lives, in diverse countries across the globe, and helps hold our world together. But what holds our work together, and ensures that the promises we make hold true? Integrity is one of the four key values of Exova, but what does it actually mean, and how does it translate into practice? John Carter is Business Development Manager for Exova’s European Coatings division. His team tests the polymer coatings on off-shore platforms and oil and gas pipes to prevent salt water corrosion of the steel pipes – and keeps their precious cargo from causing destruction in the even more precious marine environment. The division has worked, and is working, on some of the planet’s most important projects, including Block 31 off the Angolan coast – one of the biggest oil finds in history. The stakes are high, not only in terms of potential custom and revenue, but also for the environment and the fragile ecosystems that inhabit the waters. The cost of failure could be commercial, political and ecological disaster. So what does integrity mean to John, and how does it impact on his team’s work? John believes ‘integrity’
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can be broken down into three separate principles: consistency, honesty and confidentiality He starts with consistency. “Regardless of who the client is, or the size of the project, integrity means every job we do and every operation we carry out is treated exactly the same,” John explains. “It means applying best practice every time to ensure we carry out the same test the same way to achieve the same results.” Moyra Brookes is General Manager of the UK pharmaceuticals division. Her teams in Edinburgh (Scotland) and Camberley (England) carry out a key role in helping to develop and test a wide variety of drugs to help fight illness and pain – including antibiotics and analgesics, as well as novel
technologies such as inhalation products and patches. The Edinburgh lab also carries out microbiology testing on products such as injectable drugs. The labs work right across the drug life cycle – from helping pharmaceutical and biotech companies to formulate new drugs, to batch release testing cheaper generic versions of drugs whose 20-year patent has expired. They also carry out stability work to ascertain if and how the chemical composition of
our values | integrity
Integrity ( In't grItI) [ad. L. integritas wholeness, entireness, completeness, integrity, chastity, purity, 1. The condition of having no part or element taken away or wanting; undivided or unbroken state; material wholeness, completeness, entirety. 2. b. Soundness of moral principle; the character of uncorrupted virtue, esp. in relation to truth and fair dealing; uprightness, honesty, sincerity. (Oxford English Dictionary)
We test, we advise, we assure. That assurance that we give is our promise – to the public and to the client
a drug alters over time, and both test, and help to develop, a number of vaccines. As with the work of John and his team, there is no margin for error. And with the huge responsibility towards public health come tight regulations – making consistency of approach essential. “We’re regulated by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), which is the UK government agency that assures the safety of drugs. Any client that has developed a drug has to have it licensed by the MHRA for sale in the UK, or an equivalent national body for other countries,” Moyra explains. “We have to make sure we’re testing products against approved specifications, and there are very strict guidelines imposed on the way we work. It’s consistency and high professional standards that ensures we meet those requirements.” These high standards ensure that no product can be passed with even the tiniest deviation from required specifications – even under the intense pressure of short time scales. “The world-wide market for pharmaceuticals is worth $820 billion a year, and generics account for $71 billion of that,” Moyra explains. “There’s a lot of competition in the generics market, and the price keeps going down as more and more producers enter the market. So the sooner a company can get its drug to market, the more return on investment they can make. The same applies when products are out of stock time lost is money lost.” Regardless of how pressured a deadline may be, however, Moyra says integrity means always putting standards ahead of commercial gain to ensure public safety.
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our values | integrity
“We’re guardians protecting public health, so to speak,” she says. “No matter how much your client may want you to release a product, if it’s slightly out of specification you just can’t do it, because at the end of the day you’re protecting people’s lives.” She adds: “If you think of what we stand for – we test, we advise, we assure – that assurance that we give when we release a product onto the market is our word, and our promise – to the public and the client.” John agrees, highlighting honesty in results as the second key element of integrity. “No matter how much pressures may come to bear, we have to be honest, and give the correct result,” he says. “And that’s whether that happens to be the result the client wants or not.” The third area that John highlights as a key element to integrity is client confidentiality. “Trust is everything,” he says. “We know that our clients trust us, and that that’s a major reason why they come to us.” To illustrate the point, John gives the case of a client who had tested with one of Exova’s competitors. When others in the industry learned news of a failure
before the client, that client switched to Exova. “Integrity is also about revealing results only to those who it needs to be revealed to, when it needs to be revealed,” he adds. So if integrity is essential to Exova’s work, is it something that can be taught, or is it innate? Larry Drake is General Manager of the materials testing lab in Singapore, which works on projects serving the oil and gas business, as well as other sectors, such as aerospace. Among other things, the lab carries out engineering critical assessment – identifying the degree of flaws that are acceptable in a structure. For Larry, integrity is a culture that pervades every aspect of professional practice. “Integrity is being honest in all regards of our business – in our reports, our attitude, our implementation of best practice in the lab, and in the way we deal with clients. It goes into every area of your work practices,” he says. “It can be something as simple as calling someone when you say you will, or acknowledging if you’ve come in late and offering to make the time up. “It basically means that you care about doing your work well. And it’s something that every single team member, from the most junior to the most senior, can have to an extremely high level. Larry believes communicating the importance of integrity is one of his roles as General Manager, and Moyra agrees. “It’s about strong leadership – it has to come from the top,” she says. “You have to lead by example, and it has to cascade downwards. Employees have to see that integrity in their colleagues.” Integrity, it seems is many things, but the final word goes to Larry. “Integrity is making sure that, at the end of the day, we can all go home and know that we’ve done our job well,” he says. “We can sleep at night and know that our customer will have found himself in a good position because of the quality and value of our work l”
nadcap approvals
Integrity is not just a buzz-word at Exova – it’s a tangible quality that is recognised by our clients, competitors and accreditors. The National Aerospace and Defense Contractors Accreditation Programme (Nadcap) is the leading worldwide co-operative of major companies supplying the aerospace industry. It was designed to ensure a cost-effective consensus approach to special processes and products, and all major aerospace original equipment manufacturers now stipulate that companies which provide a service in “special
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processes” obtain NADCAP approval. There are just five Nadcap-approved commercial composites testing laboratories in the world – and three of them are Exova’s. The latest successful addition is Exova’s OCM (Anheim Materials Test Laboratories) in the USA. It has recently been granted accreditation for 45 of NADCAP composite test codes – giving it the most extensive scope of any NADCAP approved laboratory worldwide. It joins the company’s other labs at Bridgwater in the UK and Linkoping in Sweden.
and what if something does go wrong? T
he consequences of mistakes – for example a huge product recall, or the relaying of a section of pipeline on the seabed at the cost of $1million a day – could certainly have a catastrophic financial impact. There is also the potentially irreparable damage to the reputation of Exova and its clients. But the many highly sensitive sectors and environments in which Exova operates means the impact of errors could be even more devastating on the environment or human life. The high risks that gas pipelines bring with them have sadly been highlighted by a number of incidents across the world in recent decades. n Startling photos of the devastation of the Appomattox explosion, in the US state of Virginia 2008, are a sober reminder of what can happen when a pipeline blows. While no one was killed on that occasion, the passengers on a train travelling near Ufa in Russia in 1989, were less fortunate. n 575 people were killed and another 623 injured when a nearby gas main ignited. In another incident, over 1,000 people lost their lives when a pipeline in Jesse, Nigeria exploded. n The collection of oil, too, carries a risk, as recent events in the Gulf of Mexico have shown. The devastation that can be caused by oil slicks was made horribly apparent in 1989, when the Exxon Valdez tanker spilt nine million gallons of oil into the sea near Alaska.There are estimates that up to 2,000 sea otters, 302 harbour seals and around 250,000 seabirds were killed as a result of the slick, while some scientists claimed the natural habitat would take 30 years to recover. And with the work of Exova group spanning the food and water testing, fire safety, aerospace, public transport, energy, pharmaceutical, and building sectors, among others, the consequences of even a small slip or error are almost unimaginable. “It’s really hard to adequately sum up the consequences of what might happen if something somehow went wrong in our work,” says Larry. “They could be millions and millions of dollars worth of damages to structures, a catastrophic impact on the environment, an aeroplane with 300 people on board crashing to the ground. They are life and death.” That's why Exova exists. Our work makes the world a safer place, and protects the interests our clients, their staff and all of their customers.
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The bigger picture
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Drake Landing T
he Drake Landing Solar Community (DLSC), in Okotots, Alberta, Canada, is a unique project that combines energy-efficient technologies with the renewable, unlimited energy source of the Sun to provide hot water and heating throughout the year. And Exova has played a key role in this exciting and innovative initiative. The community is powered by solar energy captured by an 800panel system mounted on garage roofs. These generate 1.5 mega-watts of power during an average summer day, supplying the district heating system. A borehole thermal energy storage system, that stretches to 37m underground, stores heat generated in the summer, to be redistributed throughout during the winter months. The system is unprecedented in the world, fulfilling ninety percent of each home’s space heating requirements from solar energy and resulting in less dependency on fossil fuels. Over the complete 2009-2010 heating season, solar energy supplied a record-breaking 80% of the heating load of the 52 Drake Landing homes, putting the project on schedule to achieve the design goal of 90% fraction solar by the fifth heating season. Exova has made important contributions to the Drake Landing project, testing the solar collectors and offering consulting services with respect to the design concept during the early stages of the project l
LOCATOR COUNTRY: CANADA CITY: OKOTOTS
1,500 miles
cover feature
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Sourcing safe, sustainable and reliable energy has become one of the most pressing issues of the 21st century. From fossil fuels to green energy, Exova is making a vital contribution to helping keep the world switched on.
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Catching the rays
Looking on the bright side comes naturally to Exova’s Mississauga laboratory, which is contracted to help test and develop the durability of photovoltaic (PV) solar panels. “We condition the panels by putting them through hot, cold and humidity cycles for a set number of hours, and then we run a current through them to check that they are still functioning properly,” explains Kevin Kuron, Products EVP in the Americas. “We’re essentially looking for any faults. Some panels have a very thin membrane and if that’s broken all conductivity will be lost and the panel will need to be replaced.” Other energy projects the lab is also involved with include working on more efficient insulation products for buildings and carrying out testing on experimental solar thermal collectors. These use mirrors, special coatings and vacuum tubes to capture energy from the sun to heat water and air. “There is a growing concern in many industrialised countries, including the US and Canada, about the need to cut carbon emissions, and that’s really the driving force behind what we’re doing.”
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Keep it flowing
The work of our lab in Houston, Texas, gives a taste of the kind of high-profile projects that clients entrust to Exova. These include development and testing on the pipe materials and welding on one of the longest pipelines ever embarked upon to bring gas out of Alaska. Among the processes the Houston lab carries out is the testing of the weld and welding contractors that will join up each of the 40 foot sections of the four foot diameter, 2,000 mile-long line. Other protocols include tests on the mechanical strength and fracture toughness of pipelines, and on the polymer coatings outside the pipes. The lab also performs specialist corrosion testing on off-shore oil pipes. “Because the oil has hydrogen sulphide gas in it, it’s very sour, so there’s a real corrosion issue,” explains Bobby Archibald, General Manager of Oil and Gas at Houston. “We load the test piece – either as a tensile or bend specimen – and then enclose that in a specially-built tank with artificial sea water, and bubble pure hydrogen sulphide through it at controlled rates. Additional capabilities allow these tests to be performed at ambient, as well as, elevated, temperatures and pressures.”
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The world's first solar cell was invented in 1883 by Charles Fritts
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Combing the sands
It may look like a lunar landscape from a sci-fi film, but contained within the vast ‘oil sands’ of Alberta lie an estimated 1.75 trillion barrels of ‘black gold’. Spread over an area of 54,000 square miles, the sands account for at least 85% of the world’s reserves of natural bitumen, offering a vital potential energy source – and Exova’s Calgary lab is at the heart of the production process. Unlike conventional free-flowing crude oil, oil sands are ‘mined’, and need to undergo an extraction process. Because not all of the sands are suitable for commercial exploitation, areas to be mined have to be carefully selected. This crucial process is entrusted to Exova’s experts in Calgary. To help ascertain the most profitable areas of sand, oil companies drill and extract solid ‘core’ samples, using heavy rigs from up to 100 metres below ground. The cores are handed over to Exova’s Calgary lab, where they are sliced with a diamond-blade saw, photographed, and displayed to geologists in secure ‘viewing rooms’ – each separate and locked to protect client confidentiality. Exova has the capabilities to analyze up to 100 meters of core from a single well to determine porosity, permeability and oil and water saturations. These tests are vital to geologists and engineers, and are used along with other tools, such as seismic and log data, to make preliminary decisions on the actual amount of oil in the ground.
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A finished core sample, photographed for viewing
Alberta's oil sands cover a total area larger than England
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Unsung heroes
It’s not all about glamour. Exova’s metallurgical labs across the world carry out ‘bread and butter testing’ on the prototype materials that form the structure and gearings of wind turbines. “We’re a basic metals testing lab,” explains Gary Richter, General Manager, Metallurgy at the Gary, Indiana lab, US. “85% of what we do is tensile and impact testing for steel suppliers, and these also service the turbine industry.” He adds: “We hope increasingly to deal directly with wind energy companies, as it seems to be a real growth area.”
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Nuclear know-how
Harnessing the power of nuclear offers a vital source of non-carbon energy for our planet, but carries with it very serious responsibilities towards public health and safety. Working with nuclear power requires experience, a formidable level of expertise and utmost integrity – which is why Exova has a proud record in supporting the nuclear industry, and helping to assure public safety. Exova group has been entrusted with providing services such as non-destructive testing, welder qualifications, metallurgical, mechanical, stress rupture and corrosion testing, to a broad range of nuclear power providers. These include Springfield Fuels Ltd – the first plant in the world to make nuclear fuel, and provider of products and services for over 140 reactors in more than 12 countries – and British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) in the UK.
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In 2009, an estimated 13-14% of the world's electricity came from nuclear power
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Blade runners
Harnessing the power of the wind is increasingly recognised as a vital part in the sustainable energy jigsaw. But while verifying the efficiency and reliability of wind turbines is essential for both financial viability and public safety, the size and shape of turbine blades poses a unique challenge. Exova’s experts in Sweden, however, have developed an innovative solution tto the problem. The portable Windblast™ system draws on Exova group’s extensive expertise in the aerospace industry, using ultrasonic waves to detect defects such as porosity and delaminations in the skin of the blade, or a lack of adhesion to bonded parts. The result is a system that is fast, reliable and easy to use, and which ensures turbine blades remain strong, efficient and effective. Specially developed software also provides a complete record of the inspection results and fast generation of the inspection report – yet another example of the superior customer experience Exova offers to its clients.
The US has a windpower capacity of 35,000 MW, while China and Germany each have a capacity of 25,000 MW
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client feature | PCC Str ucturals
In the mix All-star casting
At PCC Structurals, we manufacture metals and precision cast parts for a wide range of industries, including aerospace, armaments, land-based turbines and the automotive sector. The smallest pieces we cast have a pour-weight of around 40 lbs (18 kg). The largest have a pour-weight of thousands of pounds – typically large frames that are used either in aerospace or power generation turbines.
Stuart Robertson, of PCC Structurals, explains why the company’s unique partnership with Exova is a key ingredient in their alloys production
Metal melting
My main responsibility is to oversee the testing and certification of single batches of alloys, or ‘master heats’, and make sure that our customers – the foundries that we ship to – have alloy available when they need it. We work a wide range of alloys, including stainless steels, nickel and cobalt-based super-alloys, and titanium alloys. Some of these alloys have a long history in castings, but our customers like to keep us on our toes by challenging us with new materials. We also produce remelt ingot, using scrap and virgin raw materials,which is then passed on to the casting operations. Our Alloy Service Centre produces around 11,000,000 lbs (4,990 tonnes) of superalloys every year. Feeling the heat
We melt superalloys in vacuum induction furnaces. These produce very large batches of alloy up to 16,000 lb (7,257kg) and can heat up a molten bath to over 3,000 deg F (1,649 C).
incoming inspections, and at the other they conduct the mechanical property and chemical analyses that may be required to certify a batch of alloy or a casting. In between they also do process checks that inform the operators how they may need to adjust batches to maintain production. So they really are there at every stage of the process, and their testing services are integral to our operations. Part of the furniture
The Exova lab is located on site, about 20 yards from my door, so we work very closely together literally, as well as figuratively. It’s one of the unique features of our relationship, and really helps facilitate communication and co-ordination – even small, practical details like dropping off samples are made easier and more efficient. That close working also engenders a very strong sense of trust and shared responsibility. A committed partnership
From start to finish and in between…
Nearly all the testing that’s required for certifying all our alloys or castings is carried out by Exova – their work bookends our entire process. So at the one end they conduct raw material
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Exova’s presence here on the large parts campus goes back to 2000, and they now have 32 members of staff here on-site. In the last four years particularly, PCC Structurals and Exova have worked together on
both reducing the testing cycle time, and on improving our analytical capabilities. It’s a joint commitment towards a philosophy of continual improvement, and it needs a real partnership for that to work effectively. Exova has put a lot of resources here in Portland to support that effort, investing with a significant amount of both staff and equipment. This includes two new x-ray spectrometers, stress rupture frames, an elevated temperature tensile frame, and a highly sensitive inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) analyser, which can detect trace elements in an alloy in tiny amounts – even below one part in a million. The secret of success
The relationship between PCC and Exova is unique. We’re perhaps the biggest customer for this Exova laboratory, and Exova is PCC’s nearly sole testing facility for this division. So we’re very tightly integrated. This unique arrangement that both companies have entered into, means we’re mutually dependent and have both a joint commitment and shared goal. And at the end of the day, that’s what drives our continuing success l
Pic: Jason Kaplan
What's tha t?
The metal Hafnium (Hf) improves the strength and oxidation resistance of superalloys at high temperature
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Personally Speaking
Colin Speedie EVP, Materials, North America Based in Houston, USA, Colin Speedie is responsible for eight business units – and a combined team of 180 people – that service the general engineering sector and the oil and gas industries, across the US, Canada and Brazil I was always a worker. All the way through high school I was up at 3 o’clock in the morning delivering milk. At the weekend I used to work in farms, pick berries and potatoes, and do landscaping for pensioners in the village. One of the proudest statements I can make is that, from the age of thirteen, I don’t think I ever had to ask my parents for money. I don’t believe in complaining. If you make your bed then lie in it, and if you’re not happy with something then change it. I left school at 16 to do a welding apprenticeship because I was bored, but I very quickly realised I’d made a grave mistake. I stuck it out and did my best until another opportunity came along. I joined Exova back in 1990, at the Newbridge lab in Scotland, as an 18-year-old trainee metallurgist. There was a lot of energy, passion, and a real sense of camaraderie. It made a big impression on me. I worked in a number of different roles at Exova in Scotland, including in management, in sales and marketing, and running the Edinburgh lab for six months. I’ve always loved working with clients, so the transition from technician to sales was seamless. The people I admire most are those who go about their business without any pomp and ceremony and who simply do what they say they’re going to do.
In 1998 I was asked to move to Chicago to carry out an evaluation of the recentlyacquired business there. I went over on a three-month sabbatical, and ended up staying three years. Being involved in the building of our new laboratory in Houston has been one of the highlights of my career. There are probably not too many people who can say they doubled or tripled the business, and at the same time built a brand new state-of-the-art lab from scratch, so I’m pretty proud of that. Last year was the worst economic period in North America since the Great Depression, but we still improved our business and forged ahead with a lot of very important strategic initiatives. We had a really tough job on our hands, and I’m extremely proud of how my team handled the situation. My biggest inspiration is my two-year-old son, Adam. Nothing is more exciting for me than watching him grow and being a part of his development. What I like best about my job are the neverending opportunities to meet and work with new people. I love dealing with clients and solving problems, and I love being part of the solution. One of the most important things I’ve learnt from my job is the importance of keeping perspective. No matter how difficult a situation may seem, the sun always comes up the next day. And every day brings fresh opportunity.